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MaryM
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Between Flag Day (June 14) and Independence Day (July 4) we are going to be doing a United States Flag unit study. Care to join us?
Facts about flags in general
This is a nice general flag history picture book Flags Over America: A Star Spangled Story
Stars and Stripes: The Story of the American Flag - Excellent picture book tells the story of the various versions of the American flag. Each page features a different time period or flag. There are notes on the flags at the front of the book which gives historic notes on the flag featured by page. End note addresses the legend/myth of Betsy Ross. The pictures are full page, very bold and dynamic opposite the text page.
American Flags: Designs for a Young Country is a small coffee table type book with a folksy feel. Each page features a historic American flag from pre-Revolution to early 1900s. I was amazed at the variations we have had to the flag through the years - more complex topic than my impression of "just adding a star." Also includes a variety of historic flags beyond the US Flag - like political party flags, battle/war flags, and all the variations that individual flag makers incorporated into their specific designs - not as uniform as I would have thought at any given time in history. Well done.
The Stars and the Stripes: The American Flag as Art and as History from the Birth of the Republic to the Present - a coffee table book of flag/patriotic Americana in art, including historical changes in US flags
Children's Non-Fiction titles about the US Flag:
From Cloth to American Flag - photographic depiction of the making of a modern US flag
The American Flag - lots of interesting facts and history, photo illustrations
The American Flag - timeline, craft, history, facts all in one
The Flag We Love - poetic look at the flag. Each page is a stanza about the flag and what it represents and where it is flown, with a fact box below. Nice illustrations.
Website rabbit trails on flag history:
Flag website - includes history of the flag, representations of the various flags through history, patriotic writings, and interesting flag facts/FAQs, & "how to fold the flag" sections
A good historical view of flags of the US
Ben's Guide - US symbols: the flag
The Flag Maker is the story of Caroline Pickersgill and her mother, Mary, a Baltimore flagmaker commissioned to sew the huge Fort McHenry flag that inspired the "Star-Spangled Banner." Picture book story focusing on young Caroline's part in this piece of history. Tells much about Baltimore during this period of the War of 1812. Detailed illustrations show life in an early 19th century US city.
A Flag for the Fort (Carl Carmer) - Chapter book, historical fiction
Website rabbit trails on Mary Pickersgill:
The Flag House & Star-Spangled Banner Museum
Mary Young Pickersgill
By the Dawn's Early Light - story book depiction of the writing of the Star Spangled Banner by Francis Scott Key. Beautiful illustrations with an "old" feel.
Other Star Spangled Banner books:
Peter Spier's Star Spangled Banner
The Star Spangled Banner illustrated by Ingri & Edgar Parin D'Aulaire,
Star Spangled Banner
The Star Spangled Banner
The Star Spangled Banner
Website rabbit trails on Star Spangled Banner & Francis Scott Key:
Fort McHenry website 1 & website 2
Smithsonian Institute's Star Spangled Banner site - incredible site, lots of interactive info, also several audio versions of the song.
Francis Scott Key
Hold the Flag High - powerful picture book story of Sgt. William Carney, first African-American to earn the Congressional Medal of Honor. Tells the story of Carney's actions/experience during the Battle of Fort Wagner, one of the first occasions when black troops were sent into combat during the Civil War. Involves courageous display of the flag. Very interesting story of an incident we don't usually hear about in the textbooks.
Website rabbit trails on William Carney:
Black Bostonians and the Civil War: The 54th Massachusetts Regiment
Carney Story
“Boys the old flag never touched the ground” song lyrics
The Old Flag Never Touched the Ground painting
Flag Day - Non-fiction children's book on the history of the celebration in the US known as Flag Day.
Flag Day website - includes crafts, trivia, etiquette, Flag Day cards,
Flag Day printables
American Flag Foundation has educational resources for Flag Day
Fact Monster Flag Day/Flag info
Activities
-Learn how to properly fold and fly a flag, then practice.
-Learn to hand sew some strips of fabric, basic stitches
-While out driving, count the number of American flags you see flying. What kinds of places fly flags? Compare the number you see on Flag Day, 4th of July to other days.
-Discuss flags used as signals, other means of signaling throughout history. Another interesting history picture book about secret signals is The Scarlet Stocking Spy.
International Maritime Signals
- And fun interactive site where you type in words and maritime signals appear
Semiphore Flag Signalling System
- And another fun interactive at this site where you enter text and it translates to semiphore
- Make a list of all the nicknames you can think of for the US flag. Find out where the names originated if you can.
-Find out about your state flag – what are the symbols and meaning?
-Compare the US flag to flags of other countries.
-Stars and Stripes Windchime
-Ribbon Door Flag
Recipes
Flag Berry Tart
Flag Cookies
Star Shaped Short Cakes
Fourth of July Cupcakes
Angel Food Flag
Star Spangled Crispies
All American Chocolate Covered Strawberries
Music - click on link to hear the song
Star Spangled Banner
Grand Old Flag
Stars and Stripes Forever
Johnny Cash's - The Ragged Old Flag audio
CD Compilations
America's Favorite Patriotic Songs
Patriotic Songs and Marches
Gather the troops for a rousing game of "Capture the Flag"
After completing this study you will be a vexillologist!
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Mary M. in Denver
Our Domestic Church
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lapazfarm
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| Posted: June 13 2006 at 2:47pm | IP Logged
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WOW! That is one amazing unit!
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Theresa
us-schooling in beautiful Fairbanks, Alaska.
LaPaz Home Learning
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marihalojen
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Incredible!
Excellent unit to train vexillologists!!
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~Jennifer
Mother to Mariannna, age 13
The Mari Hal-O-Jen
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JennGM
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I love when you get your creative juices flowing and share it all for us! Thanks, Mary!
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Jennifer G. Miller
Wife to  & ds1  '03 & ds2  '07
Family in Feast and Feria
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Dawn
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| Posted: June 14 2006 at 5:05am | IP Logged
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Mary, these are wonderful ideas! Thank you so much for sharing them!! 
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Dawn, mum to 3 boys 
By Sun and Candlelight
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Erica Sanchez
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| Posted: June 20 2006 at 12:00am | IP Logged
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Mary,
I'm printing this all out now and wanted to add my THANKS. Awesome!!
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Have a beautiful and fun day!
Erica in San Diego
(dh)Cash, Emily, Grace, Nicholas, Isabella, Annie, Luke, Max, Peter, 2 little souls ++, and sweet Rose who is legally ours!
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ladybugs
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| Posted: June 20 2006 at 10:23am | IP Logged
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Thanks from me, too, Mary!
I've put the books on hold and look forward to this.
I love the way the tart looks! Yum!
Thanks, again!
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Love and God Bless,
Maria P
My etsy store - all proceeds go to help my fencing daughters!
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Erica Sanchez
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| Posted: June 22 2006 at 1:01am | IP Logged
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I found two more books for your flag unit, Mary.
I Pledge Allegiance is a very cute book by Bill Martin, Jr. with simple red, white, and blue pictures for younger children.
United We Stand: Flying the American Flag is an awesome little book that shows over 100 of the major magazines that featured an image of the American flag on its cover to celebrate Independence Day in 1942 in response to Pearl Harbor. The different pictures of the flags are great, but so is looking at all the different magazine titles of old. There are also lyrics to patriotic songs and flag poems scattered throughtout. I'd like to own this one!
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Have a beautiful and fun day!
Erica in San Diego
(dh)Cash, Emily, Grace, Nicholas, Isabella, Annie, Luke, Max, Peter, 2 little souls ++, and sweet Rose who is legally ours!
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MaryM
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| Posted: June 22 2006 at 2:56am | IP Logged
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I'm glad that others have been interested in the unit study. We have learned a lot putting it together and are enjoying the study.
Thanks for your suggestions, Erica. Of course any US flag study should include discussion of the Pledge of Allegiance. Don't know how I left that out other than it was just getting so long. The book you recommended looks good - as does this one: The Pledge of Allegiance. I'm excited about the United We Stand book since it deals with the flag in art. I just requested it from the library and am anxious to see it. Just last night I was putting the art lift-up prints in the Artistic Pursuits book and came across the Jasper Johns Three Flags print. It triggered an interest in including flag representations in American art into the unit study. I spent some time last night searching for art/artists and was going to post in the next few days so thanks for the nudge.
Norman Rockwell has many prints which include patriotic and flag themes. Many are included here - a couple I really liked were the "Mending the Flag" and "Salute the Flag."
Childe Hassam, American Impressionist (1859-1935) is another artist whose works often included flags.
Charles Wilson Peale, Colonial artist (1741-1827) - George Washington at Princeton
John Trumbull - Surrender of Cornwallis
Emanuel Leutze - George Washington Crossing the Delaware
Guy Carleton Wiggins (1883-1962) - also influenced by the Impressionists and known for NY City scapes in winter - most feature US flags like this one - 5th Ave @ 56th Street in Winter. Other similar pictures here.
Jennie Brownscombe (1850-1936) known for her 18th and 19th century historical scenes -Examining the Flag
Ansel Adams as part of his documentary photographs of Manzanar had some photos which included flags - example
And sculptures like the USMC Memorial (Iwo Jima) and Harry Jackson's The Flag Bearer.
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Mary M. in Denver
Our Domestic Church
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Erica Sanchez
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Mary,
You are the internet-search-and-link queen!! This looks amazing....again!! Thanks so much for taking the time to link to all of the sites/images. I can't wait to go through them all with the kids.
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Have a beautiful and fun day!
Erica in San Diego
(dh)Cash, Emily, Grace, Nicholas, Isabella, Annie, Luke, Max, Peter, 2 little souls ++, and sweet Rose who is legally ours!
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ladybugs
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| Posted: June 27 2006 at 11:00pm | IP Logged
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Hi Ladies,
We made the flag berry tart that Mary posted in her unit and it was yummy....we used strawberries instead of raspberries ($ - too high!).
Also, wanted to add this book to your studies!
We found it at our library and read it tonight!
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Love and God Bless,
Maria P
My etsy store - all proceeds go to help my fencing daughters!
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MaryM
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| Posted: June 28 2006 at 2:52am | IP Logged
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Sounds yummy, Maria. We haven't done any of the food yet  .
I also wanted to mention a book that I have been reading for myself as we have been doing the study - Flags of Our Fathers. It was an excellent read and I'm not one for war stories. It is the story of the six men who are shown in the famous photo of the flag raising at Iwo Jima. It was written by the son of one of the flag raisers after his father's death. The image is so recognizaable to US citizens and is one many people think of when they think of flag depictions in art. I had no idea of the story behind this photo - or that it is considered the most reproduced photo. The book chronicles the lives of the six men from childhood, to enlistment, to how they ended up together at Iwo Jima, the battle for the island, the flag raising, the ensuing battle and the return of the survivors to the US, and the lives of the families whose son's didn't survive.
Like everyone else, I studied WWII- the Pacific front in school but it never hit home and came to life. I am still amazed at all that I learned reading this book - it's an amazing living book. It's a great adult read and also for some older teens - a couple incidents of adult theme and also very brutal descriptions of the battles and loss of life. Two of the flag raisers were Catholic (one being the author's father, John Bradley) so there are many references to the faith. John Bradley was a very devout Catholic and I liked that the book included that. I think the idea behind it is a novel one - explore indepth an image that all are familiar with, but really know nothing about.
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Mary M. in Denver
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momwise
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Bumping this up for another Flag day....it's this Thursday!
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Gwen...wife for 30 years, mom of 7, grandma of 3.....
"If you want equal justice for all and true freedom and lasting peace, then America, defend life." JPII
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Theresa H
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As I am new to the forum, thank you for this information. What great ideas and information.
Theresa from OK
Married 15 years, 4 children: 3 boys and a girl
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mom2mpr
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| Posted: June 13 2007 at 10:37pm | IP Logged
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YES!!! Just what I needed!
I got a CD of patriotic music out of the library today but no time to look for books...awesome!
Anne
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Meredith
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Hey Theresa from OK, I've been married for 14 years this fall and I also have 1 dd and 3 ds's!! Welcome to this GREAT group!!
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Meredith
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Sweetness and Light
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Theresa H
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Hi Meredith,
Thank you for the welcome. Our children are boys 13, 10, & 7, and girl 17mos. We've finished our 2nd year of homeschooling and wish we had started from the beginning. Just didn't realize it was an option until we met several homeschoolers and talked to them. This forum has been great!
Theresa from OK
Married 15 years, 4 children: 3 boys and a girl
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Rachel May
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| Posted: June 24 2007 at 12:29pm | IP Logged
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I got some of the books you recommended when I was at the library this week, Mary, And coincidentally, my mom sent me this picture of a flag made of flowers. I thought the one flown over Ft. McHenry was huge....
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Rachel
Thomas and Anthony (10), Maria (8), Charles (6), Cecilia (5), James (3), and Joseph (1)
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MaryM
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| Posted: June 24 2007 at 12:50pm | IP Logged
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That is an amazing flag - I can't imagine 24 ft. stars!
Thanks for sharing, Rachel.
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Mary M. in Denver
Our Domestic Church
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Cay Gibson
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In case there are any books listed here that haven't been mentioned already:
4th of July & 9-11
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Cay Gibson
"There are 49 states, then there is Louisiana." ~ Chef Emeril
wife to Mark '86
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4Real Forums : Across Time and Place
Topic: US Flag/Patriotic Unit
