This is a repost,
one of my favorite songs and books, “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
Happy Birthday, America.

Bringing our National Anthem to Life

Few books have the power to move young students and make a difference; this one does. Whenever I sing our National Anthem with children, I pull out my well-loved and very worn book, The Star-Spangled Banner by Peter Spier.  Every page is a full color illustration of the words to the song.

This book makes my heart race!  Every single time I read or sing the book,  children are drawn in.  There is wonder, and there are more questions, and inevitably a crowd of children begin pushing in to see and hear, and to learn.

This is what I wrote to families on one such occasion. “It happened like this…”

“I want to tell you about early morning in the Big Room today.  It was one of…