Flag Day at Pulaski Street School: a social studies lesson in real life

A lesson in American history came to life on the Pulaski Street School’s lawn yesterday morning.

A clear azure sky arched above the 400 5th-grade students, many dressed in red, white and blue, who sat in a semi-circle around the flag pole, respectfully quiet as they learned the story of the American flag on Flag Day. Their attention was riveted by the NJROTC cadet color guard led by Gunnery Sergeant Mahala and six women representing the Daughters of the American Revolution who were poised to teach them about the Stars and Stripes.

Principal David Densieski welcomed the students by explaining that the Flag Day ceremony was an integral part of the 5th-grade social studies curriculum, American history. Learning about the symbolism of the flag’s stars and stripes was “priceless knowledge for every American” to have, he continued.

Ann Wanat, a member of the DAR came to the podium and began by telling the students that this year marked Old Glory’s 239th birthday. She explained that George Washington led a movement prior to the American Revolution to design a flag that would represent the dignity and honor of all who loved liberty. Ben Franklin headed the committee that designed that first banner. It was named the Grand Union flag and had red and white stripes with a small Union Jack in the upper left-hand corner representing the colonies’ ties with England.

After 1776 it became necessary to have a flag which would symbolize our newly-won independence, so Washington sketched out a design of 13 red and white stripes with a blue field consisting of 13 6-pointed stars representing a “new constellation.” Wanat said there are conflicting stories about who and when our first real American flag was born. History tells us the design was bought to Betsy Ross, a local seamstress who suggested 5-pointed stars in a circle would make a more appealing design.

But another story surfaced which traced our earliest flag right here to Long Island, she told the rapt students. It was found in a house in East Hampton once belonging to an American patriot by the name of John Hulbert and is known as the Hulbert Flag. It currently resides here in Riverhead in the Suffolk County Historical Society. It, too, has 13 red and white stripes and 13 stars, but they are arranged in a diamond shape. She explained that scientific dating of the fabric and the thread seems to indicate that the Hulbert Flag doesn’t date back to 1776, but closer to the 1840s.

As new states joined the young country, the flag gained additional stars and stripes to represent each new member of the union. In 1794 there were 15 stars and stripes. That was the flag that inspired Francis Scott Key to pen our National Anthem.  But soon the additional stripes began to make the flags too unwieldy, Wanat said. A resolution was passed to limit the stripes to seven red and six white representing the 13 original colonies.

In 1949, President Harry S Truman declared June 14, the anniversary of the adoption of the Stars and Stripes in 1777 as our national flag, to be a day to honor the enduring spirit of American freedom.

As the NJROTC color guard stepped forward, the students recited the Pledge of Allegiance in unison and then the lesson’s focus switched to the proper way to fold a flag and the meaning of each step of the folding process. Three cadets held the flag and began folding it in half lengthwise twice and then corner to edge so that the flag’s folds resembled a neat triangle. The folds honor many American values, Wanat said, including “life, veterans who have died in the cause of our country, trust in God in peace and in war, tributes to our armed forces, mothers, womanhood, fathers and [even] the lower portion of the seal of King David and King Solomon.” After doubling over the last diagonal fold, the small leftover edge of the fabric is tucked into an opening between the folds, creating a shape resembling the three-sided cocked hat of the Revolutionary soldiers.

Finally, Wanat encouraged the students to join in a round of “Happy Birthday” to the flag, and they spiritedly complied. The ceremony came close to the end as a representative from each homeroom was called to the podium to receive a small bag filled with American flag pins for each classmate. As they did, the cadets raised the flag to half-mast status behind them.

Before dismissing the students back into the building, Densieski stepped back up to the podium and explained to the students that the flag had been ordered to half-staff by President Obama in tribute to the lives lost in Orlando’s shooting and that it would be raised after sunset on Thursday.

RiverheadLOCAL photos by April Pokorny