A story about the Kentucky State flag and the creation of a new county flag.

1. Miss Taylor’s Class Learns About
Kentucky’s Flag
Author: Kelli Smith

2. Miss Taylor’s fourth grade class has been learning about Kentucky.

3. Today when they entered their classroom they noticed the Kentucky state flag
at the front of the classroom.

4. As they all came in and found their seats, Miss Taylor walked to the front of
the classroom. “Okay, I would like for all of you to spend a few minutes
looking at Kentucky’s state flag,” said Miss Taylor.

5. All of the students turned to view the flag. A few students jotted down some
notes.

6. “Okay,” said Miss Taylor, “what do you notice about this flag?” Gabrielle
raised her hand and Miss Taylor called on her.

7. Gabrielle said, “Well I see that there is goldenrod on the flag and we learned
the other day that goldenrod is the state flower.” “That’s right,” said Miss
Taylor, “What else do you see?”

8. She pointed at Sara who said, “I see two men and the words United we
stand, divided we fall.”

9. “So what do you think that means,” asked Miss Taylor. Jason raised his hand
and Miss Taylor called on him. Jason said, “I think that it means we can
accomplish more if we work together.” Miss Taylor smiled and said, “that’s
right, the two people are a pioneer and a statesman and they represent all of
the people. Their embrace is them acting out Kentucky’s motto of united we
stand, divided we fall.” Miss Taylor looked back at the flag and said, “so is
there anything else that anyone notices?”

10. Miss Taylor called on Alice who had her hand raised. Alice said, “the flag is
blue, and there are the words Commonwealth of Kentucky.”

11. “Good,” said Miss Taylor, “Now let’s all look at the flag again.” “Kentucky’s
official state flag was adopted in 1918 and then changed in 1962. The
Kentucky flag law says that the flag should be navy blue with the seal of the
Commonwealth which is encircled by a wreath of goldenrod on the lower half
and the words Commonwealth of Kentucky on the upper half.”

12. “Does anyone have any questions,” asked Miss Taylor.
Jason raised his hand and Miss Taylor called on him. “Do each of the cities or
counties in the state have a flag,” asked Jason. “A few of them do, but not all
of them,” said Miss Taylor. “Well, I think it would be neat if each county had a
flag. Maybe we could come up with an idea for a flag for our county,” said
Jason.

13. “Okay,” said Miss Taylor, “Who thinks that each county should have its own
flag?” All of the students raised their hands. “Alright,” said Miss Taylor, “I want
each of you to design a county flag and I want you to write about the choices
you make when designing your flag. When they are all finished we will vote
on which one we think is best and present the idea to the town council.”

14. A couple of weeks later, the students presented their designs to the class.
Once all of the presentations were complete they voted for Bobby’s design.

15. As Bobby presented his design to the town council he talked about his
choices. He said that he thought that the flag should be representative of the
state flag so he chose for it to be navy blue. Then he added a white banner
with the words Washington County in navy blue. He said he wanted to keep it
simple and since Washington County was the first county formed after
Kentucky became a state, he added one star on the flag. The town council
applauded his work and said that they would look into making it official.
Bobby was so proud.