What I Did to Teach About MLK, Jr.

Aloha! This past week has been cuh-razy!  Report cards went home last Thursday, my Quarter 3 weekly planner is currently past due, and my beautiful little sister was here all week.

Here she is on a little hike we took near my favorite beach.  The rock in the background is iconic for Lanai and is called Sweetheart Rock, or Pu‘u Pehe (you can read about the legend here). This was her first trip to Lanai and it was soooo nice to spend time with her!

In addition to some island sight-seeing and adventures, I did some fun MLK activities with my students.

First off, we started by reading our Scholastic News magazine.  This helped build some background knowledge.

I then read one of my many Martin Luther King, Jr. books.  

I chose March On! The Day My Brother Martin Changed The World by Christine King Farris.

We then watched my FAVORITE MLK book on video, Martin's Big Words.  Watch it here on Teachertube. 

After learning all about Martin, we put our new knowledge to the test and created Simply Skilled in Second's MLK Flip Flap books.  They turned out so cute! Here is a student using his magazine to fill out the pages. 

I didn't copy the last two pages on legal sized paper to make them longer, so I just stapled the books across the bottom to make them match up.  Worked perfect!

I love this rainbow one!

 We then got to work on the Martin craft I have done for the past 3 years.  Check out this post for directions and a freebie template if you are interested.

Even the art teacher was impressed!  I had 3rd graders who were in my class last year stop by the room and reminisce over making these last year. Such sweet kids!

I love teaching about Martin Luther King, Jr.  He brings such a great message about peace and equality.  I shared this quote on my FB page last week:

Do you have a favorite quote or activity that you use each year to teach about MLK, Jr? Please share!

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Nicole Heinlein

MLK FREEBIE!

Success!  Remember how I was afraid?  Well, the MLK projects turned out awesome!!

I used this lesson plan from Dick Blick to figure out how to do positive/negative art.  Remember my original inspiration from this pin?  Over at Educated...Not So Domestic, Miss Macri said that she Google-searched a picture of Martin Luther King, Jr. and outlined his face.  My colleague, Carrie, made the outline on a piece of white cardstock.  We copied only half of that face onto more pieces of white cardstock and cut the paper in half lengthwise.  The kids cut out the side of his face, nose, mustache, two lips, and collar.  Then, we had them pinch the middle of the eye, make a cut, stick the scissors inside the eye, and cut around the line.  They also did that for the eyebrow.  Since the eye and eyebrow now had holes in them, the insides needed to be recycled.  Using the other side of the white paper (remember, we had cut it in half?), students placed their white face on top of the scrap paper and traced a new eye and eyebrow.  They cut these out.  Now everything is ready to be glued onto a piece of black cardstock.  My BFF Janae gave me TONS of black cardstock that was left over from making her wedding invitations.  It comes in handy with art projects all the time!  First, they glued down the white paper that is the outside of the face.  This one is best to glue down first, since it has three straight sides, it will help make sure everything lines up correctly.  Once the outside face is glued, they line up the white face part on the other side of the black paper to create a line of symmetry (math link!!).  Last, they glue on the white eye, eyebrow, nose, mustache, lips, and collar onto the black paper.  Everything is done!!

The colorful circles on my bulletin board was another project we did.  Each circle has a date on it and the students write what major event happened that year in Martin Luther King, Jr's life.  This was a great addition to our art project.  Instead of using construction paper, my students colored each circle.  My school is having a construction paper shortage, so this solution worked well.  Click this pin to see a lesson plan and check out this pin to snag a copy of the activity for yourself!

Have you done an art project recently that you were afraid would be a flop?  What did your class do for Martin Luther King, Jr day?

Edit: after a couple people asked for the outline of Dr. King's face that Carrie and I used, I outlined it with a Sharpie, scanned, and shared it here on Google Docs.  I hope this project works out well for you, too! :)

I'm linking up with Denise over at Sunny Days in Second Grade!

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Anonymous