Submitted by Carol Hallberg, Remsen, Iowa

Idea posted December 4, 2002

I always teach the school song at homecoming time, and since we have a song about our school, lead into having a song about our country. I use the following in creating lessons about the song. Hope this will be of use to someone.

1. I ALWAYS tell the story, in whatever version is age appropriate. The little ones love knowing that this is a TRUE story. I don't glamorize the war, but we do talk about soldiers and ships, prisoners (the Dr.), and how cannon balls exploded with shrapnel, and the explosion would light the sky.
2. I have to remind all age groups of the technology of the time. They need to be reminded that the ships didn't have motors, no electric lights on the flag, etc.
3. One year, we measured the dimensions of the flag in our auditorium. I describe to all of the classes how big it would have been since they have all been in the auditorium, and they are stunned to think of a flag bigger than the Perkins flag. They are surprised that it would have been bigger than the floor of the room.
4. The Get America Singing Again teacher's book has several fine activities. Little ones can trace the melodic line. I copy the history page for grades 3-6. I use the flag code page with fifth and sixth grade students. There is a page to match words with written melodic phrases. I use this as a challenge with grades 5-6.
5. I get a video from our AEA called "The Story of The National Anthem" from a series called "My America - Building a Democracy." It shows the actual fort and narrates the story using artwork visuals along with "real" visuals in about 12 minutes. It goes on to talk about "America The Beautiful."
6. We sing the song. In grades 5 and 6 we sing all three verses. I drag them through a lecture discussion on the meaning of the text. The vocabulary is way beyond most kids.
7. With older classes we discuss problems with the song - why would people want a different anthem (originally music to a drinking song, difficult range).
8. Scholastic has a great book out called "The Star Spangled Banner" with super pictures.

I DO THIS EVERY YEAR. Takes two or three class periods, depending on how involved I get, and how long I see the kids.