Cooperstown students plant pennants at garden

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COOPERSTOWN THIRDGRADER LOLA THOMPSON stands by the pennant she made in Cooperstown’s Kid Garden. MICHELLE MILLER | THE DAILY STAR

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July 11, 2011

By Michelle Miller Staff Writer The Daily Star Mon Jul 11, 2011, 08:02 AM EDT

Lined along the top of the wooden fence at Kid Garden are pennants made by Cooperstown thirdgraders.

The students in Kathleen Galland- Bennett’s class won this year’s scarecrow contest with their “outside of the box” idea.

At first, Galland- Bennett said she had her students brainstorm and draw what they thought would be a good design for a scarecrow.

Galland-Bennett said she was going to have the class vote on the best design, but once displayed along the chalkboard of her classroom, thought there must be a way to use all their creativity.

That is when one of the student’s moms, Rebecca Weil, came up with the idea of making pennants, Galland- Bennett said.

Weil volunteers in the classroom once aweek.

Galland-Bennett said another volunteer, Sue LaBuddle, who comes in every day to help with class activities, said she would take the pennants home to sew.

“Then the task was to think about how to get the work from paper mirrored onto fabric because third-graders really do not stitch,” Galland- Bennett said.

She said the students used fabric markers and Sharpies to draw on one side and hotglued pieces of fabric to make a garden scene on the other.

“We hope the pennants work better than a scarecrow in keeping away the deer and crows from the garden, because let’s face it, how well do scarecrows actually work?” Galland-Bennett said.

“They weave in the wind and hopefully will do the job.”

According to Galland-Bennett, preplanning took quite a lot of time, but actual production only took a day. She said the project got students thinking creatively. Educationally, Galland-Bennett said, it took team work, planning problem-solving.

"The students had to prepare a rough draft final copy of the fabric drawings, which involves a lot of preplanning patience to make it all work," Galland-Bennett said.

"The best part is everyone's plans were used, giving students representation ownership of the garden, which is nice," she added.

Garden coordinator Kristen Griger said this is the third year of the scarecrow contest with the Cooperstown elementary classes. She said each teacher submits an idea, winners are drawn out of a hat.

Griger said previous winners have been Mrs. Cole's second-grade class with a traditional scarecrow named Cole in 2009 Mrs. Butler's fifth grade with a scarecrow designed after a fictional character Belle Prater, who they were reading about in literature class in 2010.

Galland-Bennett said her students made LaBuddle a sample pennant for her to take home to put in her garden in appreciation of her hard work dedication to the contest. "I wish I could have taken them all home to my garden," LaBuddle said.

"They all did such a wonderful job." Galland-Bennett said the fabric used was donated to the elementary school.

Kid Garden was created in fall 2007. When it began, it was 600 square feet, it is now more than 3,000 square feet. Members of the public are encouraged to visit.