1/5/2013 Francis Scott Key

I recently wrote about the birthday of the Betsy Ross. Betsy Ross is famous for making the first American flag, but historians are unsure how accurate that really is.  
Probably the most famous individual American flag, the Star-Spangled Banner, was definitely made by another American woman, Mary Pickersgill of Baltimore. According to the Smithsonian  “Helping Pickersgill make the flags were her thirteen-year-old daughter Caroline; nieces Eliza Young (thirteen) and Margaret Young (fifteen); and a thirteen-year-old African American indentured servant, Grace Wisher. Pickersgill’s elderly mother, Rebecca Young, from whom she had learned flagmaking, may have helped as well.”  

During the War of 1812, on September 13–14, 1814, Francis Scott Key watched Fort McHenry being bombed by the British forces in the Battle of Baltimore.  In the morning, Key could see that the American flag was still flown over Fort McHenry, showing that the Americans had not lost possession of it. The inspired Key’s to write a poem, which became “The Star-Spangled Banner”   

Learn more about Francis Scott Key with your class with my book  Francis Scott Key and The Star-Spangled Banner: First Grade - Level I Reader. This first grade Level I reader gives students the interesting background of the United States national anthem "The Star-Spangled Banner".   Francis Scott Key and the American Flag are also featured in my First Grade Level I – Set 2

Your students will be able to build their vocabulary and improve their reading comprehension as they read the story and answer questions.  Each reader comes with companion worksheets which reinforce literacy skills involving reading, language, spelling, and writing. Specific concepts, skills, and vocabulary targeted in the reader are listed on the first page of the story.