Flip Chart for My Country 'Tis of Thee

Lead With the Flag

Buy small American Flags. Lead the song's time signatures with them!

U.S.A. Questions AND Ways-To-Sing

What material is the Statue of Liberty made of?
Copper                 

WAY: "building hands"


The Statue of Liberty was given to the U.S. to celebrate the 100th birthday of our Independence. Who gave it to us?
France                  

WAY: sing like you're 100 years old!



What does the Statue of Liberty hold in her left hand?
The Declaration of Independence.                           

WAY: stiff like a statue



Every President but one lived in the White House, who was he?
George Washington                       

WAY: _____



Who is said to have sewn the first American Flag?
Betsy Ross                          

WAY:  "invisible sewing"



What do the colors of our flag stand for?
RED-courage, WHITE-purity and innocence, BLUE-loyalty              

WAY: "flag hand" one hand cups elbow. other arm is pole, and hand is the flag.



What is our National Motto? Hint-It's printed on our coins.
In God We Trust                               

WAY: march in place


Our national bird is a symbol of strength and power. What is it?
The Bald Eagle                   

WAY: "bird beak" hands

List of Patrotic Songs

Children's Song Book:My Country, CSB 224
My Flag, My Flag - CSB 225


Hymn Book:
Battle Hymn of the Republic, Hymn 60
America The Beautiful, Hymn 338
My Country Tis of Thee, Hymn 339
Star Spangled Banner, Hymn 340


*If using all the songs in one Singing Time, consider making song books, as the children may not be familiar with the Patriotic Songs.

Paper Plane Air Show

Poster board, construction paper and Sharpie landing strip.
Cost me less than 25 cents to make.

The planes are named words from the song we sang (My Country, verse 2).
Naming the planes was helpful for when we "kept score".

Traffic controller sticks (toilet paper tubes!)

This idea was inspired after attending the Air Show at the Air Force Base nearby. We did idea #2.


Put landing strip on the ground and...

Idea #1:

1. Choose child to throw the plane on the landing strip.
2. Whatever # area the plane lands in, sing that way (MARCHING, SALUTE, HAND ON HEART...)
3. Repeat

Idea #2:

1. Choose three older children to be the "score keepers"
2. Write the names of the planes on the board
3. Sing
4. Choose a child to throw the first plane
5. Give that plane it's points (if it didn't land on the runway we gave it 5 points)
6. Repeat for the next plane. And so on.

PREP:

landing strip

paper airplanes
optional traffic controller sticks

Cardboard Tube Tissue Paper "Fireworks"

*** OOPS! I forgot to take a picture of the fireworks I made and now my Singing Time is over and they're 'popped' and in the trash....  well, I'll take pictures if I do it again in the future. ***

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1. Cut toilet paper tube in half (so it's easier to break open when the time comes)
2. Slip in paper (with song name or way to sing)
3. Roll in colored tissue paper (tissure paper being longer than the tube)
4. Tape to secure
5. Twist ends and secure them shut by tying ribbon or wrapping wire garland at both ends
6. Trim excess tissue paper

To use: break in half, get contents out (which may fly out and fall on the floor).

*No gunpowder
*No loud bang or pop noise
*Nothing shooting out
*Lots of mess to put in the garbage can

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If you need further instruction, it's kind of like this craft.

Pull Poppers

I found these Pull Poppers on AlphaMom. Full instructions are on that site.

4th of July How-To-Sing

• proudly
• reverently
• staccato
• marching
• hand on heart
• saluting
• clap beat
• clap rhythm
• hum

*Put them in store bought poppers, or make these Easy Poppers.

Easy Poppers

I saw these Easy Fourth of July Poppers on Formula Mom.

1. Cut rectangle out of scrapbook paper
2. Cut a longer rectangle out of tissue paper (so it still sticks out the sides when you roll it up)
3. Put contents inside
4. Roll Up
5. Secure paper with staples or tape
6. Tie ribbon on ends

Make sense? If not, click on the link to go to the original post. There are more pictures there. :)

• This could be a good way to review - put song names in the poppers.
• Or, put "ways to sing" in the poppers.

Military Tribute Video 2013

I took the videos I'd found and gathered in this post and put them together to make my own Military Tribute montage video for my Ward. It's basically a mini Music and the Spoken Word. :)  About 10 minutes long.

VIDEO CLIP ORDER:
1. Battle Hymn of the Republic ♪
2. Duty, Honor, Courage
3. Who Are the Brave? ♪

*I made some minor tweaks to the audio. (Just gentle crossfading and the levels mostly in Who Are The Brave. You won't even notice.)

*This is compressed, so the quality is going to be low and grainy. If you live near me I'll happily burn you a full quality video.

Link to YouTube: http://youtu.be/xMwgRdKZ7eA

Singing Meter Board

The idea is that pictures are attached and as the children sing well the pictures go up. (Or down, or sideways, or however you are holding the board).

Here is my basic board. It's really easy to make:

• thick poster board
• string (I used yarn)
• scissors

1. Measure and mark where you want the holes for the string. If you want, leave more space at the top so you can put a title on it.
2. Poke the holes
3. Cut the string and thread it through
4. Tie it on the back side

*You want the strings tight, but not so tight that they won't move.  Too loose, though, and the items you attach to the front will droop and not stay close to the board.

5. Make the backing to which you'll attach items. Make sure the knot at the back is all the way up and the backing is all the way at the bottom. I used cardboard from a cereal box:

6. Attach items. I was making "fireworks" for the 4th of July, using gift wrap bows. I'm still working on putting the title on my board, but I was in a hurry to get this post up. When the kids sing well the fireworks will go up!

Item ideas are -

• flowers that grow up
• fireworks that go up
• cars that race (side-to-side, turn the board horizontally)
• thermometer
• snowmen that melt
• raindrops that fall down
• shooting stars (side-to-side)
• rocketships up to the moon
• tortoise and the hair (side-to-side)
• hearts for a "love o'meter"
• kites
• ... let me know your ideas! I want to know more ways to use this singing meter board so I can get lots of use out of it!

Here is the Pioneer Children (sang as they walked) version.

It's horizontal (which kind of causes the strings to sag if the pictures are too heavy).

I used sticks to put the sign on the side (it is on the top when the board is vertical):

Here is the "Build a Temple" version, used in THIS lesson:

Here is the "Family Vacation" version:

Here is the Valentine's Version:

Another Valentine's Version with "Conversation Hearts":

The March/windy weather version:

For all 3 verses of On a Golden Springtime

(more of just a visual aid than a singing meter)

two pics:

Meter Board for learning/reviewing more verses of the Sunbeam song:

"Tie Guys" Singing Meter Board for Father's Day

(Yes!,  They are the suns... repurposed!)

Mormon Tabernacle Choir Patriotic Video Clips

I am considering these video clips to play in my 4th of July lesson:
*UPDATE - I made this video montage with the clips below*

Music and the Spoken Word Memorial Day May 2012:
- God of Our Fathers, Whose Almighty Hand
- 4:48 members talk
- 5:12 Distant Land
- 10:08 America The Beautiful (organ)
- 12:02 members talk
- 12:29 Who Are The Brave?
- 15:50 Lloyd Newell - fallen soldiers, those who give their all, people preserving peace, Memorial Day meaning
- 18:50 The Mansion of The Lord
- 21:33 members talk
- Battle Hymn of the Republic


Mormon Tabernacle Choir - Battle Hymn of the Republic


Mormon Tabernacle Choir - Who Are the Brave? clip


Mormon Tabernacle Choir - Distant Land clip


Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Music and the Spoken Word clip - Military Tribute clip (medium quality)
-Lloyd Newell talks about Duty, Honor and Country
-Highland bagpipe and drums


Music & The Spoken Word, July 8, 2012
- Lloyd Newell talks about President Abraham Lincoln/Kindness

Mormon Tabernacle Choir Called to Serve/Teach Me to Walk in the Light

Simple Sign for My Flag My Flag

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My flag, my flag, MY  FLAG

my country's flag, MY   COUNTRY’s   FLAG

I love to see you wave; LOVE   SEE   FLAG

My flag, my flag, MY FLAG

my country's flag, MY   COUNTRY’s   FLAG

The banner of the brave. (cont FLAG)   BRAVE

Wave on, wave on forever, FLAG   FOREVER

The banner of the free; FLAG   FREE

Wave on, wave on forever, FLAG   FOREVER

The flag of liberty. FLAG LIBERTY

Star Spangled Banner Flip Chart

Here is PN29 Ashlie Johansen's

FLIP CHART for the Star Spangled Banner.

Invite a Military Member

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Last night my husband had an idea so simple I thought, "duh! Why didn't I think about that?" We live near a Military Base, so it would be awesome to invite a Military Member to dress in uniform and speak to the kids for Independance Day. It would be equally as awesome to have them sing.


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UPDATE:

• This was FABULOUS. The kids really listened well, the speaker was dressed to the nines and gave a great talk to both JR and SR. It turned out amazing.

Primary Popper Fireworks

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1. Buy party poppers.
2. Carefully take out the cardboard and put in a piece of paper with the song to sing (or how-to sing).
3. Put the cardboard back in. 

Tell the kids you're going to have fireworks in Primary!

Pop it, sing it!

Firework Balloon Pop

I saw this idea and thought "how fun! the kids will love it!". I started making plans.... and then I remembered my balloon-a-phobia. Oh yeah... that's right.... I hate balloons! So.... this is being put on this blog as a big fat maybe. *If* I do it I'll post my own pictures. Until then, here's the how-to so I can maybe reference it again later.

HOW - TO:

• Get empty push-up pops.
• Get toilet paper tubes
• Get paper.
• Get push pins.
• Get accessories (wrapping paper, sparkly stuff).

1. Wrap toilet paper tubes.
2. Write on pieces of paper. Put paper in balloons. Blow up balloons.
3. Tie strong to balloon, pull through toilet paper roll, staple to bottom of tube to hold balloon in place.
4. Push a push pin through Push-Up circle thing (so pin side goes up the tube).

USE:
While the kids sing, push the pin up the tube to pop the balloon and reveal the next song to sing.  (Or way to sing, whatever you're doing that day)




*Idea and pics from Sing With Me Too

American Flag "Melting Pot"

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Oh hey! Look what I cooked up in my kitchen.  :)

"MELTING POT" PATRIOTIC SINGING TIME!

 

1.      EXPLAIN that America is called a "melting pot" because it's made up of many different people and different ideas all coming together in one place.

2.      Stir up the pot. Pull out streamers:
                   RED (courage facts)   My Flag     225  
                   WHITE (peace facts)  12th Article of Faith     131
                   BLUE  (loyalty facts)   My Country                  224

3.      END:  Paraphrase that there are many things that make our country proud, beautiful and strong.

*I got this pot idea from a comment left here on Primary Notes 29.

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Other ideas:

• Flag History - COLORS OF THE AMERICAN FLAG LESSON
• USA QUESTIONS and WAYS TO SING

Colors of the American Flag Lesson

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*Before the lesson, write the song names on the board. Also have the magic color cups already prepared.

Show an American Flag.

READ the history of the flag:

On June 14, 1777 the U.S. Congress passed it's first flag resolution saying the flag should have 13 stripes, alternating red and white and have 13 white stars in a blue area. This was to represent the 13 original colonies. Then they added a new star and stripe for each new state. But - the country was growing quickly and it got too hard to keep changing the flag. So, in on April 4, 1818 they passed a new Act that declared that the flag would depict the original 13 red and white stripes and only add one star for each new state.

EXPLAIN what the colors on the flag mean:

The colors of the flag have signifigance. Some say that the colors represent:

1. Red - Courage
2. White - Purity and Innocence 
3. Blue - Justice/Fairness, that all men shall be treated equally

CHOOSE SONG (variation of magic color cups):

• Have 3 clear cups half-filled with vinegar on the table.
• Next to them will be 3 spoons.
• Beforehand, you've already put a few drops of food coloring on each spoon (red, white = no food coloring to make it clear, and blue) then baking soda on top of it, so you don't know what color it will be.
• Have a child come up and mix solution and see what color it comes out as.
• Then everyone can guess which song goes with that color based on what they learned about the color's meaning.

SING (according to the color of the cup):
Red - Courage
*Nephi's Courage, CSB 120

White - Purity and Innocence
*I'm Trying to Be Like Jesus, CSB 78

Blue - Justice/Fairness, that all men shall be treated equally
*Love One Another, 136


LEARN THE SONGS:
My Flag, My Flag - CSB 225
Star Spangeled Banner, Hymn 340