Here are some fun math activities I adapted for The Flag We Love.
- The original flagmakers made many variations of the Stars Stripes. Some flags had stars in rows, stars in a circle or stars in a star formation. One version had red, white and blue stripes! Other versions had vertical stripes! Based on the following flag resolution in 1777, design your own version of the flag. It doesn't have to be a rectangle!
“…that the flag of the United States be made of thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars white in a blue field, representing a new constellation.”
- Before the Flag Act of 1818, it was customary to add a star and a STRIPE for every state that entered the Union. One flag made for Louisiana had 18 stars and 18 stripes. If that custom had continued, how many stripes would the flag have today? Draw a picture of it.
- In the 1800’s, children saved pennies to buy flags for their schools. How many pennies would you have to save to purchase a flag today? Guesstimate, then check in a school supply catalog for the correct price.
- On the school blacktop, measure and outline (in chalk or string) the size of The Star-Spangled Banner (30’ x 42’).
- How old are the Pledge of Allegiance, the Star Spangled Banner and the Fourth of July?
- Make a time line depicting the events in The Flag We Love.
- Make a graph and plot the following from today's flag: the number of blue fields, the number of points on the stars, the number of white stripes, the number of red stripes, the total number of stripes, the number of stars.
- Just like colonial flagmakers, make a five-pointed star with one snip of the scissors. Use the star and the negative-space star to create a collage or decorate a bulletin board with “Room 12’s All Stars.”
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