Martin Luther King, Jr.

This post is long overdue!  I have been busy planning a wedding and starting to live a paleo lifestyle over the last couple of months and though I've thought of sitting down to do this thousands of times I just haven't been able to until now.  It's so nice to have the day off of school to catch up on this, housework and some personal reading!  I was also able to finally finish my Introduction to the Civil Rights Movement Unit.  I created this in order to cover Common Core Standard:  Describe the connection between a series of historical events, scientific ideas or concepts, or steps in technical procedures in a text. 

The unit is focused on using the FQR reading strategy where students are responsible for listing Facts, Questions and their own Response to non-fiction text.  I just started using this method this year and love it!  It takes a lot of practice and coaching with the little ones but after a couple of practice rounds it's an awesome activity!  I love the fact that that it doesn't just focus on retaining historical facts but challenges students to use higher order thinking skills such as questioning and responding (writing down their reactions, opinions, connection and feelings about texts and historical events).

My class completed most of it last week and they were so interested in the subject and the lives of Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks and Ruby Bridges.

If you didn't have time to fit this in before the holiday you can always have your students study it during the month of February!