Group Names

[Anne]

Has anyone come up with group names yet?
We are expanding our VBS this year so I've got 14 groups to come up with names for. I tried to think of different ways to say "agents" but only came up with 4: agents, moles, detectives, spies

Anne

[TrinityJen]

My son wants the groups to be named after spy gadgets. But I can't think of that many gadgets, and most are not good group names. I am waiting for the starter kit, it usually lists suggestions. I also want to see the clip-art, I like having graphics for each group.

[VBSMOM]

There is a spy museum in Washington DC - my son went when he was in the 6th grade. My youngest son (8) is convinced he is a secret spy...so we have all the gadgets...you might rent "Inspector Gadget" and see if anything from that gives you any ideas. Here is the website for the museum, you might find something there that is useful...http://spymuseumstore.stores.yahoo.net/0173.html

[NormaVK]

I still can't settle on what to name our groups. I have had lots of ideas, now I am leaning toward naming them for the different space shuttles--the Gemini crew, Apollo crew, Vikink, Mariner, Voyager, Surveyor, Friendship, Explorer, Ranger, etc. If you have lots of groups to name, there are lots of options if you go this route.
Norma

[maanki]

We are a small church and I will only have 3 groups. They will be called "Agents X" , "Agents Y " and "Agents Z".Then Friday,at our closing, they will be promoted to "Sonforce Secret Agents". It will be like giving them a graduation service at the end of the week. I will have a different color for each group.But I'm not sure as what tho..a hat? flag?.Still working on that ! :)

[Josh1]

Maanki,
For SonTreasure Island, the VBS Director made signs for each of the different age groups. It was a wooden handle, 2 square pieces of foam and 2 pennants (One with a Daily Treasure or the SonTreasure Island Logo and one blank one for the name of the group.) The square pieces of foam where duct taped to the wooden handle and taped at the top. Then the pennants were stampled to the foam. Some of the signs well apart because the kids were missing with them but if the kids use them for what they're for they'll hold up.
God Bless,
Josh Trommer:rolleyes:

[TrinityJen]

This is what we did the last 2 years. In 2004 (Kingdom of the Son) we had used the animals for each group. We had PVC pipe and foam core poster board. The in 2006 (SonTreasure Island) we used the same PVC pipe added a T to the top and made cloth banners. Each animal was painted the color of the group.


http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid179/pea1ad8865e1bd2c8fe303fb230821916/f3173184.jpg
http://meijer.lifepics.com/net/ImageDisp.aspx?filespec=%60foxhxdc%7cgr%3b%3ctta27 %40%3b9%3c7dOjeOrmlf798938%3d%3a2tso%0b51%3a%3e9%3 b%1338251%3c&maxSize=450

This year? I still don't know.

[maanki]

Thankyou Josh :) and Trinity Jen:) ,
Your ideas are GREAT !! Pictures are too ! ( And people not involved in vbs snicker at us...if they only knew the DETAILS we have to figure out; OF COURSE it takes us ALL YEAR to plan one week !! :) ) God bless you and many thanks again !! :) :)

[NormaVK]

I'm thinking of having my pew markers/flags in the shape of a badge with the SonForce Kids logo in the middle and the crew names arcing over the top and around the bottom. Wish I knew how to post pictures to better explain what I'm talking about.
Norma

[Josh1]

You're welcome maanki!:)
TrintyJen, those banners/signs are AMAZING!:D I totally forgot about banners/signs for the different age groups when thinking about VBS. You could use the clipart from the CD to create your banners/signs depending upon the theme you want to get across. Space or the Spy/Secret Agent theme. Another idea would be to use the skit characters.
God Bless,
Josh Trommer:rolleyes:

[TrinityJen]

The shield from KoS 2005 were a LAST MINUTE thing. I couldn't afford the foam board, but found exactly 6 pieces in a storage room that had been donated. Then we traced the shape, used the over head projector and traced the animals. Then I carried 3 of the traced shields into church w/ me one Sunday w/ the plan just to ask people until someone agreed to paint them. The first people I asked were a mother and high school daughter and they agreed to paint all 6 (in 1 week). Monday of VBS we were still adding the fur around the edges.

So for STI in 2006 my assistant director made the fabric 'island banners' and we asked the same family to paint them and gave them a little extra time.

This year I am thinking maybe a flat toped shield or a diamond shape. The fabric much cheeper than foam board so it is still an option.

[CammieSue]

We meet in our fellowship hall for opening assembly when the groups meet. We have lights that have metal grates covering them. We make banners and placed a wooden dowel in the banner and hang them from the lights. So far it has worked great - the kids don't try to pull them down, and there is nothing on the floor to get in there way.

[NancyP]

I still can't settle on what to name our groups. I have had lots of ideas, now I am leaning toward naming them for the different space shuttles--the Gemini crew, Apollo crew, Vikink, Mariner, Voyager, Surveyor, Friendship, Explorer, Ranger, etc. If you have lots of groups to name, there are lots of options if you go this route.
Norma

That's an interesting idea. I too have been musing on what to call the groups. I do the name tags to fit. Last year we used animals - parrots, monkeys, turtles, dolphins, etc. and I used the clip art of the different animals to make the name tags - each group in a different color. It makes it easy to spot where each child belongs that way.

I want to get the name tags done early this year so that job is out of the way. I'm leaning towards using military terminology and naming them Alpha Squad, Bravo Squad, Charlie Squad, Delta Squad and Echo Squad. (We always have five groups.) In a naming scheme like that, I could just use rectangular tags in different colors and perhaps put a large capital letter in the corner - A, B, C, D and E. I might even try to find different spy silhouettes or cartoon spys to put on the tags. That would be for the older kids. I'm not sure what I'll do for the preschool kids. I was thinking space names - planets, comets, stars - but I'm not sure they're old enough to understand most of that. I haven't looked at the clip art disk yet beyond grabbing the logo, so I'll see what they've got there and come up with something to differentiate the preschool groups.

[TrinityJen]

This is what our name tags look like so far. This is a first draft from my friend who volunteered to do name tags this year. :cool:

The plan is to use the different gadgets for the images each group has. Plus we will use color. Last year we used citrus colors, this year will either be primary colors or jewel tones. I plan to have the youngest group be red and the oldest violet. We will probably have 7 groups preschool-6th.

I'm leaning towards using military terminology and naming them Alpha Squad, Bravo Squad, Charlie Squad, Delta Squad and Echo Squad. (We always have five groups.) In a naming scheme like that, I could just use rectangular tags in different colors and perhaps put a large capital letter in the corner - A, B, C, D and E.

I really like that too! Maybe instead of the robot I might use the letter, or put a giant water mark letter right in the middle. Enough to see but light enought it doesn't take away from the design. (Just added a 2nd picture)

FUN! :eek:

[Anne]

Here is what I have finally come up with:
Twinkling Stars - Nursery
Shooting Stars - 3&4 yr. olds
Kindergarten: Crazy Comets, Magnificent Meterorites, Energectic Eclipses, & Amazing Asteroids
1st-5th: I took the shuttle names - Team Atlantis, Gemini, Endevour, Skylab, Discovery, Colombia, Mercury and Apollo

OUr signs in the past have been pretty generic with just the name and construction paper background. Seeing what some of you have done, I think I need to elaborate on them more.

Anne

[TrinityJen]

I have a new idea for my 'banners'. What I am thinking is....making little robots the groups carry on the PVC poles. A large cereal box for the body, paper towel tubs for the legs & arms, a peanutbutter jar for the head. then I can put the symbol &/or name of the group on the box. The robots might even be color coded. I need to make a sample.

[KarenF]

You are so creative! I can't wait to see it.

[Chele]

What if you used countries for the group names like we did the Olympic year? We could have Son Force kids from all over the world working together to further the gospel.

[Chele]

We have over 300 kids and lots of groups. Last night I had the idea of using Greek letters to name the groups. I am a math teacher so I pulled out my calculus book and found the Greek alphabet. We will use Alpha Force, Delta Force, Gamma Force, Omega Force, etc. I am also going to assign a different color to each group so ID badges will have a particular color and symbol to identify the group. I may do flags/banners for each group to carry from rotation to rotation. Just a plain color with group's Greek letter.

[VBSMOM]

Can you attach the alphabet with the letters so we can copy your idea?

[TrinityJen]

You can Google 'Greek Alphabet': This one looked helpful http://people.msoe.edu/~tritt/greek.html
Also when using MS Word if you Insert > Symbol > you will get a choice of Greek letters under most fonts.

[NormaVK]

I love this idea. Please share the alphabet with us!
Norma

[Josh1]

Neat idea! I'm just going to use the skit characters as group names like the Inez Halley Group, the Robot Group, etc. The skit characters will be painted in their groups color with a black outline.
I don't know if I want to make the t-shirts for the Guides the same color as the groups. I think it shows separation (which it's supposed to) but we are all SonForce Agents at SonForce Kids.
God Bless,
Josh Trommer:rolleyes:

[sara2002]

I am thinking about using the planets for group names. For example Preschool would be Mercury Group, Pre-K would be Venus group, Kindergarten would be Mars group, !st & 2nd grade Jupiter, 3rd & 4th grade Saturn, and 5th & 6th Neptune.

[TrinityJen]

I thought about planets but I would probably need to use Uranus......

[sara2002]

I only have six groups and so I am lucky that I don't have to use Uranus because that just wouldn't work.

[NancyP]

I posted originally that I was thinking of using military terminology - Alpha Squad, Bravo Squad, etc. Then someone else posted about using Greek letters. After talking with my pastor, we've decided to combine the two ideas. We're going to go with either Squad or Force as the designation, but use Greek letters (or combinations) that have Christian significance.

So, we'll definitely be using Alpha and Omega (Force or Squad), the Icthos (I know I didn't spell that right - the one that goes with Fish for the symbol of Christ), possibly the ChiRos (again, I know I didn't spell that right), and some others. My pastor came up with about 8 or 9 possibilities right off the top of his head, so he was going to think about it a bit and figure out what would be good. Then at the opening assembly each morning, we'll explain the significance of each group's designation.

That's for the older groups. We break them up into 5 main groups, and they visit a different classroom each day. I'll have to do something simpler for the preschool kids. I think the Greek would be too much for them. I may just use A, B, C, D and E squads for them. Or planets would work well for them.

[TrinityJen]

What a great idea! I have had fun looking up symbols. I might even use it as a quiz for my 5th & 6th graders for Sunday School.

http://www.christiansymbols.net/
http://www.symbols.net/christian/

The Crown, the Trinity, different crosses.....

At this rate I will never decide what to name my groups!

[lighthousecog]

I love the idea of Christian symbols. I think I just may do that my self.

Michele

[KarenF]

How about books of the Bible?
We may use:
Genesis Squad-preschool
Exodus Squad-grades 1-2
Solomon Squad grades 3-4
Revelation Squad- grades 5-6
What do you all think? Would that work?

[houseparent]

I have decided to use Space Shuttle crew names for my groups. (They had to get to the space station somehow.) I will have:


Discovery Crew
Atlantis Crew

Endeavour Crew


Since the originals of the following were both destroyed, we will pretend that they were replaced and named

Challenger II Crew

Columbia II Crew



If you needed a 6th crew you could use Enterprise, though that one never made it to space.

If you have more than 6, you'll either need to make up names or do something different.

I plan to make color coded banners or shields for each crew. I will post a picture when I am done.

[NormaVK]

I'm also using space shuttle names for my groups. Here are a few that you didn't mention: Gemini, Viking, Apollo, Mariner, Voyager, Surveyor, Friendship, Explorer and Ranger. You have lots of choices. I am not using the names of the ones that were destroyed since there are so many others to chose from.
Norma

[kimbak]

We have decided to use the greek alphabet with a twist: Alpha Agents, Beta Bionicles, Gamma Gadgets, Delta Droids, Sigma Spies. We were going to just do Alpha squad etc..., but the kids really had fun with the sillier names (crazy crabs etc...) So we decided to make it more fun.

[houseparent]

I'm also using space shuttle names for my groups. Here are a few that you didn't mention: Gemini, Viking, Apollo, Mariner, Voyager, Surveyor, Friendship, Explorer and Ranger. You have lots of choices. I am not using the names of the ones that were destroyed since there are so many others to chose from.
Norma


I'm sure they will be fine to use, but those are not shuttle names. Only the first three and Friendship (part of the Mercury Program) are manned missions.

I considered using names from other space programs, but decided against it. Our VBS is small enough that I could use "Enterprise" and "Buran" (Russian Shuttle) and avoid having to pretend Challenger and Columbia were rebuilt, but I might just stick with my current plan.

[Teresa Peters]

Kim,
I like your idea!! Alpha Agents, Beta........; I am going to use it!! I love the sharing on this board. I am a VBS addict and others just don't understand.:D

[lighthousecog]

:D I understand you Teresa. Kim LOVED the idea. Something to think about.

[ana]

Michele (lighthouse) this does not have anything to do with the thread but I noticed you were in St Marys GA are you anywhere near the wildfires? I'm in Jacksonville and the smoke has filled the sky here for 2 days--just wondering if you were near them in anyway--also when is your VBS cause you all are very near me.
Ana

[NormaVK]

Houseparent, you're better informed than I am about the shuttles! So I guess I am technically not naming my groups after shuttles, but we are using some of the names I mentioned. Like you, I figured they had to get to this satellite somehow.
Norma

[prc]

Last year I bought giant butterfly nets with long handles at the dollar store, attached the groups names to the poles and the groups carries them with them. I was thinking of re-working them, taking the net off and covering them with saran wrap or plastic to look like giant magnifying glasses for this year.

[Teresa Peters]

What an amazing idea!

[lighthousecog]

:confused: :) Just when I thought I had an idea on group names, new ideas come up. Keep the ideas coming.

[maanki]

I didn't get that creative with my group names.You all are outstanding and creative !:) I went soo simple......... Agents X , Agents Y , and Agents Z ! Friday , they are promoted to "Sonforce Agents " !! I made flags and bought paper wrist bands (like you get at concerts,etc) so each group has their own color flag with a big letter on it and matching color wrist bands.

maanki