Each day the students at our school (like many other children across the country) recite the Pledge of Allegiance at the beginning of each day. Not quite sure my students fully understood words like: pledge, allegiance, republic, nation, indivisible, liberty, and justice, I decided I would review the meanings of those words.To review the meanings I shared a "Reader's Theater" about the Pledge that I created several years ago. After discussing the vocabulary the students seemed to have a new found appreciation of those words. They respectfully and proudly recite the Pledge now with greater understanding.
This video by former comedian, Red Skelton, had the students sit up and take notice. He mentioned two things that really got the kids to ask some questions. After listening to it, can you guess what the kids were wondering?
At the end of the week our class presented the Reader's Theater about the Pledge of Allegiance at the school-wide assembly. It was our hope that all the other students in the school would become more competent with the meaning behind The Pledge. While there is still controversy about saying "The Pledge" in schools, our students proudly recite it each day.
Which word in the Pledge do you think is the most important and why?
Other Resources:
The Pledge of Allegiance
I Pledge Allegiance by Bill Martin, Jr.
To the Flag: The Unlikely History of the Pledge of Allegiance by Richard J. Ellis (for adults)
What Does the Pledge of Allegiance Mean: Explained for kids from Homeschool Pool-Dive In
Pledge of Allegiance Song
Hi Nancy, This post was timely as it was a subject of discussion at our faculty meeting this morning. I shared your post with my colleagues. Thanks for all the links and information.
ReplyDeleteHi Maureen,
ReplyDeleteWondering how your discussion went. We do a lot of veteran activities and so we relate the Pledge and honoring the flag to our heroes. I'd be interested in knowing how whether or not other schools say the Pledge of Allegiance each day.
Thanks for commenting and sharing my post.
Best,
Nancy
This is certainly a tough topic but I so love having these types of "controversial" lessons with my students. Beautiful student "Pledge" artwork! I've been using this resource for some of my Social Studies lesson planning and writing exercises: Teacher Clipart Borders
ReplyDelete