teaching kids "the star-spangled banner"

Happy 4th of July everyone! I shared this idea last year for Memorial Day and I thought it would be the perfect post for today!

I think everyone who is a citizen of the United States should know the words to our national anthem, at least the first verse. Personally, I'm working on learning every verse; this is my favorite:

Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

The past few years since I've been working with the children of my church and teaching them music, I have learned that these young kids (some as young as 3!) love to be challenged and learn the songs that you might think of as more mature or challenging. When I work on "The Star-Spangled Banner" they are so enthusitastic and it seems like you can feel the power behind the lyrics even more coming from their sweet, little voices.

In teaching the song to the children I do focus on the first verse, because otherwise I think it would be a little overwhelming for the younger ones. I like to go over the story behind the song first and ask them some questions about what they might already know about it. {Here} is an information sheet I put together for easy reference.{Here} is a flip chart I made to help visual learners. :)