We honor a great American hero today; Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
My students learned about him, wrote about him, and drew pictures of him…..
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| Martin Luther King pictures…. |
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| 2nd graders imagining Dr. King as a pastor giving a sermon in church…. |
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| Dr. King giving a speech for America…. |
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| We all think Martin Luther King was a great man… |
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| We read a big book on Martin Luther King….Read a timeline of facts about him… and read 3 Scholastic Newspapers about him….then we wrote our own dreams for the world….. |
Here are some activities we did last year for Martin Luther King’s birthday.
So we do a portrait of Dr. King and put it on the bulletin board along with writing projects by the students about what their “dreams” for the world would be. It’s always funny to see things like: “I dream that there will be no more bad guys”….and stuff like that. But it’s good to get kids to synthesize what they learn in a new way. So I do it for that reason. Hey, world peace isn’t just for the Miss America Pageant you know!
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| Kids don’t like littering, war, or bullying…..there are some things we can do at 7 years old to make the world better! |
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| They can stand up to bullying at school…..they can pick up litter where they find it….they can make the world better! |
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| A picture of a sign during Martin Luther King’s time….they kids all see how unfair it is….why didn’t the adults see it? |
It is always amazing to me that the kids are shocked by the unfairness they see in actual primary source photos of the time. When I show them the pictures of “colored bathroom only” signs in the book, or the “blacks sit to the back of the bus” signs, and I ask them, “Do you guys think this is fair?” they always will unitedly chorus in the negative. It is amazing that the adults of that time didn’t think it unfair.
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| I like this pretty stained glass window in the background of the church….and notice Dr. King holding a flag? Cool! |
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| Kids know what the problems in our world are, it shows up in their own creative writing…. |
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| We wrote about the example Dr. King set for us and how we can all make the world a better place too. |
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This student thought “puppy mills” should stop…..I think that is cute….we didn’t talk about puppy mills per se,
but it goes to show that kids really do think, and learn from topics of the day they hear on the news. |
Happy Birthday Dr. King. You showed us that one person in this world really CAN make a difference.
I love that the kids see segregation as so unfair and are shocked that that kind of thing was allowed. It is very reaffirming, but there is still a long way to go.
2B Honey Bunch
The Best Endings
Yes I like that too. Kids are more observant and "fair" minded that we may think!
Your students' writing responses are wonderful. Thank you so much for sharing these!
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Second Grade Sugar and Spice
Which book did you read about him? Looking for a good children's book on him.