1-2-3 Come Learn About Martin Luther King With Me

Will you be celebrating Martin Luther King Day on Monday?  If so, I think your students will enjoy this quick, easy and fun craftivity.

This Martin Luther King “flip-the-flap” booklet is very versatile, and easy to diversify for your students’ skill levels, making it simple enough for preschool, while being challenging enough for older students.

Don’t know much about MLK? No worries; as a huge time-saver, I’ve included a chronological list of 95 interesting facts about his life, so you can learn right along with your students.

The factual information makes it a breeze to make a timeline if you want.

I’ve included a student worksheet for this.

Perfect for your non fiction studies.

The packet includes a teacher’s edition with colorful graphics, along with factual information on each page, which you can read and share with your students, who’ll be excited to make a booklet of their own.

There are several “fact flap” booklets to choose from:

* Use the black & white graphic pages with no words, for little ones who simply color the pages. The pictures will prompt them to explain the graphics by sharing what they’ve learned.

This provides a quick, easy and fun way to assess comprehension as well.

So that you can create a booklet with fewer pages for little ones, I purposely did not number them.
This also allows you to check comprehension for older students as they collate their pages in chronological order.

* Older students can also use the BW booklet, then write a few sentences sharing what they know about the pictures. (See the last oval in the photo with the pen.)

* There’s also a BW emergent reader booklet, which is packed with Dolch sight words. Children read the simple sentences then color the graphics.

When everyone is done, as a whole group activity, call on students to read a page aloud.

* As another booklet option, I’ve also included a template with 3 blank half-pages on a one-page pattern.
Run these off so students can write and illustrate their own booklets. 

Today's featured FREEBIE is a set of MLK bookmarks, which make a sweet surprise placed on your students' desks, or tucked in their backpacks. 

Well that's it for today.  Thanks for popping in. 

The bitter cold with minus temperature wind chills have subsided for a while, so it's time for some fresh air.

Love the sound of winter melting, with the promise of spring though quite far away, still in the air...

"Laughter is the sun that drives winter from the human face." - Victor Hugo

1-2-3 Come Do Some Martin Luther King Activities With Me

Martin Luther King Day is just around the corner, so I decided to post some quick, easy, and fun writing prompt craftivities. 

I don't think I've ever heard a more powerful speech than "I Have a Dream!" With that in mind I designed an MLK writing prompt quilt. 

Wheneve I toss in a bit of craftiness with a writing prompt, my students are eager to get down to business.

There are 9 different quilt squares to choose from. Each style comes in black and white featuring two different pictures of Dr. King.

I’ve also included a set of quilt squares with the clip art in color.

Students choose one, then using a black marker, write down a dream in however many blank sections they want, then lightly color the sections and trim.

You can scatter the individual squares on a bulletin board, punch a hole at the top and suspend back-to-back from the ceiling, or connect all of the squares together to make a classroom “quilt” to be displayed on a hallway wall.

Next up is an entire packet of Martin Luther King craftivities.

Little ones can simply do the craft, while older kiddos complete the writing prompts.

There are 5 activities to choose from.

I combine math & literacy, with the “Mystery on a 100 Chart” activity.

Students follow the directions and color in those numbered squares, which results in Martin Luther King’s initials.

The writing prompt is “You could always count on Dr. King . . .” A worksheet is provided.

There’s also a  super-simple snowflake craftivity (We are all the same; we are all unique like snowflakes); as well as two “danglers”.

The MLK initial dangler can be plain, or filled with dreams and goals.

The other dangler is a dove. It can stand alone for little ones to make.

(The folding of the wings, is especially beneficial for strengthening finger and hand muscles), or add the writing prompt worksheet, which is folded in half.

One side is for the writing prompt, while the other side features Langston Hughes poem, “Dreams”.

For something really different, you may enjoy the mpatapo (em-pa-ta-po) craftivity. 

I came across this West African Adinkra symbol, while looking for something that would not only represent peace, but encompass Dr. King's black heritage as well.

Mpatapo is a knot of pacification-reconciliation, that represents peaceful solutions.

It symbolizes the bond that binds parties in a dispute, to a peaceful, harmonious reconciliation. The knot represents the peacemaking after strife.

The more I researched, the more I thought it was the perfect symbol to represent what Dr. King tried to do, with his peaceful marches, sit-ins and speeches, as he sought nonviolent solutions for abolishing discrimination.

The packet includes several craftivity options.

If you're going to have your kiddos do some fact finding, and write a little report of some sort about Martin Luther King, my Fast Facts packet can even be done by young kinders. 

The packet includes 4 fast fact “craftivities” to choose from:

* A 3-section, horizontal “flip up”, where children find facts relating to the 3 phases of Dr. King’s life: beginning, middle and end.

* A simple, 3-section, vertical “flip over” booklet, which includes a sheet of photo tiles.

* A “Turn While You Learn” MLK fact wheel, where students record a fact on each one of the 6 “pie pieces”. There are 4 cover options.

* A “Flip For Facts File Folder” featuring 8 facts, and 5 cover options.

I’ve also included tips and links for how to do Online citations, plus 8 pages of background information, featuring 95 interesting facts about Martin Luther King.

Today's FREEBIE is a set of 7 Martin Luther King bookmarks. Use them as incentives and pass them out for accomplished tasks.

Challenge students to collect all 7, and then share them with their friends. 

Well that's it for today.  I sincerely hope you found something you can use for your Martin Luther King Day activities. 

My feet have hit the floor running this morning, as I'm watching two little sweethearts today. 

Grandchildren are certainly a blessing.  Wishing you a day filled with lots of  hugs and giggles.

"Grandchildren are like snowflakes.  Each one is beautifully unique." -Unknown

9 pages.

This is a wonderful fine-motor craftivity for your kiddo's for MLK Day.  The results are simply lovely.  Cover the "Poetry Genre" standard by incorporating the Langston Hughes poem, and add a writing prompt of your own as well.

6 pages.

For a quick and easy craftivity for MLK Day, have your students make this "I have a dream too!" dangler.  Turn it into a longer writing prompt for older kiddo's, by skipping the heart, and instead, have them record their writing prompt on the back.

10 pages.

For an awesome, yet quick and easy MLK Day craftivity, have your students make this MLK Pinwheel Prompt. 

1-2-3 Come Write About Martin Luther King With Me

Even though TeachWithMe.com is geared towards lower el, I have quite a few visitors who come for the writing prompts and activities, which can certainly be used for higher grades. 

Getting students to WANT to write is one of my passions.  It's pretty easy for me to whip together interesting writing prompts, because I LOVE writing.  I truly believe that if you give students some creative, think-outside-the-box writing activities, they too will get excited and want to get started.  

I've learned that having a list for students to choose from, is extremely helpful.  Giving one a choice, seems more satisfying, and is a lot less overwhelming than to simply say: write about anything. Staring at a blank sheet of paper, can be quite inhibiting for most students, where as something specific, gets them started.

With that in mind, I put together a list of 60 writing prompts especially for Martin Luther King Day, and hope your kiddo's will find something that really interests them.  Click on the link to view/download the 60 Martin Luther King Day Writing Prompts.

Yesterday, I posted a list of 35 of my all-time favorite quotes from Martin Luther King, and mentioned that many of these provide a great spring board for writing. 

I thought it would be interesting to make some quotation papers for students to write on. 

After they share their work, mount the writing on a variety of colors of construction paper and scatter on a bulletin board with a black background.  Click on the link to view/download the MLK Stationery Prompts.

Finally, I had a request for Martin Luther King alphabet cards, so Stacy's preschoolers from Detroit, could play some letter games on MLK Day.  Click on the link to grab some for your kiddo's too.

Thanks for visiting today.  Feel free to PIN away.

"Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it.  Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it.  Hatred darkens life; love illuminates it." - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

12 pages.

There is a ton of new vocabulary involved when learning about Martin Luther King.  To help build your students' vocabularies, select whatever words you'd like them to learn, (there's a list of 62) and have them add the words to their MLK Dictionary, where they write, define and use the word in a sentence.

6 pages.

Challenge students to make as many words as they can, using the letters in Martin Luther King.  I purposely did not include Jr.

I've included a list of the 525 that I thought of.  While I was making my list, I thought how appropriate that many of these words could be directly associated with Dr. King's life, so I decided to have the extra assignment of having students highlight words that they thought were relevant to MLK.

15 pages.

Help your students show what they've learned about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.  by making a flip for facts booklet.  I've included a list of helpful MLK websites, as well as 95 Fast Facts about MLK, along with a page of Public Domain pictures if students would like to include a few.

1-2-3 Come Do Some More Martin Luther King Day Activities With Me

There is a ton of new vocabulary involved with MLK.  To help with that, I made a list of 62 - words that relate to Dr. King, that students will undoubtedly come across while reading.

To help build their vocabularies, select whatever words you'd like your students to learn, and have them add the words to their MLK Dictionary, where they write, define and use the word in a sentence. 

The packet includes 2 different covers (for upper and lower el), a list of 62-MLK-related words + 62 trace and write word cards. Click on the link to view/download the  MLK "My Words" dictionary.

Another way to immerse your students with this new vocabulary is by searching for words in a word find.  I've designed 2 word searches for Martin Luther King Day (1 for lower el, as well as an upper el version).

Students search for words from left to right and top to bottom.  Tell students to start with the first word and look for the initial letter, as well as chunks of letters.  They will undoubtedly come across other words while they do that.

Have them highlight the words that they find, as well as cross those words off the list.  Work from left to right first, and then any words that they  haven't found will probably be from top to bottom. 

Word searches are great for Daily 5 Word Work, early finishers, sub folders or a fun homework assignment.  Click on the link to view/download the Martin Luther King Day Word Searches.

Martin's Big Words by Doreen Rappaport, is a great book to transition with.  It's filled with a lot of my favorite MLK quotes.  

If you'd like to see a list of my favorite quotations of Martin Luther King, click on the link.  Make an overhead of the quotes. Have students pick one or two of their favorites to write about; or throug out the month of January, write one of MLK's inspirational quotes on the board.  As a Daily 5 activity, have students record the quote in their writing journals and then comment on it. 

For a fun "craftivity" and interesting MLK bulletin board, have students choose a thought-provoking quote and design a poster around it.  Before you hang them up, have students carry their posters in a peaceful mock-march down the hallways of your school or around the playground.

I thought it would also be fun to challenge students to think of as many words as they could, using the letters in Martin Luther King. This would make a nice Daily 5 word work activity.

I've included a list of 525 words that I thought of.  While I was making my list, I thought how appropriate that many of these words could be directly associated with Dr. King's life. i.e he was a great man, and gave the ultimate sacrifice,  so I decided to assign the extra assignment of having students highlight the words they thought of, that were relevant to MLK's life.  Click on the link to view/download the Martin Luther King Word Challenge.

Part of the reason it's difficult for children to understand these terms, is because in their unrealistic little world, where everything seems "fair" they are unable to comprehend what prejudice of the 60's was like. 

To help them understand, I define the new words and then give them examples that they can personally relate to.  Children are all about fairness.  It's extremely frustrating for them when things are not fair.  "No fair; I had it first."  "That's not fair; he cheated." etc. 

A teacher today would never dream of cruelly excluding a group of children from a treat, activity or whatever, based on the color of their skin.   Children have become secure in the fact that they are treated equally in the classroom. 

With this in mind, I defined discrimination and prejudice to my wide-eyed Y5's, and explained that I would show them what this meant by giving the girls a star sticker, but not the boys. 

The boys are always more verbal than the girls, so I started this way.  Do this quickly to avoid too much agitation.  Inevitably a child will say: "That's not fair." I then agreed and asked the boys how they felt.  We discussed how mean and wrong discrimination and prejudice was. 

I then gave the boys the star sticker as well, but while I passed out the stickers, I also gave  them a lollipop,  but I did not give the girls one.  The rolls were reversed. 

EVERY year I had at least one little girl give a sad little boy her sticker, and at least one little boy who gave their lollipop to a sad little girl.  You will find that most of your students are extremely empathetic to the feelings of their classmates. 

They desire harmony and peace in their classroom.  It is this desire for equality and fairness through nonviolent measures, that drove 1,000's to follow Dr. King.

I quickly passed out the lollipops to the girls, and while everyone slurped away, we continued to discuss how we felt, when we were deliberately left out, and how awful it must have been for children during that time period.  I have them raise their right hand and promise to treat others fairly and then we read a few stories to help them further comprehend.

Dr. Seuss' story The Sneeches, is a perfect example of how ridiculous discrimination is.  My Y5's LOVED this book and the discussion afterwards, was always extremely animated, as they shared their feelings.

The gist is that some Sneetches have stars on their bellies and some don't.  The ones with the stars feel they are superior. 

If you'd like to do some star activities with your kiddo's, Pure Fun, one of our affiliates, have  awesome sparkle star stickers. There are 400 in a pack for only $2.17, and come in 7 assorted sparkly colors.  

I checked out YouTube to see if they had a video of The Sneeches and found several.  Click on the link to take a look at this short 12-minute full-version of The Sneeches!  I think your kiddo's will really enjoy it.

After your students have learned a bit about Dr. King, have them show their knowledge by making an MLK Flip For Facts booklet.

I've included a list of kid-friendly websites,  a page of mini photographs + a list of fun facts to help.

Thanks for visiting today.  Feel free to PIN away. 

"We must use time creatively, and forever realize that the time is always right to do right." -Martin Luther King Jr.