Celebrating Martin Luther King, Jr.

We had such a good time learning about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. this week with lots of literacy activities.

As this week's Poem of the Week, we read and discussed my poem, Dr. King's Dream. I'm pretty proud of this one. I want students to share my belief that dreaming big is important and that one person's dream can change the world.

We read several books about Dr. King. I discovered a new book this year and I absolutely love it!  It's called My Uncle Martin's Words for America and it was written by Angela Farris Watkins, Dr. King's niece. One of our wonderful teacher assistants loaned it to me. I've got to get my own copy!

We talked a lot about some of these important words and what they mean. I used my vocabulary cards and the word search from my Dr. King's Dream packet.

We also read some other great books about Dr. King.

Finally, we read a wonderful book written by students with big dreams, We Dream of a World. I love this one, too!

After all that reading (spaced across the week), I challenged my kids to dream big, too. I asked them to think about big problems in the world that they would like to fix. I asked them what would help all of us have a better life? We then wrote about our dreams for a better life. I'm always so impressed with their responses - they show such awareness and compassion! Here are a few of my favorites this year.

She meant "by making people not poor." I did have her edit it, but I forgot to take another picture after she finished.

On Tuesday, I'll be creating our bulletin board to share our dreams. Here is a picture of last year's board.

We had a great time learning and writing about this important American leader. If you would like my poem and the accompanying activities, Dr. King's Dream is available in my TPT store. 

Until next time!