Dr. Martin Luther King

    Last week, in anticipation of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day we discussed kindness, cooperation, and peace. It is so interesting to talk to young children about the injustices of the world. They are so pure and innocent and don't understand how people could be treated so unfairly. We can all learn from our children.
    One activity we did was pick a birthday present for Martin Luther King, Jr. I had one present wrapped in a fancy gift bag with ribbon and tissue. The other present was in a brown paper bag. I asked several kids which present they would choose. Of course, everyone chose the pretty package. When we opened it....there was a bag of rocks. However, the paper bag had delicious bags of M&M's!



We discussed how the outside of the package doesn't tell you what is on the inside. Just like, the clothes someone wears and/or the way someone looks doesn't tell you what the person is like on the inside. Further, it is what is on the inside that counts, not appearance. Last, we had to taste test! But before we all got M&M's we had a few children experiment. I put a blindfold on the "taste tester" and gave them one M&M. The child had to guess the color of the M&M. Well, needless to say, every child that tried the blindfold test couldn't tell which color it was. My favorite answer to "What color is it?" was "CHOCOLATE!" Of course! Again, it didn't matter what color the M&M was, what is important is the sweet inside!



The students loved reading about Martin Luther King.  We had books from the library, my own personal collection, and ebooks on the Reading Rainbow and EPIC apps.  The students learned a lot of information. 



The second graders used the information they learned to put together and present a timeline of Dr. Martin Luther King's life.  The first graders also presented.  For writing, the first graders made a banner of all the things we have in common.  For example, we all have birthdays.  They also presented their writing to the class.