The Dream Flag Project

2007 Dream Flag Project Calendar
 

Suggested planning schedule in this color.
Important dates in this color.

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday
Wk. of 1/29   Introduction of the poetry and life of Langston Hughes. Celebrate his birthday! Introduce Dream Flag Project. Work with classes to develop school description page.
Jan. 28 29 30 31

 

 Feb. 1
 103rd Birthday of Langston Hughes!		 2
 		 3
Wk. of 2/5   Langston Hughes poetry.
4 5
 		 6
 		 7

 

 8 9
 		 10
Wk. of 2/12   Langston Hughes poetry and introduction of poetry writing. Look at site to see other schools participating and their descriptions.
11 12 13

 

 14 15
 		 16 17
Wk. of 2/19  
18 19
 		 20 21

 22 23
 		 24
Wk. of 2/26  Poetry writing culminating in each student's Dream Flag poem text.
25 26 27 28 Mar. 1 2 3
Wk. of 3/5   Transfer of poems to fabric. Email poems (text) to dreamflags@agnesirwin.org for posting on site.
4 5 6 7 8 9

 		 10
 
Wk. of 3/12 Decoration of flags. (Photograph poets holding their complete flags and/or scan flags. Email to dreamflags@agnesirwin.org for posting on site.) Phila. Region: Send home announcements and/or permission slips for students attending National Dream Flag Celebration (DFC) on April 21.
11 12 13 14 15 16 17
Wk. of 3/19  Assembly of flags on lines. (Photograph Flag Lines and poets. Email to dreamflags@agnesirwin.org for posting on site.) Phila. Region: Select readers for All Schools DFC on April 21.
18
 First Day of Spring!		 19
 		 20 21
 All program information except readers names due to Dream Flags		 22 23 24
Wk. of 3/26  
25 26International schools mailing flags send them by this date. 27 28 29 30 31
 
Wk. of 4/2  Week for sharing Dream Flags within your schools and with any partner schools for National Poetry Month. Go to web site to see poems and pictures from other schools.
April 1
Beginning of National Poetry Month.		 2
 		 3 Passover Begins 4
 		 5 6 7
Wk. of 4/9  
8 Easter 9U.S. schools mailing flags send them by this date. 10 11Names of Readers/ Poets  to Dream Flags 12 13 14
 
Wk. of 4/16  Preparation week before Dream Flag Celebration on Saturday 4/22. (Learn Dream Flag Song.)
15 16 17 18 19 20 21
 All Schools Dream Flag Celebration at Kimmel Center, Philadelphia! details
Wk. of 4/23  Celebration Dream Flags prepared for exhibition by DF volunteers.
22 23 24 25 26 27 28
Wk. of 4/30   Celebration Dream Flags prepared for exhibition by DF volunteers.
29 30 May 1 2 3 4 5
Wk. of 5/7   Exhibition of Dream Flags in Philadelphia Region. Specific dates to be determined.
6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Wk. of 5/14  
13 14 15 16 17 18 19

 

April 21
Description of 2005 Kimmel Center Dream Flag Celebration

Kimmel Center 2007 Dream Flag Celebration Details:

 Location: The Philadelphia Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, Commonwealth Plaza-- located at the intersection of Spruce Street and Broad Street in Center City Philadelphia. Commonwealth Plaza is the large glass-enclosed lobby area of the Kimmel Center. There is a stage on the south side of the Commonwealth Plaza, and our registration desk will be next to it.
Kimmel Center web site: http://www.kimmelcenter.org/
Kimmel Center directions web page: http://www.kimmelcenter.org/planning/findus.php
Kimmel Center Visitor Services phone number: 215-670-2327 Monday - Friday, 9am-5pm

Transportation: Bus drop-off can be on Broad Street (two-way) or Spruce Street (one-way east.). It’s probably easier on Broad since it’s a wider street. Parking is available at several area garages. It is pricey.
If you use public transportation, you can walk to the Kimmel Center from Suburban Station or from PATCO station on Locust St. It is a ten to fifteen-minute walk. You can also get off at the Walnut-Locust stop on the Broad Street subway. It’s a two-minute walk from there.

Who can come: Whoever would like to from your community. It’s free and open to the public.

Who can participate:
All 2006 Dream Flag groups are invited to participate. We encourage all groups to send students and teachers to participate directly if at all possible . Groups who can not attend because of distance or other reasons are invited to send Dream Flag Lines to be included when we connect them at the Kimmel Center and to send poems to be read at the event by volunteer student readers.

All students present can participate by helping by becoming Flag Holders. This means that they have to hold up the school’s Dream Flag Line for display at a certain point in the program. They’re also there to cheer on their school’s readers. In addition, this year, we hope that schools may learn “The Dream Flag Song” in advance and help sing it at a certain point in the program.

Who can read a poem: Each school will be asked to have a few poets read (or send a few poems to be read.)
Each school attending (or sending poems) can have between 2 and 6 poets/poems representing the school. The number is based on the number of participants in your school. One poet per 50 participants with a MINIMUM of 2 and MAXIMUM of 6. (If you had 200 students participating, it would be 4 poets.)

Timing:
10:30 At least one person from each school should be at the Kimmel Center with all of the Dream Flag Lines from the school. That person will register the school and  then set up the Dream Flag Lines. (This takes a WHILE with so many flags to set up.)
11:30 All students from the school should arrive by 11:30 to get familiar with what to do for poem reading, flag displays, and  singing (if applicable.)  Students have to  be chaperoned by adults from their school community.
12:00 Program begins.
1:30 Program concludes.
1:30 to 2:00 Breakdown. Schools are asked to leave the flags out for about fifteen minutes to allow the audience to walk around and view them.
By 2:00, Dream Flag lines should be packed up by schools.
Schools who wish to have their flags go on exhibition in the Philadelphia area will deliver them to the registration desk. Flags get mailed back to schools after exhibition. (More details on this later.)
Other schools should take the Dream Flags home.

Food: Students should have some kind of snack or lunch since arrival is by 11:00 and departure is between 1:30 and 2;00. The Kimmel Center has a snack bar with sandwiches, beverages and cookies, but it’s pricey. It’s a good idea for students to have their snack or lunch between 11 and 12.

 

The Dream Flag concept was created by sixth grade teachers Jeff Harlan, Sandy Crow, Helen Holt and others at The Agnes Irwin School (www.agnesirwin.org), Rosemont, Pennsylvania, U.S. The Dream Flag Project (www.dreamflags.org) is a collaborative project facilitated by Jeff Harlan and Sandy Crow. Contact dreamflags@agnesirwin.org or Jeff Harlan, Dream Flags Project Director, The Agnes Irwin School, Ithan Ave. and Conestoga Road, Rosemont, PA 19010, U.S. A.