Martin Luther King, Jr. Activity for Kids

Martin Luther King, Jr. Activity

This is one of my favorite projects that I look forward to every year. This Martin Luther King, Jr. Activity incorporates two important Social Studies standards: learning about the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and timelines.

This is a culminating project that I use after my class has spent several days learning about Martin Luther King, Jr. We have already read books, watched videos, learned about him on PebbleGo, and completed other activities about his life and contribution to our country. 

The students love this Martin Luther King, Jr. activity for two reasons. First, I let them work with a partner, which they LOVE. Also, I let them use their colored pencils, which is a special treat in my classroom.

You will want to have two days to complete this project.

Martin Luther King, Jr. Activity Day 1

I partner the students up and give each set of partners one of the MLK timeline pages. I set out multiple books, pictures, etc. of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I also use a a quick internet search to display some photographs on my interactive whiteboard. I find having a partner and providing references for their illustrations really helps with the quality of their work.  I also give the students plenty of time to work on their illustration.

Martin Luther King, Jr. Activity Day 2

On Day 2, we gather together in the hallway with our completed illustrations.  We use them to create a timeline of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s life. This would also work great on a large bulletin board in your classroom.

To be prepared and make the lesson flow smoothly, I have done the following tasks before we gather together.

1. I have hung a piece of yarn about 10 feet long in the hallway.
2. I have preprinted the years of key details of Martin Luther King, Jr's life on index cards.
3. I have a big roll of tape ready to go!  You may even want to have some tape loops hanging on the wall for quick taping of the projects.

Now we are ready to begin! We work together to order the events of Martin Luther King, Jr's life. It is a bit tricky for students to order the years, but this is good exposure for them. I use lots of guided talk to walk them through the process. They bring up their Martin Luther King, Jr. activity pages and we tape them in order, making a large timeline of his life. 

I love that this project makes the concept of a timeline come to life for my students in a way that a worksheet cannot. I hope your students will love this Martin Luther King, Jr. activity as much as my class does! You can download the pages for the timeline by clicking here!

Want more social studies project ideas? Check out the links below!

Kwanzaa

I am linking up with the I Teach First Bloggers this month.
We have some great ideas to share with you for the month of December!


Are you planning to teach Holidays Around the World this month?  If so, Kwanzaa is an interesting holiday for students to learn about.  I find the majority of my students have never heard of it.

I always start by reading a Kwanzaa story.  

My favorite to read is K is for Kwanzaa: A Kwanzaa Alphabet Book by Juwanda G. Ford.

After we read we paper weave Mkeka (em-KE-kah) mats.  The students really enjoy making these.  It is also great for their fine motor skills.  Some students catch right on, and some need some assistance. I always rotate around the room to help those who are struggling.  I also have students help each other as they finish their mats.

To paper weave, students go over and under the black strips with their colored strips.  Each strips starts the opposite way.  It also helps for students to add a dab of glue to hold their strips in place.

Once their mats are finished, they color and glue on the symbols of Kwanzaa.  We always have fun saying the Swahili words for the objects, and reviewing the meaning of each object.


To complete the project you will need the following supplies for each student:
8 1/2" by 11" black construction paper
1" by 8 1/2" strips of red, blue, and green paper- about 10 per student

To make the mats, fold the black paper in half, cut approximately 1" strips out from the fold line.  Stop cutting about 1" from the edge of the paper.

If you have a parent volunteer, they can help with these steps.

Click here to get the symbols sheet.

Hope you have fun learning about Kwanzaa!

Click on the links below for more great December ideas!

An InLinkz Link-up

Back to School Math Centers and Activities

The beginning of the year is a great time to observe students counting and number sense skills.  Here are some of the simple activities I like to use.

1. Counting Boxes:

I found these cute containers at Dollar Tree.  You get 10 in a package for $1. I put small objects in each container; paper clips, counters, tiny erasers, links, play money, etc.  You can use anything you have on hand.  

Then I labeled the front of the containers with a sharpie.  You could just put a number.  I put a number and what is inside. 

To use the activity, students take a container and count how many objects are inside.  Then they record the number on the recording sheet.  

Click here to get the recording sheet.

This activity is great as a center.  It also works well for small-group table time, you can make some great observations/anecdotal notes of students counting skills this way.

2.  Counting Mats:
This is a fun and simple activity! Students need a felt mat or piece of large piece of construction paper as a work space.  Add a set of number cards (you decide how high you would like them to go), and some fun manipulatives, and this center is ready to go.  Students grab a number card and count out that many objects.  The little pom-poms above are really fun to use.  Try to set out a variety of objects to make it more fun for students.

3. Number Strips:
This activity can be done whole class or as a center.  Give each student a strip of adding machine tape about 3 feet long.  They can tape it to a desk or table. You want them to write with the paper vertical so that each number has it's own line, so they don't have to worry about spaces between numbers. Students start at one and write as far as they can. If they fill the whole strip, they can tape another strip onto it and keep going. I have been using this activity for years, and they always LOVE it.  I think it is because they like to see how long their strip is.  It is a little messy, but worth it.  When students finish, I try to roll them up and rubber band them.  Later, I do a quick check to see where they are in their understanding of numbers.  I make myself a few quick notes about how far they can write, if they have reversals, etc.  It is a great way to get some quick data on students math skills.

4. Dry Erase Boards:
Students use these simple task cards and dry erase boards to draw pictures to represent numbers.
Click here to get the task cards.


I hope this gives you some easy math ideas that you can use the first week or two back at school.

Happy Teaching!

Emergency Sub Binder- Pets!

If you are like me, you often drag yourself to work sick.  Mostly because it is TOO much work to be gone!   I hate writing sub plans
(especially at 5:30 in the morning, which is when I am usually doing it!)
   
I decided to create a sub binder and prepare it ahead of time, that way I can leave it on my shelf, tell my teacher bestie where it is at, and not have to worry about running to school if myself or my children are sick.  Not to mention if I would ever have a true emergency.

I have created detailed lessons to fill an entire day around a pet theme.  I know my students will love it, and I'm hopeful any sub would be so happy to have such detailed plans to help them with the day.  The best part- it isn't just busy work and worksheets.  I won't feel guilty because I know my students will be having a rigorous day!

For morning work, they are going to draw and label as many kinds of pets as they can think of.  This activity should really get them thinking and focused on the days topic.

During shared reading time they will be practice their fluency with a pet poem that I created.  They will read Arthur's Pet Business and work on the beginning stages of showing evidence of character traits.  

   In Grammar, they will be working on understanding proper nouns, but thinking about the names of their pets!

During math block, they will be acting out addition and subtraction story problems with a park mat, and dog cut-outs. Then they will independently practice mixed addition and subtraction problems.

During phonics they will be working on both phonemic awareness and phonics activities.  They will first sort short a and short o picture cards (with segmenting practice).  Then they will practice writing the same short a and short o words.  Finally, they will have independent practice sorting and writing words with those patterns.  

This is the best part~ Differentiated Guided Reading plans.  I created 4 mini-books for the students to make at GR time, each with a detailed lesson plan.  The levels are B, D, F/G, and K+.

During Science, they will learn about/review mammals.  They will read a mammal book, review a mammal poster, sort pets and other animals, and identify and color the animals that are mammals.

They will have a writing lesson on opinion writing.  Then they will write which they think is a better pet...a cat or a dog.  They will have to write a topic sentence, and list at least 2 detail sentences for their opinion.

They will practice the speaking skill of "eye-contact" and have the opportunity to tell the class about one of their pets.

I also put some of my favorite pet books in the back of the binder for read-aloud time.  They can also be used as a filler activity, if needed.






Here are a few more of my favorite pet books to read aloud!  






At the end of the quarter, if I haven't had to use the emergency plans.  We will take a day off from our normal curriculum, and I will use them as a fun "theme" day!


If you are interested in checking out my sub plans, they are available in my TPT store.  I'd love to save you the work of prepping a bunch of lessons! Then you can rest easy when you should really stay home.

Did you know the Back To School Sale starts at midnight tonight? This set, and all my products, will be available for 20% off, and you can enter the promo code BTS15, to save an additional 10%!

Math Bins

Hi Everyone!  Today I am sharing an idea that works for me for Math Intervention.  My district requires us to have a daily twenty minute block for intervention and/or enrichment.

The hardest part is always keeping the other students engaged in MEANINGFUL tasks while I meet with students who need extra support or enrichment.  

This past year I FINALLY found something that has worked great for me...Math Bins.  
My students loved them!  
They were always disappointed if we didn't have time for them in a day.  

First of all, I LOVE these containers!  I found them at Target.  They were a little pricey, but I am glad I decided to use them.  I love the size of the containers, they are wide enough to fit lots of activities! They stack SUPER easy and don't take up a ton of space, you can see mine fit easily on top of a shelf. Also, they are very sturdy and have easy open handles for the kids.

I placed two or three activities in each bin.  I took part of my math instructional time to introduce any new activities before students used them in the bins.  Lots of the activities would be "repeats" that we had played earlier in the year. I always included some fact games, review activities, and new activities that correlated with our current learning targets. I always made sure to include all needed materials: dry erase markers, cubes, dice, etc. That ensured no roaming around the classroom or interrupting the teacher.

Every few weeks I would change the activities in the bins.  Originally I thought I would change them every week, but it was too time consuming.  I found by including more than one activity in the bins students would stay engaged with the activities for about three weeks at a time.

I used a pocket chart to organize who went to each bin each day.  Students stayed with their "Table Groups" and had an assigned spot on the floor close to their table for Math Bins.  Each day, I rotated the numbers so students went to a new bin each day.