Submitted by Sally Utley, Columbia, South Carolina

Idea posted July 2, 2002

I used "Allegiance Rap" (from Music K-8, Vol. 12, No. 1) for our United We Sing program and also our school dedication. I taped together two pieces of construction paper, short end to short end, and laminated them. The bottom row had red, 2nd row white, 3rd row red, and 4th row white. The three students on the left end of the 3rd and 4th rows had blue with white stars. (I got eight stars on each blue background. This only ended up at 48 stars, but I didn't think anyone would be able to count that fast.) When the students held them up chest high, it was a "flag." Now I know that our flag has more than four stripes, but no one complained!

We began the song facing the back. On each "Liberty and Justice," one row turned around and held up their color. We stood still until the last "for all" and lowered the colors out of sight. Then we repeated the process with the "Liberty and Justice" at the beginning of the 2nd verse, only this time we did not do any turning around. On the last "for all," all students raised their color over their heads and froze.