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Word up: Kids learn at parade
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First-grader Grace Gromada, 7, waits her turn Wednesday to go before the audience at St. Charles School to give the definition of “rainbow” at the Boardman school’s Vocabulary Parade.
BOARDMAN
Isabella Palowitz had to represent the word contortion, which is the act of twisting, wrenching or bending severely out of shape.
So the fifth-grader at St. Charles School cut a piece of paper in the shape of a person and used handles to contort the paper cut-out. It wasn’t her original idea, though, she said.
“I was planning to do a back bend,” Isabella said.
All students at St. Charles School, from kindergarten to eighth grade, participated in a Vocabulary Parade on Wednesday and used costumes and props to dress up as a word.
Principal Mary Welsh said it’s been more than five years since the school’s last Vocabulary Parade, which was inspired by the book “Miss Alaineus: A Vocabulary Disaster” by Debra Frasier.
Many other schools around the country have a similar event, Welsh said.
“Our idea is not original but the originality in this room is phenomenal,” she said, motioning around the school gym where students introduced themselves and their word to classmates, teachers and parents.
First-grader Stella Righetti held a light bulb and plug to represent her word, electricity.
“I think this project is wonderful and it helps them visualize the word,” said her mom, Heather Righetti of Canfield.
Fifth-grader Alex Stoneman was decked out in clothes printed with dark green and black leaf patterns to represent his camouflage, a word he knew before Wednesday’s parade.
“But I’ve learned a few new words,” Alex said.
One of them is troglodyte, a word referring to a caveman, assigned to Alex’s classmate, Adam Dwinnells.
Adam was in full caveman-style dress.
Other words represented in the parade were sidereal (expressed in relation to stars or constellations), polychromatic (multicolored) and prestidigitation (the act of performing tricks or illusions).
Welsh said the event is part of Catholic Schools Week celebration and highlights an important part of the curriculum.
“One of our school goals is to increase vocabulary. This is a way for students to be bombarded with new words and to be creative,” she said.