Flags!

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During March and April, Form 5 students studied the Union Jack (UK) and the American Flag (USA). They learned how these flags were designed and studied some of their symbols.

We also studied how flags in general were designed.

We learned that flags need to be simple. They usually have two or three colours and everything in them represents or symbolises a specific aspect of the country, school, or club.

After this, students designed a flag that represented themselves, their class, or a group of friends and made an oral presentation describing their flags and telling the rest of the group about the symbolism of the different components of their flags.

The following are some of the flags students designed.

This is my flag. The blue lines represent English, the purple lines represent fun, the yellow ones represent Form 5A and I put the number 17 because we are 17 students in class. Sofia Abalo

My flag is blue and maroon. These colours represent my school, Areteia Bimbully.

Also, maroon shows courage and blue justice. The snake represents how brave we are in the class. German 5C

My flag represents Uruguay. The green shows the country. There is a flag of Uruguay and things that represent Uruguay: a cowboy (gaucho), a mate, a rhea, and a capybara. I drew a skeleton because I like it. Santino Colacce

This is my flag. It is a flag for my class. I used sky blue to represent peace. Blue represents fellowship and brown represents teamwork. The children I drew holding hands show we are a team. Luana D’Andrea

My flag represents Form 5 C. It is very colourful because my classroom is colourful. It has musical instruments to represent students. I am the guitar because I like guitars. Benjamin

My flag is very colourful showing all the different kinds of students at Areteia and because I like rainbows. The trees represent Areteia, the book shows we study. Julieta Tourn

My flag has 5 stripes and a box in the middle. It has stars inside. They represent the students in the class. I chose green to show our intelligence, white to show we all want peace, and blue to represent the school. Sol Portillo

My flag represents my class. The N is for noisy, as we are noisy. The colours I chose represent the same thing as the colours in the American flag: white represents peace, red courage, and blue justice. Mauro

My flag is orange and yellow and has a lot of Gs. The Gs represent Gryffindor because I love Gryffindor. I used orange to show I am brave and yellow to show I am happy. I was inspired by Harry Potter.

Victoria Cuneo.

Our flag has a sun that represents Uruguay, a lot of colours because we like colourful things and it has the initials of our names: JRC. Julieta Paredes, Rocio and Cloe.

Our flag has 3 colours. Blue represents Bimbully, maroon represents Areteia and white represents peace. The heart shows love and the star inside represents America. Agustina Luzardo, Giuliana Omero, Sofia Lacero, Manuela Fernandez.

This is the flag I designed for Form 5 A. The circle with children represents the students in the class. Pink shows we are fun, violet shows we are sometimes noisy, and green shows we are good children.Maite Mirabolano

The tree in our flag represents Areteia. The pencil represents students and learning, and the red and marron also represent Areteia Bimbully. It has a 17 because we are 17 students. Vale Adler and Lara Munoz

This is our flag. It has 17 stars. They represent the 17 students in the class. The green polka dots represent we are good students. The blue ones show justice and the red shows we are a bit rebellious at times. Juan Manuel Pirotto and Santino Redin

This is my flag. The radio is a symbol of how noisy we are. Red represents our friendship, blue the class wallcharts, and yellow happiness. Francisca

My flag has got orange to show we are young, blue to represent the school, white to show we want peace, and green to represent our intelligence.

There is one star for each student in the class.

Martin

My flag represents Form 5 C. The flag has triangles and circles. The triangles symbolise our happiness and the circles show that sometimes we are angry and then happy again. Juan Menchaca

This activity required different cognitive levels to successfully complete the task.

Bloom’s Taxonomy ( BLOOM, B. S. (1956). Taxonomy of educational objectives; the classification of educational goals. New York, Longmans, Green)

Remembering: Students had to remember how the Union Jack had been put together and the symbolism of certain elements of the American Flag.

Understanding: Although it was not easy, we worked with symbolism and representation. First, we worked with symbols and their meaning. Students understood that symbols can be public (those we all know what they mean, like a white dove) and private (those that are given a specific meaning for a specific purpose). They had to explain the symbols they chose for their flags to their friends.

Applying: In groups, students discussed what elements they could include in a flag to represent their class, their group of friends, or themselves. In this way, they transferred the knowledge they had acquired. They explained why the elements they chose were significant.

Evaluating: students presented their flags to their classmates justifying their design and choices. Students asked questions about the design of their classmates’ flags.

Creating: students created their own flags, choosing symbols and colours to represent their ideas.