Submitted by Tami Mangusso, Colorado

Idea posted October 5, 2012

I start teaching the Star-Spangled Banner in 1st grade. I don't start until the Spring because by then most of them can read pretty good. For the 1st time I just go over the flag etiquette and how one should behave during the song. Then I have them stand up and they just listen and watch the PowerPoint. I made a PowerPoint that has the words and music. During the next lesson I will go over the meaning of the words and give some history of the words. Then we stand up and listen to the song again. I encourage them to sing along when they can. Most will try to read some of the words. I don't teach the song by rote. I just play it every music class using the PowerPoint and students join in as they feel comfortable. Many will join in right away because they love the challenge. I always tell them that this is very hard song to sing not just because the melody is hard to sing, but there are a lot of big words. It's fun to watch them try so hard to sing all the words.

My 2nd-5th grades sing the Star-Spangled Banner every music class. I start using the song in September. It's part of our warm-up routine. We just did add the Star-Spangled Banner to our routine. We do a warm-up exercise, tongue twister, and then sing the song of the month. Then we finish with the singing of the Star-Spangled Banner. I use the PowerPoint for the first few weeks in 2nd-5th grade, then I have them sing it from memory. Most of my student can sing it without the words, but I still use the PowerPoint because the new students might need it.

I do show a short video that tells the history of the song. I show the video to 2nd-5th grade. I will also be doing the activity that was discussed on the Mailing List where students stand in a circle and you have each student sing one word at a time. Students who don't know the next word will sit down. I do this activity all the time with other songs, but I have never done it with the Star-Spangled Banner. It will be interesting to see who really does have the Star-Spangled Banner memorized.