The week before we celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. day, I like to set aside time to teach my students who is and why we want to remember him. Today, I’m going to share some of my favorite activities with you. If you want to see more, be sure to follow me on IG @myfabulousclass. This post does contain affiliate links for my favorite books on Amazon.
My favorite book is Martin’s Big Words. It does a great job of teaching kids about who Martin Luther King Jr. is,. Because this book does contain sensitive information, I always recommend you read it first to ensure it is appropriate for your class.
Another book I like to read is I Have Dream, which is his speech “I have a Dream.” If you click on this link to YouTube, you can watch the book with a voice over of him reading the actual speech. Its pretty powerful. There is another great 5min video on YouTube that talks about Martin Luther King Jr.s life. It’s made by Kids Academy and you can watch it here.
When I am teaching students about Martin Luther King Jr., I really like to focus on how he is a peacemaker. He wanted everyone to get along and make the world a better place. I like to connect this into a conversation about our classroom. We talk about how we can all get along as a class and make the class a better place.
Then, we do a writing craft for how we can be peacemakers. I have done this craft with Kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd graders. With my Kindergarteners, we rely on the picture sort to help us write. There is a bubble map you can use to help students come up with more ideas to write about. My second graders were able to write multiple sentences. There are different writing prompts to choose from. You can also pick from the low prep craft or a no prep craft. Personally, I like the low prep craft with the cute cut up hair.
There is also an emergent reader about Martin Luther King Jr. This is a great independent activity or morning work activity that you can have students do when they come into class. I hope your class enjoys these activities. If you post them on Instagram, be sure to tag me @myfabulousclass
Leave a Reply