High Flyin' Aussie Flag

We are back from an unexpected and not welcomed Tropical Storm Fay. School was in session only two days the first week of school. The good news is that we are back, in one piece, and thankfully, will never see that storm again!!
On Monday, we visited the letter "F" in our "Australia ABCs" book. The topic was the flag of Australia. The children learned that 'Australia's flag shows Britain's flag in the upper left hand corner. The large star on the flag stands for the six states and two territories of Australia. The small stars stand for the Southern Cross, a group of stars you can see when you are south of the equator.' Students noticed similarities (colors and stars) and differences (no stripes and blue) with the United States' flag. We also talked about the Aborigine's flag - whose colors are black representing the people, yellow for the sun, and red for the earth.
In the morning, we had an outline of the flag at each student's table to color. We wanted the children to be familiar with the look of the flag before attempting to make one in the afternoon with construction paper. Well, we couldn't be more pleased with the results. The students had a wonderful time in the afternoon cutting, assembling and gluing their Australian flags together. Afterwards, a student asked, "Can we make the Aboriginal flag too?" Of course, we'll give it a burl (try it, have a go)- now that we have some professional flag makers in the house!!