Martin Luther King, Jr. - 3rd Grade

The Martin Luther King Day holiday this week was a perfect opportunity to talk to Noodle about what it means.  He thought it was going to be a day off of school because he heard from Grandma that the banks wouldn't be open and there would be no mail. 

When we reach the point in our history curriculum we will go more in depth about the time period of MLK, Jr.  This week I just wanted to do a basic introduction.  The Internet is an awesome place and I found some great printables to use.  Also, the library is awesome and I have to say I am pretty proud of myself for being "on top of it" so far. I checked out a couple of Martin Luther King, Jr. books a few weeks ago in anticipation of learning about the man and the holiday. 

 

I started out by telling Noodle who Martin Luther King, Jr. was - not to be confused with the other Martin Luther.  One thing Noodle learned about MLK that most public school children aren't told, is that MLK was a Republican. Since he is only nine, we only talked about that briefly, but he knows the basic differences between what the two parties believe.

I found a great little book that was an easy read. Noodle read the book aloud to me. It had some sad pictures that caused Noodle to ask some questions.

I found some great MLK Printables at HomeschoolinMama that enriched our learning about MLK.

 

Next, we read the book I Have a Dream, which was the text of MLK's speech.

Lastly, we watched MLK's entire speech on YouTube. Admittedly, I had never watched the entire speech before. It was very moving. Noodle, Bear and I watched together.

Next year, we will read a little longer book and delve a little deeper perhaps.  When we get to the 60's in our American History study, we will also revisit the life of Martin Luther King, Jr.  There is so much more to talk about!