Flags

 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th:

Autobiographical Flags and Imagine a Country Flags 

For the last week of school, I knew students needed a quick, but fun and intriguing project to work on. For my 1st-3rd graders, students studied various flags of the world, including, country and state flags, sports flags, college flags, maritime flags, racing flags, and medical flags (I never knew there were so many flags in the world!) We looked at overall design, logos, graphics. We realized that artists design flags and it's important to convey a message through a symbol or pictures instead of using text. We discussed the importance of flags and the different ways and reasons they are used. This was a fun project, as students loved looking a sport team flags they easily recognized and guessing at other flags and their meaning. We talked about ways to break up the space and design an initial lay out for a flag design. Students then drew pictures within the spaces to make their autobiographical flag. The flag was to describe the student's interests/hobbies/family/etc.

For 4th grade, they studied flags from other countries. We discussed common things that related the flags. Colors usually had a meaning. Certain pictures represent something (laural leaves-peace/eagle-strength/etc). White represented freedom, blue represented justice/red =bloodshed and war. Green=fertile land and gold/yellow=gold and ore. We noticed common symbols like stripes, stars, leaves.

Students were commissioned to design a flag for an imaginary country. They used colors and symbols to represent things within their country.

Students sketched out their design, traced with black sharpie. Then, the flag was colored with crayola markers. Students could add water with a brush to make the marker ink wet and have a painterly look. 

The pictures below are a mix of 1-4th.