It has never been more important for teachers to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. by honoring his words, ideas, and actions. Half-way through the year is a great time to celebrate all the hard work your class had done in sharing and celebrating culture. Dr. King’s birthday is an awesome teachable moment.
Celebrate His Birth
I remember talking to another teacher in the lounge about how our kids don’t remember life before we taught about Martin. We thought we as a society had made so much progress towards his goals. WOW were we wrong ! We learned this during the “Black Lives Matter” marches of this past year. We have so much work to do. And that work begins in the primary classroom. There are big things we need to do to start the year. There are little things we must do throughout the year. Honoring his legacy is a never-ending task. Here are just a few things you can do in January:
- Read books about Martin. Give students time to reflect, compare and contrast.
- Start a time line above your white board of Dr. King’s life. Give incentive when students hear about a new event in this life to add.
- There are great resources on the internet that will bring life to his
Click on the right to access the National Park’s virtual tour of the King family home site.
Honor His Legacy
Even our smallest students have much to gain from his legacy of peace, hope, and love. These are the most powerful lessons any leader can give to the world. Primary students need to see how he led the nation to change. He started, but we have much work to do.
- Peaceful Resolution activities are useful in January for recess issues. Pick a topic and working through it as a group. Slowly teach your kids to take charge of solving a problem.
- Only Love can drive out hate. This is so very tough to do. It is so lacking in our world today. Basic love is respect. Add to your team building from the fall. Teach kids that respect must be the foundation.
- Hope is the guiding light that Dr. King shed. We need it now, more than ever, we need hope for perseverance in the path he set out.
Hear his Words
The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in Washington DC has important words on the side of the mountain. Visit the site here.
- Project the public site on your projector so the students can feel the awesome sight the way it was meant to be.
- Give your students a speech bubble paper. Click on the quotes tab. Read the quotes slowly. Have each write a word or phrase that sticks out to them.
- Click on “Building the Memorial”. Read about the long road to make it happen.
If you’re short on time, you can purchase this 3-Day Anchor chart activity by clicking on the cover on the left.
As a teacher in the new millennium, it is not only our duty to teach our kids to celebrate Martin Luther King jr., it is our mission and our privilege.
If you have enjoyed this article, try a few others from me here. Thanks for stopping by!!
Happy Teaching!
