As I mentioned previously I am currently student teaching in a kindergarten classroom and was asked to lead a lesson over Martin Luther King Jr.. These students are 5 and 6 years old and were just excited about having a day off of school, so I wanted to make sure that they knew the true reason behind this day. Also, this might be the first time some of these students have heard about MLK and I wanted them to know the proper information. After a week of planning, I decided on the following lesson.
I began by asking the children to think what it would be like if they went to school with 25 of the same person. 25 Jordans, 25 Mikes, 25 Annas. You would never meet anyone knew, never learn about anyone knew, have to play with and see the same people every single day. Once I saw that the students were beginning to understand this concept I asked them how they would feel about such a thing.
"That would be boring."
"I would not like that."
"You couldn't make new friends."
All the answers I was hoping for! I then asked the students if any of them knew why we didn't have school on Monday and was surprised to see a few hands raise into the air. All of them generally said that they knew why, but that they forgot. So I told them. We did not have school on Monday to honor a great man, Martin Luther King Jr.. He worked his entire life to make sure that every person, no matter what they looked like, would be able to do anything they wanted to do, be anything they wanted to be, and go anywhere they wanted to go. Because of all of his hard work, we dedicate a day in his birth month, January, to celebrate him. I chose to show the following video.
There are plenty of videos on YouTube that discuss MLK for kids, but I felt that this video really talked about all of the necessary information that kids should first know about. After the video was over I revisited some of the key points that Kid President mentioned, but I make sure to hit on the fact that there were some people who did not agree with Dr. King and he was killed. However, he made such a lasting impact and empowered so many people that his vision of a world where everyone belonged was still worked one, and still is being worked on, everyday.
Next, I gave each child a sheet of paper and asked them to trace their hands on it, just like a hand turkey that they had made for Thanksgiving. Once they had their hands traced I asked them to color their hand however they wanted, any color, any design, any cartoon, etc. When they were done coloring they cut out their hands. Earlier in the day when the students were in at recess I asked each of them to sign their name of a large piece of butcher paper. I put this piece of paper up on the board at the front of the class. When their hand was cutout I asked them to put glue on it and bring it up to glue next to their name. Once all of the hands were glued onto the piece I mentioned to the students that not one of the 25 hands looked alike, they were all different colors, different designs, and one was even covered in batman symbols. Even though none of the hands matched, they were all beautiful, and that is what made the picture unique.
Just like the picture, no two students in the class were the same. We all have different hair, skin, eyes, clothes and interests, and that is what makes our class, and our world, beautiful!!
