This happy holidays national holidays activity has 1st-3rd grade students match picture clue cards to ten U.S. holidays and their dates. Answer key included for easy checking.
Students write about the stars and stripes on this flag day writing paper worksheet, with eight roomy 1st grade lines and a large, true-to-life American flag picture to inspire ideas.
Happy birthday, Stars and Stripes!
Flag Day is celebrated on June 14, the day in 1777 when the Second Continental Congress adopted the first official American flag. Kids learn what the flag stands for: 13 stripes for the original colonies and 50 stars for the 50 states. They learn about flag manners, like never letting it touch the ground and flying it at half-staff to show respect. Many also learn that the number of stars changed over time as new states joined. The proud moment comes when a child explains to their family why the flag has exactly 13 stripes.
Flag Day comes right at the end of the school year, so we keep it short, meaningful and hands-on.
Add Flag Day to a class chart of national holidays and observances, with what each one honors. Kids notice Flag Day sits just before Independence Day, which leads to great talk about how the flag and the country began.
Why it works: kids understand an idea best when they touch it, then draw it, then write it, the order the U.S. Department of Education recommends for elementary math.
Try it withHappy Holidays National Holidays ActivityActivitiesOpen it →Kids draw the flag and label what the stripes and stars stand for, then write two sentences about what it means to them. Drawing and writing together helps them remember the facts and explain them.
Why it works: children learn more from words and pictures together than from words alone (Mayer, 2009).
Try it withFlag Day Writing PaperWorksheetsOpen it →Ask five quick questions: What year? How many stripes? How many stars? What does half-staff mean? Kids answer on whiteboards. A short, snappy quiz gets everyone remembering instead of just listening.
Why it works: pulling an answer out of memory makes it stick far better than rereading it, one of the strongest findings in learning research (Dunlosky and colleagues, 2013).
Teacher favorites right now: Happy Holidays National Holidays Activity and Flag Day Writing Paper.
Flag Day is June 14. It marks the day in 1777 when the Second Continental Congress adopted the first official flag of the United States.
No. Flag Day is a national observance proclaimed by the president each year, but schools and offices stay open. It is a legal holiday only in a few places.
The 13 stripes stand for the 13 original colonies, and the 50 stars stand for the 50 states today.
Tell them it is the flag's birthday! It is a day to learn what the flag stands for and how to treat it with respect.
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