Martin Luther King, Jr

Our class spent some time last week learning all about Martin Luther King, Jr.  We read a biography about his life and his teachings.  First grade children can be so very fair about things and they were outraged to learn that once upon a time there were laws that said you could or could not do things because of the color of your skin!  I have an interesting activity where I ask them to decide if a particular situation is "just" or "unjust".  It was fun to discuss each situation.  There were a few that they just couldn't come to agreement on...such as "kids who do not complete homework stay in for recess."  Some thinking shared was that "if I took the time to do it at home and my friend didn't, then he/she should have to use recess to finish".  I had to tell them that I wasn't going to be the teacher that kept a child in at recess over homework!  But I can understand the reasoning!  Others were more clear to them: People with blue eyes get to make more money.  

They were very interested in seeing MLK's entire "I Have a Dream" speech.  I'd shown the short clip where he talks about his children being judged by the content of their character and not by the color of their skin.  But they wanted to see the entire speech so we watched during snack on Friday.  They cheered at parts and were more attentive than I'd anticipated because he's very wordy and uses sophisticated vocabulary for first graders.  They decided afterward that if they'd been alive then, they'd all have wanted to be there!

Each child then made their own "I Have a Dream" project.  We used differing skin colors to create the cover and then each wrote what their very own dream for the world might be...

It was a good time to read to them about Rosa Parks and Ruby Bridges.  We read all about Rosa Parks on Friday and Ruby Bridges today.  Both were very brave to stand up for themselves and the rights to which they were entitled.  I think they were especially interested in the story of Ruby Bridges because she was just about their age.  A very brave girl indeed!

Today we talked about how all colors are beautiful and we have what color we have.  We made a Peace Dove which truly had ALL sorts of different colors!  And it IS beautiful!

Lastly, we talked about how skin is so many different colors and we put our arms together to see that no two arms are the same color!