Wacky Sports Week Original Personalized Team Banners

Personal Sports Banners 

Teach symbolism, geometry, and personal expression.

Materials 

drawing or copy paper
#2 pencil with eraser
colored pencils or crayons (Crayola is my preference)
felt markers (I use Crayola fine point washable markers)
craft felt 9"x 12"
assorted construction paper, card stock, or printed papers
assorted ribbon and fabric scraps
scissors
craft glue (I use Aileene's Tacky Glue)
14" .25 mm wooden dowel
accessories such as gemstones, appliques, and glitter are a few suggestions.

Process

1. Teach students about basic color symbolism.
Digiserve , Family Trees and Crests , and Color Wheel Pro  are fantastic resources.

2.  Discuss meanings of familiar shapes, symbols, and geometry used in heraldry and tartan design.

Alt Religion , and What's Your Sign have a few good ideas.

3.  Assist students in planning, sketching, and designing their own pennant or banner. Make them do most of the work.  Just give them suggestions and ideas to guide their thinking.  Use H.O.T. questions.

4.  Distribute materials reminding students the importance of conservancy and budgeting of resources.

5.  Use felt tip pens or markers when writing on felt.  

6.  Cut the felt into the desired shape. Cut inside the guidelines made with marker or felt pen to be sure guidelines are excluded from project. Isosceles triangles are most popular.

6.  Cut desired shapes and symbols from craft paper.    

7.   Affix shapes, appliques, gemstones, and glitter as desired with craft glue.  

8.   Roll felt once around dowel.  Fasten with craft glue.

9.  Tie ribbon or felt strips securely around felt until dry.  

10 Glue frayed fabric or ribbon pieces along dowel and corner points for fancier details.  

11. Display banner on classroom wall, student desks or on the sharing wall with student projects, awards, media coverage, or birthday announcements.

Kiwi Crate and my Professional Education Resources Project Kits

I was perusing Kiwi Crate for a few new ideas for projects for my summer camp kids. I was having a great time tripping the light fantastic across pages of project ideas perfect for kids when I was suddenly nudged by a gentle desire to read the "about us" page. I was pleased, but not surprised to find that the web site was created by an educator like myself who, out of sheer frustration, wanted materials and methods to make learning experiences more dynamic, economic, and efficient.  What a neat idea.

Of course, an undertaking like this probably requires a lot of connections and community resources.  I have a few good connections, but I haven't harnessed and preserved a majority of them.  The concept is perfect.  Creating projects and learning experiences for children, that can be repeated by others quickly, easily, and successfully.  The possibilities are endless and the possible capital that can be gained from such an endeavor is curious for me.

Here are a few steps I plan on taking.
1.  Accumulate resources on existing projects.
2. Make contact lists and connections for existing projects.
3. Put resources, contacts, and connections to use.  Unless I start trying my resources, contacts and connections, I wont find out if they are legitimate or reliable.
4.  Evaluate existing projects.
5. Generate a budget and costs both in time, capital, and experience cache.
6. Start sharing my projects with other professionals.
7. Follow up on participants, professionals and students who have used my projects.
8. Create a timeline and lifespan for related projects.
9.  Generate a database for archiving, bundling, or revising projects.
10.  Assess the market for needed projects and learning experiences.

I expect this post to be updated occasionally. Last updated on June 3, 2014.