Martin Luther King Jr

Celebrating Martin Luther King Jr. is such an important part of social studies. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. did so much to make this world a better place for all races that it is a shame not to teach about him.

Every year, I teach the kids about what he believed in. The color of our skin does not matter, we are all alike on the inside. I teach them this through an egg activity. I take a brown egg and a white egg. I let them see them. Compare them. Hold them. They determine they are different colors just like they are. Then I crack them open and we see that they are exactly the same on the inside just like we are.  This really brings that idea home for them!

We also read two books about Dr, Martin Luther King Jr.

This is written by his sister, Christine King Harris. I love the story and the illustrations. It portrays Martin in such a way, we can all relate to him!

This book takes his famous quotes and tells his story!

We then made our Martin Luther King Jr's for the hallway. I love how they all came out differently but they all had the same size materials to start with!

Here are the directions to make these adorable Pictures! Click on them for the link to the actual document you can download!

Here are the posters I made for the hallway display! Feel free to click on them and download them to use next year or for your display this year!!!

There are many more books to read and activities that can be done with this amazing man! I have just listed those we did this year! have a great January!!

New Years Resolutions!

I love my job! I love it more and more as each year passes! The New Year is upon and it is now time to reflect on what you have done in the past year and create you resolutions about what you will do the coming year! I love teaching this concept to my kiddos!

I always use the book, Squirrel's New Years Resolution! My kids love this book. We review what a resolution is. then we enjoy the story.

Click on the photo below for a link to the book on Amazon!

Here is a video reading of the story as well!

After we listened to the story and discussed what resolution is and what did squirrel finlly say his resolution was, we went back to our seats and made self portraits and wrote down our resolutions!

To make the self portraits, I gave the kids 4 pieces of paper. 1 8 X 11- skin color paper, 2 8X11 any color construction paper and a 12X18 sheet of construction paper.

Here are the steps:

1- Place the 12 X 18 sheet of paper tall like a tree.

2. Choose a piece of 8X11 paper and cut it into a hill- this is the shirt. Glue at the bottom of the paper.

3. Take the skin color and cut it into the shape of your head. Glue it in top of the hill. You now have a head and body.

4. With your final piece of construction paper, cut it into a triangle for your New Year's hat., Glue in the top of your head.

5. Draw your hair and facial features.

6. Write Happy New Year on your shirt.

7. With an exacto knife cut a small circle in the mouth and push the blower through. 

Here are the final products and I have to admit, I love how they are all different!!

Here are the resolutions of my kiddos:

Our paper started off with Bye Bye 2015, hello 2016. This year I am going to:

Here is how they finished this prompt!

Angel: read better.
Jayden: listen and get positive Dojo points and be kind to others.
Olivia: I promise to help others and listen to my teacher and read better.
Michael: be a better reader.
Nathaniel: have fun.
Isha: read words better.
Matthew: read more books this year.
Noah: to listen to my Mom mom better.
Davian: listen and to read better.
Giada: draw better at home and at school.
Connor: to leave work earlier.
Brendon: get better at reading.
Nah'Mi: spenf time with my family.
Sophia: do my work better.
Logan: Listen better.
Sarah: be a better reader.

Here are the New Year's Resolution sheets I created. I have uploaded the powerpoint version so you can change it and use it from year to year!

So we say good bye to 2015 and hello to 2016! here's to an amazing year!!!