NEISD teacher uses creativity to combine SA tradition with science

Fiesta is a San Antonio tradition.

“I’ve lived in San Antonio my whole life and Fiesta has always been one of my favorite times of year,” Katie Parker said.

Parker is a fifth-grade science teacher at Las Lomas Elementary School.

In her classroom, she celebrates Fiesta using a twist of science.

“If the kids are having fun, then they are learning,” Parker said.

This year, both her in-person and remote fifth-graders designed science-themed Fiesta floats.

“With covid moving Fiesta to the summer, our school kind of wanted to keep the Fiesta feeling going,” Parker added.

Each of her nearly 100 students selected a vocabulary word to base their float off of.

11-year-old Elijah Gunderson created his science float around the word carnivore.

Learning about science is like really, really fun. If we get to do projects, I’m all in! It’s just really fun to do,” he explained.

11-year-old Jordyn Roscoe created a solar system science float.

“My project took about a week to do. I had to do research of what color of the planets looked like,” she said.

Every student used their knowledge and creativity to craft a parade full of colorful floats.

Parker hopes it’s through hands-on projects like this that students remember that learning is fun. 

The educator is a product of NEISD herself and even remembers making floats as a child.

“It’s just making sure these kids have a Fiesta. We didn’t have one last year so just making sure to keep that tradition going!”  

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