Stars, Stripes, and American Symbols

           My students love to learn about America's patriotic symbols.  A patriotic unit integrates well with all areas of the curriculum.  Additionally, there are numerous literature, fiction and nonfiction, books that are available to meet the needs of diverse reading levels in the classroom.  This page is a work in progress.   As time permits I will add teaching ideas, classroom pictures, books and resources.  Anchors Away!

                      B. Sarah Froehlich

                     Patriotic Books Early Readers  

           Welcome Readers

The American Flag	The Pledge	he White House	Statue of Liberty

The Bald Eagle	The Liberty Bell	Washington Monument	Lincoln Memorial

Alphabet    Books

                  True Books (more fluent readers)

The National Anthem	President's Day	The Statue of Liberty

	True Books for more      fluent readers.....
The American Flag		The President

                                  Activity Books  

Patriotic Favorites Activity Book	Young Patriots Activity Book

                                                             Additional suggestions:

                         *  Classroom Helpers Patriotic Activities (Frank Schaffer Publications)

                  *  Social Studies (Frank Schaffer Publications

                  *  Virginia SOLS Famous American series

                  *  PATRIOTIC FUN (Carson-Dellosa Publishing, 2002)

               Make Patriotic Symbols

      In this unit, my students make patriotic symbols such as the liberty bell, the statue of liberty, the White House, an eagle, and the capitol in Washington, D.C..  I have a center board with pictures of each symbol, the Welcome Books (listed above on this page) and the patterns for each run on construction paper.  Students read the books with a partner, construct the symbol, and then use a special lined paper to write the important facts they learned about the symbol.  The paper is glued onto the back of the constructed symbol.  For the patterns, I use this book:

            Here is a picture of the project board that is set up around the center table.  I purchased the patriotic pictures from a bulletin board set at a teacher store.

                The symbol projects and activities are in different folders.  I glue a copy of the completed project or put a model of the completed project inside of each folder.  Other activities such as a group "name that symbol" game and team project are included.  Here are a couple examples of the folders.

Who, What, Where Game	National Symbol Team Project	Make the Statue of Liberty

           Uncle Sam is a difficult concept for students.  I read the following book with the students and then we construct Uncle Sam as an art project.  The project is from the tlclessons.com books.  These lessons involve math (shapes), directionality, vocabulary, listening, and following directions.  After we complete the project, students write about the topic in our writer's workshop and attach their composition to the back of Uncle Sam.

                 Music

  I write the songs from the CD on chart paper.  Students can sing as a "shared" sing along as a whole group or partner. I also type a copy of each song for their patriotic folders.      

Wee Sing America - Book and CD

      More Books to Share

America - Patriotic Primer	Stars and Stripes	Patriotism