Despite the rainy weather, North Elementary School teachers drove their cars on a 27-mile parade route through Noblesville for roughly three hours on Sunday.

The teachers' cars carried signs to cheer up their students, during "social distancing" guidelines because of the coronavirus outbreak. One read "Love and miss you North Stars!" and included the message "Stay well!!!" as well as heart signs and the names of several teachers. Another sign read “You are amazing kids.”

Students showed up, too. Kids stood in driveways holding posters and balloons. They wore costumes and waved. Neighbors were there, too, waving and smiling.

Less than 24 hours earlier, teachers told families they’d be driving by to wave and honk their horns to say hello — and to see the faces they haven’t look at since March 13.

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“We’ve gotten to see them on our screens, and there’s nothing like being able to see them face to face,” said second-grade teacher Stephanie Etchison, who helped organize the parade. “It was challenging not to walk up and hug them. We are elementary teachers and we thrive on their hugs.”

Like many districts in the state, Noblesville Schools moved to eLearning last week, as school buildings across Indiana closed to prevent the spread of COVID-19. On Thursday, Gov. Eric Holcomb announced all schools would be closed until at least May 1.

So teachers are getting creative — recording videos, having video chats to teach and to check in. Plus, car parades.

It all started on Saturday, when North Elementary teachers saw a video of teachers in Texas doing a car parade. They went right to Principal Rob Lugo and started organizing.

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Lugo liked the idea, too, and helped create the route map through neighborhoods and apartment complexes and spread the word via email and social media.

“The hard part was we didn’t have our materials, they were all in the school,” Etchison said. So the teachers got creative by leaving poster boards for each other on porches and finding craft supplies at home.

While North Elementary was the first in Noblesville Schools to do a parade, six other elementary schools in the district have car parade plans, too. And like the video of the Texas school, the idea is spreading on Facebook to other districts in Central Indiana.

Etchison had her daughter, Sarah, drive their van covered with messages, ” so she could wave and take video during the parade of nearly 40 vehicles.

“It was really special for everyone involved,” Etchison said, adding that she saw both current and former students along the route.

“We need this as much as they need this."

Call IndyStar education reporter MJ Slaby at 317-447-1586 or email her at mslaby@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter: @mjslaby.