Read-Alouds
Here are a few of my very favorite read-aloud books to celebrate Martin Luther King Day.
Martin's Big Words by Doreen Rappaport is a fabulous read aloud. If you plan to read just one book about Martin Luther King, this should be the one. I love the inspirational quotes on each page. Although segregation is a difficult topic to tackle with students, this book opens the door for thoughtful discussions.
Happy Birthday, Martin Luther King by Jean Marzollo is another good choice for younger children. The text is written in clear, easy to understand words for children. The scratch-art style illustrations are beautiful!
Here are a few other books worth checking out too!
Activities
One activity my students enjoy is Readers' Theater. I love Readers' Theater, too, because my students want to read the scripts multiple times. It's a sneaky way to get children to practice fluency and expression (and it builds self-confidence as well).
I found a cute little play, Big Words, Strong Words by Bobbi Katz, that is perfect for Readers' Theater. You can download it here from Scholastic.
Another activity I use often with my students is word sorting (or making words). Students use a set of letter tiles to build words and write them. I can focus on particular phonics skill that we are studying or allow students to explore patterns on their own. The goal is to discover the 'Mystery Word' by using all the letter tiles to form one final word.
I created three word sort activities for Martin Luther King Day to share with you. This is the first time that I've posted a document to Blogger, so I'm crossing my fingers that it works. Just click on the links below to download the files from Google Docs.
I would love to have your feedback about these sorts, so please leave me a comment.
What do you do to celebrate Martin Luther King Day in your classroom? Please share! :)
