MLK Celebrations and such

Yes! Make it through parent teacher conferences! I am completely exhausted, but I am enjoying the fact that there is no school tomorrow! Which means I do not have to start the battle with my alarm clock at 5:00 a.m...instead I can Wake up at 7 or 8 and freak out scared that I have slept in on a school day.

Before I get to the Martin Luther King Jr. Activities that I promised...one idea for conferences...

This morning I gave my students some letter writing paper. I told them that they needed to write a letter to their parents in their best handwriting telling them
1. The things the do well
2. The things they need to work on
3. Some of their favorite things about second grade

The kids did a great job with their letters. They were fun for the parents, a good reference point when it came to having the students come up with goals for the upcoming term, and a handwriting sample all in one. I will definitely do this one again : )



MLK Day Lesson

To start off the MLK day lesson I put a number on each students desk...they each either got a 1 or a 2.

I had them all sit in their seats and then i told them that there were only seats for ones in our class, so the twos would have to go sit in the back. I asked the students what they knew about Martin Luther King already. I called on the number one students while ignoring the twos. We then moved to the carpet to read a book about Martin Luther King Jr. Day. I let the ones sit wherever they wanted while the twos had to stand in the back. After reading the book we had a discussion about how both groups were feeling and how the ways which people had been treated in America were not right.

At this point the students had gotten the picture with the ones and twos. I had them all go back and sit in their desks. I put a brown egg and a white egg on a plate under the document camera. I told the students that they obviously looked different on the outside. I asked them what about the insides? Some thought they would be the same an others though they would be different. I cracked them and we saw that they were the same. We related this to how people are the same even if they look slightly different on the outside.


(thanks pinerest)

We also filled out a chart about Martin Luther King that I found here.

I had the students brainstorm ideas in table groups, then I wrote one on the board while they wrote the same thing on their sheet.




Time for more reading. We went to the carpet and I read The Story of Ruby Bridges. Great book! I also then read from a book of letters that children wrote to Martin Luther King. Here are all three books for the lesson:


After Reading the books we thought about what our dream for the world were and wrote them down. Add a piece of folded paper and some traced hand and you've got yourself a nice little writing piece:






And, that's a wrap! Parent teacher conferences and MLK day activities - check. Bring on the four day weekend. Don't worry folks, no need to be jealous...I will be working for most of it : )

Love always,
Miss Paul