Betsy Ross

Betsy Ross

by Becky White

Scholastic Inc., 2011

Betsy Ross is a great picture book for primary students. It can obviously be used to teach social studies and the history of our flag, but White uses a lot of language elements that can be discussed. She uses repetition and also the separation of words. (Ex. Betsy ripped. Rip, rip; Betsy clipped. Clip, clip.) I know in my classroom we discuss syllables and suffixes, so a book like this would be great for students to be able to identify those parts of words. 

The artwork (illustrated by Megan Lloyd) is colorful and realistic. It shows close up drawings of the part of the flag that Betsy is working on. Students can examine the parts up close, and learn about sewing and its process. They can also learn that our flag started with 13 stars, rather than 50. Many students in primary grades will not know that our country started as the 13 colonies, so this is a great teaching point.

Overall I really enjoyed this book. If you school year doesn’t cover Betsy Ross or the making of the flag, it could be a great read aloud on Flag Day. It could also go with a lot of great flag-making activities!