Guide To Surviving MHS Homecoming and Float Activities

This Survival Guide was prepared with input from parents and students to assist parent sponsors with the events of Homecoming. The information in this packet is to be used as a guide. Any questions about this guide and/or submissions of best practices for this Guide may be directed to magruderptaprez@gmail.com. The class sponsors have a copy of the

packet . Any updates or changes will be communicated to you.

What Is Homecoming?What is Battle of the Classes?

What is Float?

• Homecoming is an annual event that occurs in October welcoming back students, alumni, parents, staff and administration to Magruder High School.

• Battle of the Classes is a very popular evening student spirit competition that occurs mid-homecoming week.

• Float is one of the activities associated with Homecoming. This is a large building project done with your classmates and is presented at the end of Homecoming Week.

Activities During Homecoming Week• Spirit Week – The SGA plans various dress themes for the students during

this week.

• Battle of the Classes – This is a school wide rally where the classes compete to win. This event occurs one evening during Homecoming week.

• Football Game with Presentation of Homecoming Court – 2 Princes and 2 Princesses are nominated for the Freshman, Sophomore, and Junior Classes. 3 Princes and 3 Princesses are nominated for the Senior Class. The senior class elects a King and Queen from their Princes and Princesses. Presentation of the Court occurs at the Friday Night Football game during Homecoming Week.

• Presentation of Floats - This presentation occurs the Saturday morning of Homecoming Week.

• Homecoming Dance – The dance is the culminating event of Homecoming that traditionally occurs on Saturday night of Homecoming week.

Battle of the Classes• This event is hosted and organized by the SGA

• The Class Sponsor, with help of parent(s), organizes and runs tryouts.

• Each class puts together a team consisting of 5 girls, 5 boys and 2 alternates. The team competing typically designs crazy matching attire.

• On the evening of the event, each class comes wearing their class t-shirts. T-shirts are available for purchase prior to Homecoming Week. Classes compete against one another for the title of “Winner” .

• This is a very well attended student event. Parents are welcome to attend. Please plan to arrive early since seating is limited. There is a nominal fee for all attendees and canned foods are collected at the door as part of a community outreach.

Proceeds from Battle of the Classes goes to the SGA

Homecoming Court

• At Magruder, the Class Sponsor for each grade is responsible for nominating a group of students who have been active and instrumental in Homecoming activities, specifically those students most involved in the design, building and presentation of Float and Battle of the Classes. It will be very important to have a sign-in sheet at all float workdays as this list will determines the nominations.

• Classmates then vote from the list of nominees. The voting is conducted by secret ballot. Magruder now uses an on-line voting tool. The school will notify you and the students by email will be notified when the Homecoming Court voting begins.

• The 2 gentlemen and 2 ladies from the Freshman, Sophomore and Junior classes receiving the most number of votes will be elected as their class’ Homecoming Princes and Princesses. The 3 gentlemen and 3 ladies from the Senior class receiving the most number of votes will be elected as their classes Princes and Princesses.

• The Senior Class votes on a King and Queen from their class.

Homecoming Float Logistics

• Who is involved

• Funding

• Timetable

• Design requirements

• Design suggestions

• Materials

• Skit

Who Is Involved In Float?

• Those most heavily involved in Float are Students, Parents, and the Class Sponsors.

• Student input and involvement is truly what makes the floats so creative and fun. Each classes goal should be to encourage strong and diverse involvement.

• Parental support is critical to the success of this event. This event is parent dependent and requires active support by a group of parents and financial support by an even larger group. It is best to have a strong group of parents (including dads) involved so the various duties are shared. Ex. Structural Building, Food, Work Day Supervision/help, Design, Battle of the Classes organizer, etc. While parental support is important we encourage parents to empower the students to perform the majority of the work with guidance from the parents. The design, structure, skit and performance should be the ideas of the students.

Who is Involved? (cont.)• Each class needs a “host home” to construct the float over a 6 week

period. The host home is not required to manage the building of the float. The main responsibility of the host family is to provide the space necessary to build and store the float pieces. The storage facility should allow float pieces to remain sheltered and secure. Examples: Shed, Enclosed Trailer, Barn. There must be supervision at the host home by parents or the class sponsor at all work days. MHS does not condone nor encourage evening pranks or other nefarious activities at the host home. Sponsors, parents and class officers should discourage this type of activity. If there is any activity that causes a need for clean up – the students building at that home are responsible for the clean up.

• Each class is assigned a Class Sponsor. This class sponsor, traditionally a Magruder teacher, will follow their class through senior year. The class sponsor acts as the lead organizer by providing guidance and support for all homecoming activities. The class sponsor with the support of parents manages the students on float workdays. The sponsor also manages all donations and reimbursements.

Funding of Float• The funding of Homecoming Float comes from Class T-Shirt sales and Parent

Donations. Class T-shirts colors are chosen with the help of the class sponsor and typically they are student designed. These shirts are sold prior to Homecoming Week and worn at Battle of the Classes and the Friday of Homecoming. The class sponsor manages all money with the school’s financial officer.

• Parent Donations are collected at Back to School Night (you will have a table in the main hallway to collect donations), Freshman Orientation and during the 6 week float building period. You are encouraged to use the school’s and/or the PTA’s listserve to communicate needs to your parents. The annual estimated cost of building the float and other design needs is approximately $1,000. The Freshman class costs are traditionally higher due to start-up building costs (approx. $500). The Freshman Class begins the year with start up funds so that reimbursement of expenses can be made early on, if necessary.

• Any un-used money collected from t-shirt sales or donations (after all float expenses are paid) will be retained in the class’ account for use in the upcoming year.

Float Building Timetable

August/September

The Senior class officers announce the overall Homecoming theme from which each class then develops their own class theme. All of the floats should be tied into the overall theme of Homecoming.

Collect names and emails of interested students and families at Freshman Orientation and/or Back To School Night.

Find a float house.Plan a meeting soon after school starts. You are welcome to

use the PTA’s and/or schools listserves to advertise your meeting time and date. Here you will continue to collect names and emails of interested students and families. You will discuss work days, design ideas for your float based upon a school theme. You will discuss snack/dinner organization for work days/nights. Classes have done snacks differently so there is no one way to do this. Check with other class leaders for their best practices.

Begin designing and constructing Float.You will want to solicit 1 or 2 parents to help organize Battle

of the Classes – tryouts and practices.

October

Continue building and try to adhere to regular work days.Begin developing and rehearsing your class skit. You will want

a parent to help organize this portion of Float.Work to have the float completed by the Thursday before the

presentation day. This gives everyone involved some time to relax and recoup before the big day. Remember the Wednesday or Thursday night of Homecoming Week is Battle of the Classes and Friday night is the Homecoming Football game.

Battle of the Class Teams should be practicing for the big event.

Each class is given a prep area in the student parking lot. Your class sponsor will communicate assigned prep areas and arrival times.

Keep in mind that many of the students want to be cleaned up as soon as possible in order to get ready for the Homecoming Dance. The larger number of cleanup volunteers – the faster the clean up. You will receive credit for the number of students left for clean up.

General Timetable•2 week design/plan•2 weeks construction and skit/dance•2 weeks stuffing and skit/dance

Note: As per policy, the float may be no higher than 8ft (addl. 2 ft. contoured topper may be added for visual interest)

Students should not be standing on a level above 3ft.

The float must stay within your designated area (approx. 40ft).

The skit may not last any longer than 15 minutes.

If any of these policies are broken then 10 points will be deducted for each violation.This document is subject to change by the administration. Please use this as a guide for building and presentation.

Float 30% of the total Score

_____1. Relevance to Class Theme – The theme this year is: _________________________________

_____2. CreativityRefers to the inventiveness of the presentation – are there unique ideas/portrayals/displays? Does the float show inventiveness and inspiration with regard to presentation and the full use of the float?

_____3. Polish and CompletenessDoes the float look clean and tight without breaks or large, empty spaces?Does the float look finished – does it appear to be thrown together or rushed in spots?

_____4. Artistic QualityWhat is the quality of the artwork displayed? Is the float colorful and pleasing to the eye?Is the overall appearance or impression aesthetically pleasing?Does the float look good? Do objects really look like what they are supposed to be?

_____5. Overall EffortDid the float require more work in its attention to detail. Are the parts hand made rather than store bought. Does the float have special effects (i.e. moving parts, an ingenious use of lights, smoke, sound, etc.)?

______FLOAT TOTAL

Skit Performance 40% of the total score

_____1. Spirit

Are the students involved in the performance, spirited and

enthusiastic?

_____2. Relevance to the float

Are the students involved in the performance in some way

related to the theme of the float?

_____3. Organization

Is the performance well scripted and organized? Does it seem

like practice had taken place?

______ SKIT TOTAL

Student participation 30% of the total scoreThis section will be scored by the SGA advisor. He will

make a count 3 times of how many students are working

on the float. He will count how many students are

involved in the skit. He will count how many students are

involved in the clean up of the float.

• SCALE: 0-10

• SCORE 10 = Fulfills Category Completely

• SCORE 0 = Fulfills Category in No Way

• Point Deductions (10 points per violation)

• _____ Float pieces exceed 8 ft high _____ Skit Exceeds 15

minutes

Rubric and Design Requirements

Float Design Materials & Needs• Lumber (most lumber is for building the float panels.

• Nails, Screws, Staples. (hint: use the same size screws throughout the projects so that assembly and

disassembly is easier.)

• Chicken wire to cover float panels.

• Tissue paper purchased from Elman Packaging and Design on Gaither Road. You may choose a vendor of your choice.

• Spray glue purchased from Home Depot or Art Supply Store. (hint: plan to use one can of spray glue per panel)

• Construction Equipment (i.e. nail guns, staple guns, electric saws, ladder(s), etc.)

• Industrial sized paper cutter(s). (hint: start cutting early!)

Design Suggestions• As of 2011, the “float” is built in separate “towers”/pieces. The float committee is allowing 4 towers (design pieces) with a

maximum height of 8 ft. and a width of 8 feet. The towers will not be bolted together and they will be supported by 2-2x16’s per panel – much like a standing picture frame. You may use your current 4 x 8 panels to build the 8’ x 8’ structure or create something else from the panels. You choose. A contoured topper may be added to add visual interest but is not required. Examples: waves , birthday cake candle, etc. Be creative – remember the 4 base structures will be no larger than the 8’ x 8’.

• As of 2011, each float may have 1 movable structure and 1 stationary piece ,each no larger than 6’ x 3’ x 3’ (l x w x h)

• Framed wood panels covered with chicken wire are built to serve as the float backdrop. These panels are stuffed with tissue paper to create a design.

-Recommended Panel Sizes: 4’ x 8’ (in an effort to conserve materials, time and money we suggest that the current panels 4x8 panels are used. All classes should have more than enough to work with. At the end of each float year, these panels should NOT be destroyed. The senior class should work to have 8 panels saved and stored for the incoming Freshman class (suggestion: each of the classes can store 2 panels for the incoming Freshman).

-Recommended Number of Panels: 8 (contoured topper permitted – no larger than 2 ft in height)

• Spray chicken wire with glue then stuff chicken wire with tissue paper

• Tissue paper can be cut in 6 in. x 6 in. squares. Cut tissue paper is best stored in shoe box sized clear containers or gallon sized zipper baggies – stored by color.

• Your float drawing can be hand sketched on a large piece of butcher block paper and mounted to the panels as a guide for stuffing the tissue paper. Other classes have free handed their designs using masking tape placed directly on the chicken wire.Still other classes have outlined their creations by free handing their design with the tissue paper itself. Whatever works best for you.

• Store the stuffed float panels standing up. Do not stack the panels. It has been suggested that once the panels are stuffed use empty water bottles between the panels to keep them separated and prevent squishing of the tissue paper.

• The final assembly of the panels will be done on presentation day at Magruder. Panels and other float work will be carried in from the parking lot to your designated area on the field/track. No vehicles are permitted on the track.

Skit/Float Performance

• Each Float presentation requires a skit and performance that incorporates music and “dance”.

• The skit portion of the performance should relate to the theme of your float and incorporate the overall MHS Homecoming theme (announced at the beginning of each school year). Efforts should be made to make sure that the music and MC can be heard. You have a large crowd to capture.

• The dance portion of your performance should include as many of your float builders as possible. The more participation the better. We do not encourage having a building group and a skit/performance group. This project should be a total group effort.

• Your performance should be no longer than 15 minutes.

Homecoming Dance• Traditionally a Saturday night.• Semi-formal – Formal attire.• Traditionally 8:00-11:00 pm. • Tickets are purchased on-line or in school. • Winners of Homecoming Float are announced at the Dance.

Homecoming Dance Class Responsibilities(These duties are subject to change)

Freshman Class……………………….Coat CheckSophomore Class…………………….Food – Set up and Serve

Junior Class……………………………..Clean UpSenior Class…………………………….Decorating/Set Up (communicate clean up procedures with Junior classes)

Senior Class…………………………….Ticket design and salesClass Sponsors………………………..Check-in/Tickets

Proceeds from the Homecoming Dance goes to the Senior Class to support the

Senior Banquet and Prom

2011 Float Tower Prototypes

This is the basic idea of the float building design. You are permitted 4 of these structures. They may be smaller and differently shaped but they may not be taller than 8’. See this year’s Building Rubric for other specifics.

*4-Stand Alone 8x8 towers (maximum) with each tower supported by 2-2 x 16’ support arms. A 2 foot contoured top allowed, i.e. birthday candles or castle tops. Full 2 foot topper panels are not permitted.*1 Stationary piece - 6'x3'x3' (lwh)*1 Moveable Piece - 6'x3'x3'(Maximum # of design pieces = 6)

Discretion is given on how to use the panels- that is where the creativity comes in; however, they may be no taller than 8', they must stand alone and all pieces must be carried onto the track by students - no vehicles will be permitted inside the field entrance. All building should be completed in the parking lot with very limited construction occurring on the track/field.

The use of different artistic materials is permitted. The judging rubric for 2011 was reviewed and there are no restrictions on material use.

15 Minute maximum time for skit/performance

The staging and performance areas will be marked out float morning. Each area is approximately 40 ft.

2011 Building Rubric