Struggling to figure out how to get your preschool class excited about the Pledge of Allegiance? These teaching ideas will help you explain the importance of the pledge in a way that preschool children can relate to.
How many of the preschoolers actually understand what they are saying when they pronounce the words of the Pledge of Allegiance? This lesson plan will help you explain the importance of the pledge in a way that preschoolers can relate to, including activities that reinforce the lesson.
Read Aloud
Read “The Pledge of Allegiance” by Scholastic Inc. aloud to the class. Show children the pictures in the book, and discuss how the pictures relate to the words of the pledge. Make sure to look at the last few pages of the book together with the class, including the line-by-line explanation of the pledge, the history of the flag, and additional information about the flag.
Understanding the Pledge
In order to bring the pledge down to a level that preschoolers can understand, try explaining it as follows: “When we pledge allegiance, we are saying how happy we are to live in the United States. There are so many people in the United States, but we all work together to make sure that things are fair for everybody.” Have children discuss the concepts of fairness and working together, and make sure that they understand why both of them are important.
Stars on a Flag
Ask children to guess how many stars they think are on the flag. You might get responses like “a million!” or “infinity!” Tell students that there are fifty stars on the flag, just like there are fifty states in the United States. Make sure to take out a map of the United States to show them how the country is made up of many different states. Explain that each star on the flag stands for one of the states.
Ask children to make their own flag to represent their family. Encourage them to include the same number of stars (or some other decoration) as there are people in their families.
March…Two…Three…Four…
Tell children that they will have a Pledge of Allegiance parade. Explain that the pledge says that all of the people in the country have to work together and make things fair for each other. Have children hold up their family flags and march around the classroom singing patriotic songs.
This lesson is an excellent one to do at the beginning of the year or near national holidays. Show preschoolers the importance of patriotism and love of their country.
