As a kindergarten teacher, I found it difficult finding resources suitable to teach my young kids about Martin Luther King, Jr. The civil rights movement, and MLK's violent death, are not what I wanted my students to remember. Instead, I wanted them to know Dr. King was a man of peace, a leader of change, a problem-solver, and that he wanted everyone to get along regardless of their skin color. To keep the lesson developmentally appropriate, I used poetry and songs to celebrate Martin Luther King Day and Black History Month.
Today, I am highlighting my Martin Luther King
Build a Poem Pocket Chart Center. It's a fun, catchy, poem that teaches Dr. King's dream for us all to get along and be good friends.
To create a pocket chart poetry center, simply hang the poem as a reference, place the word cards in a container, or place them in mixed up order on the bottom of the pocket chart. Every word is printed in large text on it's own card. You no longer need to write the poem on sentence strips and cut apart each word. The work is done for you!
The students will use the word cards to build the poem, and read aloud with their peers when finished.
It's an excellent way to integrate lessons on Dr. King, concepts of print, sentence structure, sight words, fluency, and retelling.
