Sunday, January 15, 2017

Symbolism and MLK Day

                                     Watch "I Have a Dream" 

Martin Luther King Day is a great time to teach about Civil rights, democracy, freedom, peace, and segregation. All are terms connected to the famous civil rights leader. 

Building background knowledge about Martin Luther King, Jr. begins with basic facts. An excellent way to get students to interact with Martin Luther King, Jr. basic facts is through a comic book:


Have students color, read, and re-tell the story of MLK's life. Then, use the blank comic book page templates to let students re-write the story of MLK's life. This helps students learn about and master background knowledge about the civil rights leader. 

Looking for free? Pick up free, fun MLK puzzles:


Get the answer sheet to the puzzle by clicking here. Of course, there are lots of free resources on MLK, but it's time consuming to explore all of these. Never fear--Educator Helper has found the best FREE resources available!

An awesome way to help students explore Martin Luther King, Jr.'s life is through the use of Teaching Tolerance materials. This diverse website has tons of free resources to help teachers make learning educational and fun. For example, order Selma: The Bridge to the Ballot , a free teaching kit that comes with a documentary, lesson plans, activities, map, and more. 

Discovery Education offers an amazing video called "More Than a Dream". Lesson plans and activities are split into lower and upper levels. Students can also play interviews by acquaintances and family members who speak about Martin Luther King, Jr. In addition, a fourteen chapter resource guide is listed. And, this fabulous resource is free!

Last but not least, is the King Center official website. By clicking on "Events", you can live stream the MLK 50 Celebration. There is a digital archive for students to explore, and there is even a "Dream" section. Students can add their dreams that will be posted in the forum section.  

Choosing the right resources to build background knowledge is crucial to learning, so keep it simple and let students do all of the exploring!

Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day!
Beth, Educator Helper



FREE MLK comic book pages:






Re-tell then re-write the information:





For the complete comic book, click here!

Other MLK resources: 



No comments: