The Pentagon

Lesson Plan - Get It!

Audio:

The Pentagon can be found in Arlington, Virginia, United States of America.

This huge building is shaped like a pentagon. It is the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense.

^{Image by David B. Gleason, via Wikimedia Commons, is licesned under the CC BY-SA 2.0 license.}

The architect, George Bergstrom, designed the Pentagon. On September 11^th, 1941, the construction of the Pentagon began. It was designed to organize the War Department of the United States of America. It was built in the shape of a pentagon because that shape worked with the shape of the land and the roads surrounding the building place.

It was originally decided the Pentagon should be built somewhere else, and even though its original building place was changed, the shape of the Pentagon remained the same. The Pentagon's walls are made of limestone. The Pentagon was finally completed in the year 1943. It stands five stories tall and has the largest floor space of any office building in the world. Today, it is home to the United States Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, and Air Force. The Office of the Secretary of Defense can also be found here.

The Pentagon is a symbol of the United States military. Today, over twenty thousand people work in the Pentagon. The majority of the people that work in the Pentagon are part of the military.

The Pentagon gets over one hundred thousand visitors a year. Visitors can take private tours of the Pentagon. On these tours, they will get to see parts of the Pentagon, along with military and history displays.

^{Image by Master Sgt. Ken Hammond, U.S. Air Force, via Wikimedia Commons, belongs to the DoD and is in the public domain.}

You learned about the history of the Pentagon. Share two important facts you learned about the Pentagon with your parent or teacher.

After sharing your facts, move on to the Got It? section, where you will learn about the different parts of the military.