Comparing and contrasting American flags

Legend has it that Betsy Ross was secretly commissioned to create the first American flag in Pennsylvania. The first flag had thirteen stripes (seven red and six white) and thirteen stars in a field of blue.

C and R counted out seven red stripes and six white stripes andthen counted them all together to discover that 7+6=13. They counted the stripes on both flags (the Betsy Ross flag and the current American flag) and discovered that they have the same pattern of stripes.

We then counted thirteen white stars and placed them in a circle on a blue piece of paper. C and R quickly pointed out that the flags were different because our current flag has stars in rows while the Betsy Ross flag had a circle of stars. After thinking for a minute, C recognized that the stars are white on a blue background on both flags, and all of the stars have five points.

So, learning about Pennsylvania has also provided us with a great opportunity to learn about our flag with a bonus mathematics lesson.