Dreams on the Steps of Langston Hughes!

4/28/11 These students from Storefront for Children in Harlem, New York, are standing on the steps of the Langston Hughes House! Guided by their teacher, Steve Bergen, they have created wonderful Dream Flag poems. . . AND . . .they stood on the steps of Hughes to read them for us.

Check out their Dream Flag web page HERE and don't miss the "click" links because you'll see video of the students reading their work right on those famous steps. Thank you, Storefront for Children and Steve for taking these dreams to a place where Mr. Hughes started it all . . .

School in Austin, TX Takes Dream Flags to Haiti and Nicaragua!

Students at St. Etienne in Salmadere, Haiti.

4/19/11 St. Stephens' School in Austin, Texas brought The Dream Flag Project to students at a Haitian orphanage and to their sister schools in Haiti and Nicaragua this year. Thanks to teachers Vicki Woodruff, Cindy Morriss, and the work of the school's service program, they made this leap and connected the dreams. Do check out the great article on their web site that tells the whole story and has many more great pictures. Fly On Dreams!!
St. Stephen's Dream Flag Article and Pictures
Video of Service Project in Haiti Including Dream Flags

Dreaming Big in Belize

Dawn Flowers at Burrell Bloom Methodist School in Belize is helping all of us spread the dreams! This Wednesday, April 14th, she will be a guest speaker at the Belize National Library Service Book  Fair.  She's been invited to teach other educators about The Dream Flag Project and how to connect. This year 300 students from Burrel Bloom Methodist have made Dream Flags, and they're going to be exhibited at the Book Fair, as well as a local hospital and bank! Talk about dreaming big! Thanks to you, Dawn, from all of us. Please keep dreaming!

Philly Library's After School Learning Starts Dreaming!

3/22/11 Last Saturday, some of the teen and adult leaders of the after school learning programs in Philadelphia's 54 branch libraries learned about Dream Flags and made their own. We look forward to seeing the dreams come together, especially since there will be a terrific exhibition of Dream Flags flanking both sides of the main entrance to the Main Branch of the library come mid-May. We'll post updates and a flag or two from Saturday soon. . . .

One-Stop Dream Flag Shopping!

3/10/11 Here's a link for your must-have-it all-in-one Dream Flags document for 2011. It's a total list of what to do when with links that get you there! CLICK HERE

Looking Ahead to Dreams!

2011 DREAM FLAG PROJECT DATES

2/7/11 Looking ahead to dreaming together takes vision (and planning)! Since The Dream Flag Project is not only about dreaming, but about dreaming together, we try to coordinate our activities so that we have the best chance of connecting each year in April and May. Each year,we ask participant groups to complete the Dream Flags by April, National Poetry Month. Then the connections begin. Many schools do their own local exhibitions and displays of Dream Flags. We have a large gathering here in Philadelphia and invite everyone who can to come, and for others to send Dream Flags. This year we've also got a wonderful connection to Nepal, and on May 19, our Dream Flags will start a trek up to 12,500 feet where they'll be connected at the Khumjung School. (Much more detail on that later.) For now, here's a list of dates and events that may help as you look ahead to a dream-filled spring. And if we can post your Dream Dates, let us know. We'd love to. 2010-11 DREAM FLAG PROJECT DATES

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.