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A Salute to
Flag Day
Flag Day recognizes the June day in 1777 when the Continental Congress adopted
the "Stars and Stripes" as the official flag of the United States. Following are classroom activities to recognize and celebrate Flag Day--June 14.
Collect a variety of books and other resources on the subject of the U.S.
flag. In the days leading up to June 14, invite students to use the Internet
and the other resources you've collected to learn more about the U.S. flag. Ask students
to record in their notebooks any facts they find that they didn't know before
about the flag or Flag Day. Set aside a special time a day or two before Flag Day
for students to share the facts they've collected. Those facts might include
a few of the following:
- In 1814, Francis Scott Key wrote a poem, "Defense
of Fort McHenry," when he saw the flag still flying the morning after
an attack by the British. Today, that poem is known by another name: "The
Star-Spangled Banner."
- The Flag Act of 1818 states that a star be added
for any new state on the Fourth of July following that state's admission.
- Flag
Day was observed for the first time in 1877, the 100th anniversary of the adoption of our country's red-white-and-blue
banner.
- Students first said the Pledge of Allegiance in 1892, the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the Americas.
- In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson established Flag Day as an annual national celebration.
- Congress officially recognized Flag Day by passing the National Flag Day Bill in 1949, during President Harry Truman's administration.
- In 1983, the world's largest flag was displayed in Washington, D.C. The flag, which measured 411 feet by 210 feet, weighed
7 tons! Each star measured 13 feet across!
Who designed the U.S. flag? Ask that question of your students, and chances are they'll say Betsy Ross designed the U.S. flag. But did she?
No one knows for sure who designed the U.S. flag or who created the first one. Today, most experts agree that Francis Hopkinson, a delegate to the
Continental Congress from New Jersey, designed the flag. But, in 1870, William J. Canby claimed that his grandmother, a seamstress from Philadelphia named
Betsy Ross, made the first U.S. flag.
Challenge students to use the Internet and other resources to learn more about this debate and to come to their own conclusions about who designed
the first U.S. flag.
Article by Gary Hopkins
Education World® Editor in Chief
Copyright © 2009 Education World
Last updated 04/24/2009
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