American Flag

The American flag is one of the nation's strongest symbols of nationalism.  Almost every house has a flag hanging outside, some even attach small flags to their cars.  The legend of the first American flag tells the story Betsy Ross, a friend of George Washington, presenting the flag at the second continental congress meeting on June 14, 1777.  It displayed thirteen stripes, six being red and seven being white, with thirteen white stars on a blue background to represent the thirteen colonies.  Since 1777 the flag has gone through many changes, twenty six to be exact.  As each state was added to the union a new flag was created in order to add a star representing the state.  Today the flag has thirteen stripes that still represent the thirteen original colonies and fifty stars to represent all the states that make up the United States of America.  Americans display the flag as a symbol of nationalism, a feeling that runs through the veins of all Americans, proud to call this our home.

Vocabulary:

Symbol (noun): a character that is used to portray a feeling, a word, etc.

Nationalism (noun): a feeling of pride in your country

Legend (noun): stories that are thought of as historic without factual evidence

Represent (verb): a symbolic way to portray a thought, idea, feeling, etc.

Union (noun): the north in the civil war, or, a group representing a common interest
Thirteen original colonies (noun): the thirteen areas of land in America that Britain owned before

     the American Revolution

Vocabulary Activity:

The American flag is a ________ of American __________.

The north was considered the ________ during the civil war.

Greek mythology contains a lot of __________ , where gods were sent to participate in Greek life.

The ________ _________ __________ were the first states to be added to the United States of America.

The flag is meant to _________ our pride in being Americans.

Grammar Point: Gerund

A gerund is a word that comes from a verb, but is acting as a noun, often ending in -ing, though there are exceptions.  The rules are as follows:

1. If the verb ends in E, remove the E and add ING.
2. If the last two letters of the verb are EE, add ING.
3. If the last two letters of the verb are IE, remove the IE and add YING.
4. If the last letter of the verb is a consonant and the letter before the consonant is a short vowel, double the short vowel and add ING.
5. If the last letter is a consonant and the two letters before the consonant are vowels, add ING.

Grammar Activity

Change the verbs below into their gerund forms.

To ask         →      _________

To discuss  →       _________

To like        →       _________

To try         →       _________

To begin    →       _________