I remember when I was teaching Kindergarten (seems like forever ago!) and was told we needed to create a lesson to help the kinders prior to the MLK assembly. Like literally, right before the assembly. It was my first year teaching and I freaked out a bit (I was a new teacher after all, duh! ) trying to comprehend how to teach 5 & 6 year olds how powerful and inspiring the King was in such a short amount of time.

During my lunch break, I stumbled across this video. The video illustrates the life of MLK in kid friendly language and imagery. I totally felt better after seeing it and knew that my kiddos would be able to understand this language. Later that day, after we viewed the video, we had a great discussion around who Martin (or should I say Michael?) really was and what he did for our nation. When we strolled down to the assembly, I felt confident in my little kindergarteners and their knowledge of MLK. After that, I continued to play the video but wanted to include another type of reflection to my MLK study. I created this FREEBIE Dr. MLK Jr.’s Suit & Tie craftivity (you can read more about it here as well) and thought this was the perfect way for students to reflect on their dreams alongside the Kings.

There are a TON of books perfect for any classroom. I simply did a google search for titles and look at everything that came up! Some of my favorites I’ve used in my classroom are I Have A Dream, Martin’s Big Words, The Story of Martin Luther King Jr., and lastly, National Geographic’s Martin Luther King. Which I actually scored last year at my local Dollar tree!

Get Kids Writing & Comparing

Using any of these books with my newest writing craftivity, the Martin Luther King Jr Writing Craft, to review his amazing life, his goals and everything he accomplished in his shortened life. My ELL students have already been reading through these simple non-fiction books, reviewing the main idea on each page and recognizing text features. Next week we will work and focus more on writing responses from a book.

These books will come in handy for any reflection on the King’s life, our own dreams or even as a fact finding book. There is so much flexibility between this flippable pages! Like always, these craftivities are available 5 paper types, including both belted lines and standard lining. Also included is a handy teacher guide and an editable copy. See the assembly of this resource right here!