Published: March 15, 2008 01:22 am            

Books on parade: Students built floats to depict favorite story

Hunter Jones, 6, along with another kindergarten student at Pleasant Ridge Elementary School, pushed their class float to the back of the parade line Friday afternoon.

“Vroom!” Jones exclaimed, as he swerved past the corner, stopping when they reached their place.

In each class students picked their favorite book and built a float depicting it for the parade.

Jones’ float showed “The true story of the three little pigs,” which is the classic children’s story retold from the wolf’s point of view.

Ahead in line was the “If I ran the zoo” float, based on the book by Dr. Seuss. Students dressed as, what they called, “unordinary” animals.

“I’m half bird, half bunny and half leopard,” Erin Blackwell, 8, said.

The class recreated the truck that carries all the animals from the book. The float had multiple levels of cages, including a real bird cage on top. The front looked like a truck, equipped with working headlights.

“We didn’t have any materials to do an ordinary float,” Elizabeth Ison, 8, said. “So we took a vote (on which book to use) and everyone brought in monkeys, gorillas, anything you can think of and we put it all together.”

“The million dollar strike” float also had props — toy bowling pins and balls borrowed from the gymnasium.

“I think it was fun, because everybody in the class got to work on it,” Faye Sizemore, 9, said.

Students who weren’t pushing the floats filled the halls to watch the parade go through the school.

“I like the floats a lot,” 7-year-old Michael Burchett said as he watched the parade.

Those in the parade handed out candy and waved to the cheering crowd.

“It’s awesome,” Jones said. “We got to push the float!”

The third annual parade, which celebrates Read Across America week, was originally scheduled for last Friday, but due to snow, school was canceled.

Friday’s rain, however, didn’t dampen this indoor celebration.

Even Principal Michelle Dyer joined in, dressing as the cat from “The Cat in the Hat.”

“This is my favorite day,” Dyer said, smiling as she looked around at the floats. “It’s where after all the reading we do you get to have a little fun with it.”

        

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