4th of July: Teach America the Beautiful

Have pianist play song while you draw a picture on the board. Kids watch intently while you draw! My drawing came out like this (the best way I could think to do "amber waves of grain" was waves leading into the grain. Also, those are an apple and pear tree with a bush between them):

Beneath the drawing you just did, do these in order: Bring a pic of America and tape it up. For "God shed His grace on thee" you can either draw lines coming down from above the picture of America or teach them the sign language for the word grace. Draw a crown. Draw 2 stick figures with boy hair for "brotherhood". Go back to pic of America and draw waves on either side of it.
Now, sing the song while pianist plays and point to the pictures while you sing their lines. Then have kids sing it with you. For junior primary you could add some actions to the song (they are pretty easy to figure out what to do) OR if you have wands pull those out, and do actions with them like this:
O beautiful for spacious skies: arc over head
For amber waves of grain: waves
For purple mountain majesty: triangle
Above the fruited plain: circle above head
America, America: hand over heart, circle around again over heart vertically
God shed his grace on thee: back and forth quickly from high to low
And crown thy good with brotherhood: wand touched top of head
From sea to shining sea: move wand all the way from one side of body to other

If extra time, practice songs you need to work on but sing them with 4th of July themes like:

• While singing march like you are in a parade
• Make your hands look like exploding fireworks to the beat of the song. So for 4/4 time one hand "explodes" for the 1st and 3rd beat, the other hand 2nd and 4th. Or one hand "explodes for 1st beat, other hand "explodes" for 3rd beat (that would be a little slower, not so crazy). Get it?

Also, sing "Fun to Do" with: waving a flag, watching parades or fireworks (fireworks are fun to do...)