HIT: Liberty theme

[Carol Wheat <cwheat@BELLSOUTH.NET>]

Many thanks to those who sent ideas for a Liberty theme at our new
school!  I have edited them into two different sections since the
Liberty theme could be used at any school.

One of the benefits of our group's brainstorming and sharing ideas with
each other - even one idea - is that it can spark other ideas.  The
first idea about the WNBA team gave me the idea of having some kind of
reference scavenger hunt or Daily Detective or Calendar Clue type
activity using the word Liberty - who has it as part of their name and
where is the word or idea used -- coins, the Liberty bell, sports teams,
companies, etc.  Perhaps a lesson on Internet Boolean searching might
work.  I'm going to use some search engines and reference books and see
what I can come up with along this line.

Liberty theme:

Not sure how to tie this in, but I think there is a WNBA team, named
Liberty.

Could easily tie in U.S. Flag and others.

Carol you could use the Right to Read, or something like "Liberate Your
Mind - With Books!" If your students are elementary, maybe something
with Freedom would be better, and then make the tie to Liberty. Or you
could use the whole idea of a fresh start - new school, new country,
the revolution, immigration, etc. I think I would use the star nametags
on the corner of quotes (like Thomas Jefferson's "I cannot live without
books," or book titles, or even string them together and use them as a
swag.  Sounds like a wonderful theme. Since the statue of liberty is
carrying her "book," you could even tie in something about returning or
taking care of books by giving her a speech bubble, something like "Your
library book is FREE - until you lose it."

Have you considered something about the liberty to learn?  Another
direction that you could go with that idea is: educating students today,
so they will be at liberty to choose their careers tomorrow.
A second possibility for the previous statement would be: educating
students today, so they will be at liberty to follow their dreams
tomorrow

A patriotic theme certainly suggests itself as well as a multicultural
one (making up our country from many places with welcome signs in many
languages). The statue of Liberty and welcome certainly tie in together.
It all depends on your community also.

How about something simple like "Feel Free to Read!"  or  "Lady Liberty
lights the way; you bring the book!" maybe ... "Come read our
Constitution! (if you can)" or  "Reading is a freedom everyone should
have! (too many don't)"

Or perhaps a little more complicated and thought-provoking like ...
"Where would our Motherland be if our Founding Fathers couldn't read?"
"Lady Liberty holds a tablet; can you read it?"
"If we love Lady Liberty, where do we send her loveletters?"
"Freedom needs to be exercised in order to remain alive... go run an
adventure between the covers of a book!"
"Lady Liberty holds the Rules of Freedom in her arm; who will read them
for us?"

Or poetically:

Can we read anything in the dark of the night?
Lady Liberty says, "Certainly.  I have the light."
or...
Our freedom is hard-fought and it's something we need...
We'll certainly lose it soon if we don't learn to read.
or...
She shines her light for those far and near...
To share with others the freedom we hold dear.

She shines her light to those near and far...
Like a beacon to freedom ... she's a shining star.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *
New school ideas:

Perhaps Eagles for the mascot ... or maybe Patriots (Southern Belles and
Southern Gentlemen for girls and boys) ... maybe the Free Spirits...
with a slogan of "Feel Free to Be Yourself" or maybe "We're Helping
Build a Better You" or perhaps "We Share What We Know" with a
school-wide theme of older students helping younger students... "Freedom
Isn't Free, It Costs!" and have students focus on the costs they must
endure to make sure the country remains free; the sacrifices they have
to make to schoolwork when they are younger will make it that much
easier for them when they get older...

Colors might be red, white, and blue... or perhaps "mix the white and
red and come up with pink" and blue ... blue for boys and pink for
girls... for activities days and competitions perhaps... I'm an old
fashioned kind of guy, what can I say?

The impressions I get when I think of school colors come from the Statue
of Liberty itself.  For school colors you might consider a light blue or
green similar to the color of the statue on say a dark navy blue
background.  If your looking for a mascot that goes with the idea of
liberty, you might consider the patriots.  This would probably not fall
under attack for being sexist since any person could be a patriot.

I think the fact that it is a new school and does have such an
interesting object near it opens up a lot of possibilities.  One is that
you and the art teacher or the reading teacher or the music teacher can
work together to come up with some ideas collegially.  Also this gives
the school the opportunity to have input from the kids.  What ideas
might they have?  How about contests?  Of course, you want to pick
carefully since the school supposedly will be around for a long, long
time and you want appropriate mottoes, pets, mascots, or whatever
selected.

Thanks again,
Carol
--
Carol Wheat
Library Media Specialist
Vestavia Hills Elementary - Liberty Park
Vestavia Hills, AL
cwheat@bellsouth.net

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