Happy MLK, Jr. Day!!!

MLK Day is even better than a snow day because we don't have to make it up!!! :) Since we are out of school, I wanted the kids to know why. So, on Friday (I guess I could have posted this on day 89), I read the kids two stories about Martin Luther King. One was a kid friendly biography and the other was about how a class thought of their dreams and shared them with one another.

Even with second graders, I was never sure they understood how MLK felt until I broke it down for them. This is how our conversation went:

Me: Everyone with dark hair (and then I named them off so they knew who they were) stand up. We are going to have cake and ice cream for snack!!! All of you that are still sitting down, you get to have broccoli and carrots for snack.

The 'sitters': Ugh. That's not fair!

Some of the 'standers': Yeah, why can't they have cake and ice cream too?

And that my friends is how you explain segregation to five and six year olds!

Then we read this little five page book that the kids were going to color, put together and take home.



Informative yet simple book to help little people learn about MLK, Jr.



I could not have been more excited when one of my friend brought his page up to show me how he had colored one of the pages.

Way to go friend! You get it!!!



I was later given a beautiful compliment that I hope I can pass on to my students. Mrs. Thompson told me that she felt that I do not have a racist bone in my body. Being an African American, she said she doesn't see that often. I just want my kids to see that it really doesn't matter what color your skin is. At school, our quote of the week is:

“We may have different religions, different languages, different colored skin, but we all belong to the same human race.” -Kofi Annan

 
 

I still remember a song from grade school about Dr. King. By remember, I mean 5 words, but I told my kids I would try to find it and share it with them. There are a lot of songs out there and when I look at them, I start not remembering how it goes. All I have for them is, "Dr. King! Dr. King! He had a dream!" I also vaguely remember that my mom liked the song too. {isn't it weird how things will just pop into your head?!}