Amanda Hensley

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Amanda Hensley
Ed 417
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American History
The American Flag
3rd Grade
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Objectives
The third grade students will
understand the importance of the pledge of
allegiance.
understand the symbols within the American
flag.
increase their patriotism for America.
gain knowledge of the history of the
American flag.
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Web Sites
The Flag of the United States
http//www.usflag.org/toc.html
The Betsy Ross Homepage
http//www.ushistory.org/betsy/
Happy Birthday America
http//www.usacitylink.com/usa/
The American Flag Page
http//userpages.aug.com/haywire/flag.html
Flag Day Quest
http//www2.lhric.org/kat/flag.htm
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Materials Needed
Construction paper Markers Long paper for
timeline Access to the internet
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Web Sites
Student Activities
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Web Sites
1. A Closer Look at the Pledge of Allegiance
The students will be divided into five
groups. Each group will be given a line of the
pledge of allegiance to examine. The students
will look up underlined words in a dictionary to
find out what they really mean. (pledge,
allegiance, republic, indivisible, liberty,
justice, etc.) Each group will report their
results to the class. Together, the class will
summarize what the pledge means and why we say
it.
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Web Sites
2. The History of Our Flag
After the class has studied the American
flag, students will each be given an important
time in the flags history. As a class, the
students will decide how to piece the information
together in the order that they happened. Once
everyone agrees on the correct order, the
information will be placed on the timeline that
will remain in the classroom.
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Web Sites
3. Symbols
The students will learn about the various
symbols the flag has, and what they represent.
By searching the internet, they will find another
important symbol for America. They will share
their results with the class.
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Web Sites
4. Flag Acronym
The students will write an acronym for the
word FLAG based on what the flag means to them.

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F lying L ovely A merica G reat
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Web Sites
5. A Collage of Flags
Each student will be given a variety of
materials to use as they each create a flag that
represents themselves. They can include
pictures, words, or any symbols they believe in.
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The American Flag
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The flag is an important symbol for the United
States of America.

• What is a symbol?
• Can you think of any other kinds of symbols?
• Do you know of any other American symbols?

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Other American Symbols
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Where did our flag come from?

• Most people think that Betsy Ross sewed the first
  American flag in 1776, the year America was born.
  

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The flag has changed many times throughout
history.

• The country used to only have 13 states. The
  first flag had 13 stars and 13 stripes, for each
  of the 13 states.

• Some people made different versions of the
  American flag.

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When new states were added to our country, the
flag would change.

• This flag has 15 stars and 15 stripes.

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Stars and Stripes

• The government decided to make 13 stripes because
  there were thirteen original states.
• A star would be added for each new state that
  joined our country.

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The flag continued to change as new states were
added.
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Our Flag Today

• Today our flag has 50 stars, 1 for each state.
• It has 13 stripes for the 13 original states.

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The Pledge of Allegiance

• We show pride for our country every time we say
  the pledge of allegiance.
• How else do we show pride for our country?

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Flag Day

• June 14th is National Flag Day.
• Many people display their flags all year long to
  show the pride they have in their country.

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Displaying the Flag
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Other Web Sites Used in this Presentation
http//home.gci.net/alaskajoe/flag_staff.jpg
http//www.flagday.org/pictures/Pictures6.html
http//www.kidsdomain.com/holiday/july4/clip.html