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

3 pages

If you're looking for something different for a Martin Luther King Day activity, this is it.  The "mpatapo" (em-pa-ta-poe) symbol means "knot of pacification/reconciliation".  It is a symbol of peacemaking.  Mpatapo is an African symbol known as adinkra, from the Asante tribe of Ghana.  I thought it was an appropriate representation of what Dr. King tried to do with his peaceful marches, sit-ins and speeches, as he sought nonviolent solutions for abolishing discrimination; so I featured it on this quick, easy and fun MLK Day craftivity.  

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.

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.