 U.S. Flag 1777-1790 |  U.S. Flag 1837 - 1845 | U.S. Flag 1859-1861 |
 U.S. Flag 1877-1890 |  U.S. Flag 1891-1896 | U.S. Flag 1960-present |
Clicking on any of these flags will show them larger in a new window.
How many stripes are in our present flag pictured above? (The bottom right flag that has been in use since 1960.)
How many stars?
What do the numbers of stars and stripes represent?
U.S. Congress is again considering whether to grant statehood to Washington D. C. and Puerto Rico. Our activity is about the possible designs of a new 52-state flag.
Teachers may wish to engage in a discussion of the pros and cons of this decision and what it would mean for the House of Representatives, the Senate, Puerto Rico, and Washington D. C.
The activity: USFlag.pdf
CCSS: 3.OA, 4.OA
The activity as a PowerPoint show: Evolution-Flag.pptx
For members we have an editable Word docx and solutions.
USFlag.docx USFlag-solution.pdf
For a little hands-on, artsy follow-up to this activity, let students experiment with folding and cutting a 5-pointed star. History gives credit to Betsy Ross for teaching George Washington that making a 5-pointed star is easier to cut out perfectly than a 6-pointed star. Betsy Ross's 5-pointed star.