Matin Luther King, Jr. Day

As we are out of school today, we will learn about the great civil rights leader, Martin Luther King, Jr. tomorrow. In Ga. Pre-K, we don't do worksheets or coloring pages, so sometimes we have to be creative. I have several activities that will focus on Dr. King's philosophies. Some of our activities will include:

• Working in collaborative pairs to trace each others hands on colored construction paper. Students will cut out the hand print and paste around the outside edges of a picture of Dr. King. All the hands together will form a "friendship wreath".
• Talk about dr. King's DREAM and what it really means. Students will write or dictate their dream for humanity (we encourage an altruistic response) on one side of a pre-cut cloud shape. They will illustrate the dream on the reverse side. We will hang these from the ceiling.
• Present bags as presents: old crumpled lunch sack, crisp new sack and fancy gift bag. Each bag has 1 item inside, all the same. We will talk about which package they would like to receive and why. Then have students discover items are all the same inside. I then ask students to pair up with someone who looks different than themselves. After they are paired, I ask them to discuss with their partner and find out ways the are similar (likes, dislikes, age, number of siblings,etc.) After a few minutes with partners, I ask student pairs to share findings with the rest of the group.

• I ask students to imagine what it would be like if someone in our class did not have the same rights we have. We talk about how hurtful it is to be excluded.

We work on our social/emotional skills all day every day, so I incorporate alot of Dr. king's teachings into our day to day activities. Every moment is a teachable moment!