How the Flag Changed as States Joined, Read the Table

Look at a real flag or a picture and count the stripes together before reading. After the table sheet, ask your child which year had the most stars and check the answers with the key.

Read a table of the flag's stars, from 13 in 1777 to 50 in 1960, and when a new star is added. A state is one part of a country with its own leaders. The directions on the page read: Read the passage and the table. Then, turn the page and answer the questions. On page 2: Use the passage and the table on page 1. Circle the letter of the best answer for questions 1 to 3, and write the answers to questions 4 and 5 on the lines. The answer key covers the questions on page 2.

Yes, both. We made it for 2nd Grade National Symbols, and the page works the same whether it lands on a kitchen table or a center rotation. At home, most families go through it together and talk the answers out loud, and that talking is where most of the learning happens with parts of the flag. In class it runs well as independent work while you pull a small group. Print one copy or thirty, whichever the day needs.

The 13 stripes stand for the first 13 colonies, the places that later became states. The 50 stars stand for the 50 states, one star for each state. The stars sit on a blue rectangle.

The first flag, chosen in 1777, had 13 stars and 13 stripes. As states joined, people added stars, and for a short time stripes too. A law in 1818 put the flag back to 13 stripes and said a new star goes on the flag on the July 4 after a state joins. The flag has had 50 stars since 1960.

People call the flag the Stars and Stripes and Old Glory. Many people fly it on holidays to show they love their country.