I. Curricular Framework

Concept:

Symbols

Essential Question:

What do our country’s flag and pledge stand for?

Bridge:

Class Symbols

Content:

Our Flag as a Symbol

Outcomes:

II. Standards Aligned

III. Instruction and Assessment

1. Connect: Connecting to the Concept Experientially

Objective: To build respect for our flag and country.

Activity: Have the children sit in groups. Put the definition of the word "symbol" on the board. Symbol: Something used to represent something else, a picture, a color, etc. that stands for something. Ask students for examples. List can include Smokey the Bear, the red color of Santa's suit, McDonaldís Golden Arches. Then tell them that some symbols are special. What makes them special is that they help us to feel something in our hearts, a kind of special feeling. When that happens, the symbol stands for something much deeper and more important than the symbol itself. When we honor these symbols we show our loyalty, our feelings of caring, for what the symbol means. Conduct a brief discussion along these lines, then ask the children to get together and discuss what symbols they might use to make a class flag.

Assessment: Group participation.

2. Attend: Attending to the Connection

Objective: To show the children how a synthesis of ideas is a rich experience.

Activity: Bring the group back together, put all their ideas on the board and discuss them.

Assessment: The children's enjoyment.

Assessment, Phase One, Level of Engagement, Fascination:

3. Image: Creating a Mental Picture

Objective: To have the children make personal choices about the symbols they like best and combine them into a class flag.

Activity: Ask the children to pick the symbols they each like best and make a class flag. Hang them all up in the classroom.

Assessment: The children's enjoyment.

Assessment, Phase Two, Seeing the Big Picture:

4. Inform: Receiving Facts & Knowledge

Objective: To give the children some facts and information concerning the flag.

Activity: Have the children say the Pledge. Ask them to write a short essay on what the words mean to them. Read the story, Our Country’s Flag, to them and discuss it briefly. Show teh film “Our Country’s Flag”

Assessment: A short, written statement by each of the children on what they have learned so far.

Assessment, Phase Three, Success with Acquiring Knowledge:

5. Practice: Developing Skills

Objective: To help the children learn how to find out information they need.

Activity: Find out the story of our early flags, flag changes, and how we got our present flag. Have books available in the classroom and have the school librarian assist by having a table of books and resources for the students in the library. Find out what the colors stand for. Show the film again.

Assessment: The method by which the students go about their task. (This is a good time to talk to individual children about how to do independent research.)

Assessment, Phase Four, Success with Acquiring Skills:

6. Extend: Extending Learning to the Outside World

Objective: Enable students to experience flagmaking.

Activity: Make the early flags, the "Ross" flag, and our present flag. Show the children how to make stars by folding paper.

Assessment: The quality of their work

7. Refine: Refining the Extension

Objective: To have the children discuss and analyze if our flag is a good symbol for our country.

Activity: Have the children analyze the Pledge, phrase by phrase.

Assessment: Their understanding of the phrases.

8. Perform: Creative Manifestation of Material Learned

Objective: To enjoy a celebration of our flag.

Activity: Make up a cheer for our country and our flag and tell the story of Francis Scott Key and how he wrote "The Star Spangled Banner." End by telling the children our flag is a symbol of all the people who love our country. Have a parade in class with each child carrying the flag s/he has made. Play a recording of Sousa's "The Stars and Stripes Forever."

Assessment: The children's enjoyment. Note: This unit could be extended by having the children make a flag for planet Earth. They would need to study universal symbols.

Assessment, Phase Five,Performance, Creative Use of Material Learned: