Arizona Symbols FREEBIES

I have been on Spring Break this week!  For my last hoorah I am going to see Hunger Games with my daughter and teacher friends tomorrow.  Before going on Spring Break we learned about our Arizona state symbols.  We made the state flag and a simple two-sided flip book of some of the state's symbols.  


I spent today taking an all-day class on the Arizona Constitution so I was inspired to make this post tonight.  


Here is some fun flag trivia:


*the 13 stripes on the Arizona flag stand for the 13 colonies BUT their colors (the gold and red) represent the colors carried by the first Spanish explorers
*the rays represent our colorful sunsets
*the blue is "liberty" blue, the same as on the American flag
*the copper star represents the state's most historically important industry - copper mining.  Did you know that Arizona is still the largest producer of copper nationwide and the largest copper mining company worldwide is headquartered in Arizona?
*the first flag was sewn by Nancy Hayden, the wife of our first Senator Carl Hayden (kind of our personal Betsy Ross!) 



To download the text for the flip book click HERE.  To download the symbol pictures click HERE.  I also have a fun poem for the state symbols.  You can download that HERE.

 Other fun Arizona trivia:


*Several Civil War battles were fought in Arizona and Tucson was the Confederate seat.
*Arizona applied for statehood 3 times before finally being accepted into the Union the 4th time.
*Arizona was rejected the first 3 times because of our legislative bill processes of initiative, referendum, and repeal.  The 4th time, Arizona took these three out of their constitution and were accepted into the Union.   After acceptance they put them right back into the Arizona Constitution!  Only 13 states have these three ways a bill can become a law in their constitution.
*The average elevation in Arizona is 4,000 feet.
*Orabi, on the Hopi mesas, is reputed to be the oldest continuously inhabited city in America.
*Land ownership in Arizona is 17.5% private; 26.7% Indian; 12.2% state and the rest is federal land.