Words are the foundation of knowledge. They are powerful tools used to express ideas, communicate with others, access knowledge, and learn about new concepts. Research shows a strong relationship between student word knowledge and academic achievement. As a result, building academic content vocabulary is an important part of science instruction. Vocabulary instruction research states that teachers should provide structured opportunities for students to encounter and use new words in authentic and engaging ways (David 2010). The authors believe that "vocabulary parades" are a creative, structured, and engaging way to build science content knowledge and demonstrate understanding and thinking. The vocabulary parade is an innovative instructional strategy that creatively combines vocabulary instruction and visual literacy. A vocabulary parade provides students with an opportunity to creatively interpret words using costumes, props, posters, or hats. This article describes the "Hats-Off-to-Science" vocabulary parade in which students bring vocabulary to life by creating science-themed hats for a fifth-grade parade. (Contains 2 tables, 4 figures and 2 online resources.)