'The Star-Spangled Banner'

1. The teacher will begin the lesson by reading The Story of the ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ by Patricia Pingry
2. While reading the story, the teacher will stop and discuss how “The Star-Spangled Banner” came to be, and the importance of it to our country.
3. After reading the story, the teacher will ask the students the following questions:
   1. Where have you seen the American Flag?
   2. When/Where have you sang “The Star-Spangled Banner”?
   3. What does it mean to you?
4. The teacher will give students time to answer aloud to the class and will record the students’ responses on the board.
5.  The teacher will play the ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ video for the students to sing along too. Once they sing through it once, the teacher will then discuss the meaning and importance of the lyrics to the students.
6. The teacher will bring out an American Flag and discuss the meaning of the stars and stripes with the students. Then the teacher will have the students make their own American Flag.
7. Each student will get construction paper, markers, one popsicle stick (for the pole), and one piece of string (used to attach the paper to the popsicle stick).
8. Give students 10-15 minutes to work on their flags.
9. After the students are finished with their flags, the teacher will turn on marching music and have the students march to the beat of the music while waving their flags.
10. After this, students will gather together and the teacher will make sure students understand that the American Flag is a symbol of our freedom. The teacher will explain what this means in greater detail to students by giving them examples of other symbols.

The students will be informally assessed by the discussions held throughout the lesson and on the American Flags they create.