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, Monday, the 19th, so if you're looking for some ideas, you've come to the right place.

Although I remember the Civil Rights Movement quite vividly, what went on in the 60's is quite different from today.  Because of this, I think it’s extremely important to teach a bit of history, taking your students on a trip through the past, to help them get a feel for what that time period was like.

In today's blog I want to feature some of my favorite MLK downloads that have been quite popular. Hopefully they're just what you're looking for.

To peak student's interest, start the day off by leaving a Happy Martin Luther King Day bookmark on their desks.  I designed 7 for you to choose from. 

Throughout the day, use them as incentives, and pass them out as children complete tasks.  Challenge them to collect all seven to share with their friends. 

Can anyone tell you who Martin Luther King Jr. was or why we have a holiday to celebrate him?  Most of my students had no knowledge of Dr. King. 

With this in mind, I designed a KWL.  Have your students complete their own personal MLK KWL, then gather children together to fill in the larger KWL for MLK.

After your studies, at the end of the day, have students complete their KWL by writing in what they learned.

Reading several stories, is an easy and interesting way to introduce the concept of discrimination and diversity, as well as find out about the life of MLK. 

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.  

One of my personal favorites, and my Y5's favorite story for our MLK unit, is The Sneeches, by Dr. Seuss.  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. 

They can easily see the unfairness of "stars on bellies" and in the end, agree with the author that such practices were cruel and pointless.

Another way to make the 60's real for your students is to have them watch some brief videos about Dr. King's life and listen to a portion of his famous  “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.

To help you give your students more background information, 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, plus a few biographies and then fact-checked discrepancies. 

I thought I knew quite a bit, however, I learned many more amazing things! (I was unaware 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 kiddos, and then share:  95-Interesting Fast Facts About Martin Luther King.

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.

Another age-appropriate site is  The National Georgraphic site for kids. They have an excellent photographic timeline of MLK.

After reading some stories and watching a few videos, toss in some technology, and have your students take a short online MLK quiz.

For more reinforcement, and to further check comprehension, have children show you what they've learned, by making an MLK Flip For Facts booklet.

I've included a list of kid-friendly websites,  a page of mini photographs, plus a list of fun facts they can use.

Another way to help your students learn about Martin Luther King Jr., is through vocabulary building.  There is a plethora of new words that your students will come across as they listen to stories, read books, search for facts, and watch video clips. 

It's important to make sure that your kiddos understand their meanings.  For example, diversity is a relatively new word for youngsters.  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.  I LOVE this idea.  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, then relate it to what they are learning.

You could also do this with M&M's. Have students suck the colorful candy coating off, then stick out their tongue to check things out.  What conclusions can they draw?  How is ethnicity similar?

An excellent book to read about diversity is Sesame Street's We Are Different,  We Are The Same   by Bobbi Jane Kates. 

The quirky 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."

Because of all the new vocabulary involved in studying Martin Luther King, and the era he lived in, I made a list of 62-words that relate to Dr. King, that students will undoubtedly come across while studying about him.

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 (one for upper and one for lower el), an alphabetical list of 62-MLK-related words, plus 62 trace and write word cards. Click on the link to view/download the  MLK "My Words" dictionary.

Another fun way to immerse your students in 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.  I've included answer keys as well.  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, which is another interesting and fun way to learn about him.

If you'd like to see a list of my favorite quotations of Martin Luther King, click on the link. 

Another simple Daily 5 word work activity, is to challenge students to think of as many words as they can, using the letters in Martin Luther King.

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.

Well that's it for today.  Thanks for visiting.  I hope you found a few things to help make your Martin Luther King Day celebration special. 

Be sure and pop back tomorrow, as I'll be featuring some super-fun, and thought-provoking MLK writing prompts.  It's time for me to whip a meatloaf together. 

I enjoy cooking almost as much as I do designing activities. Almost.... Actually, they are similar, as they both involve creating something, and then cleaning up a big mess as I go. :-)

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.

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.

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.

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.