MLK Day 2014

Freedom Hands

In honor of Martin Luther King and the message of diversity, Crayola has a wonderful craftivity!

This would be perfect for K-8.  The questions suggested are a great start to developing a wonderful lesson!

Add a comprehension passage from Readworks before your craft!

Add some Read Alouds listed here!

Have students choose a favorite MLK quote to write about!

Download Writing Paper Here!

Martin Luther King and Black History Month

January is quickly approaching!  Prepare for Martin Luther King Day and Black History Month (Feb.) with the following resources. The books pictured above are great resources for your classroom library. 

You can find a reader's theater for Freedom on the Menu by Carole Weatherford here.  It is about a child who wants to eat a banana split in a drugstore, but can’t because she is not white. The author offers a great lesson plan on her website.  She uses a Langston Hughes poem, photographs, and links to Jim Crow Laws.  This book is based on the Greensboro Sit-Ins of 1960. Check out her entire Website!

Sarah Chauncey developed a wonderful website that is now archived.  You will find reader’s theaters, Ebook links, poetry links, and much more.   Download The Grandview Library’s Reader’s Theaters ppt. for grades K—3.  These are short and perfect for shared  reading.  A more lengthy play (Martin Luther King, Jr.,THE STORY OF A DREAM, a play by June Behrens)  and perfect for a school presentation can be found here. 

Several Ebooks on famous African Americans, including Martin Luther King can be found here.

An activity for middle grades and high school, If You had a Dream, can be found here.  Students rewrite portions of the speech into their own words.

PBS has a lesson plan for grades 9-12 using MLK’s I Have a Dream Speech here.

You can find several days of lesson plans, including resources here at Teachers.net.  This is an oldie, but a goodie! Lessons adapt well to balanced literacy.

The following were simply typed and made ready for print.  I am not the author.  They are available on many sites.

Download  "Colors" by Shel Silverstein Here

Download "I Am" an echo poem-author unknown

Download Choral Reading by Joan Nichols

Download Speech by Joan Nichols

More ideas:

ReadWorks has grade level comprehension passages!

Preschool Ideas...Wonderful resource!

Using your read-alouds, create a timeline of MLK's life!

Listen or Watch to Dr. King's speech

Writing Prompts 

Arts and Crafts activities to promote diversity

Unity Wreath Idea

Great activities from KidsActivites.net

Music and art

Black History Clipart...Free from Phillip Martin

Teaching Heart ideas

TLC Writing and Art Display (archived) Makes a great Classroom display!  You can see an example over at "Chalk Talk" of this activity, as well as many others.

And finally.....

Download Writing Page

My Dream for K-2

Download

Sandi