HAPPY BIRTHDAY LANGSTON HUGHES!!

1/31/11 Tomorrow is the 109th birthday of Langston Hughes! His poem, "Bring me all your dreams, you dreamers . . " and his many poems that show the world the simple beauty of ordinary life and a vision of the way things could be are as inspiring today as they were when he lived and wrote. We hope The Dream Flag Project does, in some small way, make good the rich legacy he left us.

So let's celebrate! Here are a few resources for celebrating the birthday of Hughes. They could be used any time in February, really.
Fun Activity: Hughes Birthday Party Lesson Plan (from 107th birthday)
Great Site: The Poet's Voice: Langston Hughes and You
(from National Endowment for the Humanities)
Sing Along: "Dream Keeper" Set to Music (with easy guitar chords)
Sheet Music  -- Recording
Please let us know if you have sites or activities related to this great poet. We'd love to share them.

Dream Flag Teacher Workshop Spans the Miles!

1/18/11 We had a great Dream Flags on-line teacher workshop on Saturday, the 15th, with teachers from as far away as Belize and New Hampshire connecting and sharing ideas. Using Go To Meeting, we got to see the wonderfully creative reading areas for first graders at Burrel Boom Methodist School (My favorite was the sea-themed reading area that was an inflatable pool to sit in and read!), the cabin that Jennifer Carbonneau and her husband are building along with lots on their high school's reading and writing programs, and to share many ideas from near and far on Dream Flags, teaching poetry, engaging students and community, and more! It was a quick two hours spent sharing and learning how much we have in common. We can't wait to do it again in the future.

Dreamer Money In the Door!



http://www.pccy.org/

 Congratulations to Pennypacker Elementary in Philadelphia and especially to their art teacher, Melissa Thomas! The school was awarded a $4,500 grant from the Picasso Project Grants program of PCCY. PCCY is Public Citizens for Children and Youth. They awarded this sum to Pennypacker in support of their participation in The Dream Flag Project to pay for materials, supplies, and related costs. The slogan of PCCY is righ in line with Dream Flags:  "Imagine a safe world for children, then do something about it."

Ms. Thomas has years of Dream Flags experience and of finding funds to do it. If you want to be in touch with her on how she does it, just email us, and we'll connect you--or join the ning and contact her directly.

Yeay, Melissa, and dream on Pennypacker!