AUSTINTOWN — For the fourth year in a row, Austintown Middle School sixth-graders got to show off their creativity by making their own miniparade floats after learning about the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

The project starts with the book “Balloons over Broadway” by Melissa Sweet, which tells the true story of Tony Sarg, who made the first parade balloons. Macy’s first asked him to design a puppet display for its windows, then to help design a parade for the store’s employees. The parade was such a success, the store decided to start having it annually.

As it grew, it became hard for people to see the puppets at the parade, so Sarg created helium puppets so all parade-goers could see them in the sky. This type of float is what is used today in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

After reading the book, students are tasked with researching the parade and finding 15 interesting facts about its history, or the history of parade floats.

Two teachers’ classes participate in the project: Jessica Tomic, a language arts teacher, and April Loudin, a STEM teacher, which encompasses language arts. Tomic’s students presented their facts to a small group and Loudin’s students presented to the class and wrote a newspaper article.

Most of that work was done at school, then the students had about three-and-a-half weeks to build their own floats at home. Tomic said she and Loudin gave some direction, such as the float had to be no larger than 2 feet by 2 feet, but they leave the creativity up to their students.

“Even the kids that don’t always shine academically come up with some really cool things,” Loudin said. “We get to see a different side of them.”

Lisa Mozzillo, who works in the school clinic, said this is one of her favorite things the students do all year. April Ferguson, who also works in the clinic, said she doesn’t often get to see the students use their imaginations like they do with this project.

This year, the 125 floats had a wide variety of themes and scenes, including Darth Vader and the Death Star, the Wizard of Oz, the Central Park Zoo, an Ohio State University football game, and even a scene of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Tomic said she sees something new every year. Some that have stood out to her over the years are a functioning bowling alley, a Star Wars nativity scene and a scene from the TV show “Friends” built with Legos.

Students vote on their favorites during class and AMS staff members get to vote as well. The top three floats will get prizes.