1-2-3 Come Do Some Martin Luther King Activities With Me
Are you doing anything special for Martin Luther King Day? I’ve been thinking about this man and the era I grew up in. I’m in awe of the bravery it took for him to overcome injustice, while forgiving the people that were grossly unjust.
This year, we are celebrating his inspiring accomplishments on Monday, January 20th, in the year of Nelson Mandela’s death, whose trial in 1963 was 50 years ago, as well as the 50th anniversary of JFK’s assassination. It's also the 60th anniversary of the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision by the US Supreme Court, which desegregated public schools.
Although these are national headlines, I think it is sad that today’s generations are relatively clueless, as to what life was like before these individuals and historic events changed the world we live in.
Because of this, I think it’s extremely important to teach a bit of history and take students on a “Back to the Future” ride in time. To help you do this, I compiled a list of 95-Interesting Fast Facts About Martin Luther King.
I enjoyed wading through more than 40 websites and reading over 20 children's books + a few biographies and then fact-checked discrepancies. I thought I knew quite a bit, but learned so many more amazing things!
Did you know that Martin's birth certificate has his name down as Michael, or that he skipped 9th and 12th grade and went to college at the age of 15? Read through the pages, highlight what you feel is relevant and appropriate for your kiddo's, and then share: 95-Interesting Fast Facts About Martin Luther King.
Another way to make the 60's real for your students is to have them watch some brief videos about MLK’s life and listen to a portion of his infamous “I Have A Dream” speech. Click on the link for a list of short Martin Luther King Jr. videos on YouTube. Click on this link for footage of his peaceful march on Washington.
Start the day off by leaving a Happy Martin Luther King Day bookmark on your students' desks. I designed 7 for you to choose from.
You can also use them as incentives and pass them out as children complete tasks. Challenge them to collect all seven to share with their friends. Martin Luther King Day Bookmarks.
Have your students complete their own personal MLK KWL, then gather children together to fill in the larger KWL for MLK.
After your studies, have students complete their KWL by writing in what they learned.
Now it's time for a story. Simply and easily introduce the concept of discrimination and diversity by reading several books.
Click on the link for my 24 all-time favorite books for Martin Luther King Day.
These are tried and true resources, to help little ones wrap their heads around complex concepts, and really helped my Y5's comprehend the hard-to-understand stuff. Martin Luther King Day bibliography.
While researching, I also found a short animated clip over at BrainPop, that even early elementary students will understand. This is a wonderful site for children.
The National Georgraphic site for kids has an excellent photographic time line of MLK.
After reading some stories and watching a few videos your students can take a short online MLK quiz.
Diversity is a relatively new word for a lot of students. Helping them understand that we are all different, yet we are all also the same, is a great way to explain things.
The people over at Kids Activites Blog, suggest comparing a brown chicken egg to a white one. They look different on the outside, but what happens when you crack them open? Students discuss how they are exactly the same on the inside.
You could also do this with M&M's. Have students suck the colored candy coating off, then stick out their tongue to check things out, or simply cut one in half.
An excellent book to read about diversity is Sesame Street's We Are Different, We Are The Same by Bobbi Jane Kates. The rhyming format makes it a wonderful read aloud: "We're different. Our noses are different. We are the same. Our noses are the same. They breathe and sniff and sneeze and whiff."
Finally, making a Venn diagram will also help students "see" similarities and differences, and is a great way to help them organize their thoughts, before they write a comparison-contrast piece.
Children can compare Barrack Obama, the first black President, with MLK or choose the Venn diagram comparing him with Mahatma Ghandi.
It was while at college that MLK started to study Ghandi's passive resistance ideas. Martin thought this peaceful means of protest, could be successful in changing unfair laws in the United States.
To futher understand similarities and differences, students can also choose a friend to compare themselves with, and work together to fill in their Venn diagram. Click on the link to view/download the Martin Luther King Venn digrams.
Thanks for visiting today. I hope you can stop by tomorrow for some more really interesting and fun FREEBIES for Martin Luther King Day. Feel free to PIN away.
"I have decided to stick with love; hate is too great a burden to bear." -Martin Luther King Jr.
