Continuing with our preparations for the upcoming Winter Olympics, second graders learned about our national anthem, the "Star Spangled Banner." Francis Scott Key wrote the anthem on September 14th, celebrating the United States victory over the British in the War of 1812. Aboard a ship several miles away from Fort McHenry, Key was inspired by the sight of the waving flag in the distance and wrote the words to the anthem.
In Mrs. Martin's class, we listened to many different versions of the anthem, and talked about how the anthem is telling a story. We learned what all of the words in the anthem really mean, and then were able to create our own lyrics books to take home with us. We discussed how different musicians have created their own renditions of the anthem over time, playing with tempo, instrumentation, and style. The above video is one of the student's favorite versions, sung by Jennifer Hudson at Super Bowl XLIII.
We hope that we get to hear a lot more of "The Star Spangled Banner" in the next month, as (hopefully) many US Olympians stand on top of the podium and take home the gold!
If you want to learn more about our country's national anthem, you can visit this wonderful website where they are lots of fun, interactive games, and great information, including an interactive flag and quiz.
The awesome graphics that I used for these slides were found at www.The CraftyClassroom.com. Thanks!
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