Dream Flags

On Wednesday, February 27, 2019, the third grade G&T students of Huber Street and Clarendon Schools participated in “The Dream Flag Project” convocation as part of The Hudson County G&T Poetry Festival. The event was held at John F. Kennedy School in North Bergen and hosted by Ms. Heather Carline.

Inspired by the poetry of Langston Hughes, The Dream Flag Project is an annual poetry, art and community-connection project for students of all ages. The Dream Flag Project consists of students creating expressions of their dreams for people in a poem. Each student created a dream flag consisting of a poem and an artistic representation. Our dream flags have been dedicated to groups of people overcoming adversity. The flags were connected together on lines for display at our convocation. Each flag represented an individual expression and collectively the flags will create lines of hope and diversity.

Students in grades 3-5 from North Bergen, Kearny, Secaucus, Union City and Harrison worked cooperatively in centers to experience the following: Famous Dreamers and Thinkers Word Search Puzzle, Rock Wall Climb, Dreamer Profile, Digital Stories and Green Screen Projects, Dream Flag and Poetry Readings and the creation of Dreamcatchers.

The event culminated with our students having the opportunity to share their vision through poetry with other third, fourth and fifth grade students from Hudson County. Collaboration, teamwork and kindness was exhibited by all.

CENTERS / ACTIVITIES

Activity #1

Famous Dreamers and Thinkers Word Search:

The students worked on these word searches upon arrival. The purpose of this activity was for students from other schools to work together find the names of famous dreamers and thinkers. This was a way for students to have fun and get to know one another before the event started.

Activity #2

Rock Wall Climb:

The purpose of the Rock Wall Climb was to simulate Sir Edmund Hillary's trek to the summit of Mt. Everest. Inspirational quotes related to overcoming obstacles and taking on challenges were hung on the wall for students to read as they attempted "The Climb"

Activity #3

Dreamer Profile:

The students answered questions about themselves to determine whether they are a practical dreamer, dynamic dreamer, or creative dreamer. The purpose of this activity was for the students to evaluate and learn about their own personality. We also discussed famous figures that fall into each category of dreamers. This is an activity that came from the book "Dreams" By Susan Bosak. www.legacyproject.com

Activity #4:

Digital Stories and Green Screen Projects

The students read the dream poetry of Langston Hughes. They discussed the meaning and worked together to create animations.

Powtoon.com

Apps we used were Touchcast and Adobe Spark

We also used iMovie

Activity #5

Dream Flag and Poetry Readings

The students from each district connected their flags together and students from each district read their poems on stage.

Activity #6:

Dreamcatchers:

The students read about the legend of the dreamcatcher and worked with students from the other schools to create their own.

Preparation and Background Information

In preparation for the trip we read about the life of Langston Hughes and his dreams. We also discussed our own dreams as hopes for family members, friends and people living in other countries around the world. Students were able to brainstorm words and phrases pertaining to their dreams and hopes. A prompt for some poems were "My dream for the world is . . . " or students can created their own wording. Poems did not have to follow a specific format, but were approximately eight to twelve lines in length. Students included the following elements in their poems: a theme, a simile, a metaphor, a symbol, rhyme scheme and an artistic representation. During class we analyzed a Langston Hughes Dream Poem consisting of eight lines, two stanzas with an a b c b rhyme scheme. (The second and fourth lines in each stanza rhyme in this particular poem)