Super Engaging Martin Luther King Jr. Lesson Plans
Martin Luther King Jr. Independent Learning Quest lesson plans are super engaging for students. As a matter of fact, we often hear from teachers (and our students directly) that the students have been begging for more activities like these.
Students remain engaged in learning quests because they are busy practicing so many skills in a fun way! The students read texts about Martin’s life and take notes about what they read. They focus on vocabulary words from the text then practice sequencing skills on a timeline of his life. They study a letter written from Martin’s perspective in jail and answer comprehension questions. They focus on Martin’s character traits using evidence from texts and sources they are reading. They also practice map-reading skills as they locate areas on a map of Martin’s childhood neighborhood
With Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and Black History Month just around the corner, we’d recommend the Civil Rights Bundle Independent Learning Quests. Students are guided through independent learning activities about four influential people and their roles in the Civil Rights movement including Martin Luther King Jr., Ruby Bridges, Rosa Parks, and Jackie Robison.
TOP 7 RECOMMENDED MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. BOOKS + READING ACTIVITIES
If you’re looking for recommended books that your young readers love, we can help there too! Below are our top 7 read aloud books that our young readers have loved during read-aloud time.
MARTIN’S BIG WORDS READ ALOUD LESSON PLAN
As avid promoters of readers and over 100K Read Aloud lesson plans sold, it’s no wonder our Martin’s Big Words read aloud lesson plan is so popular. The lesson plan should be accompanied with Martin’s Big Words by Doreen Rappaport. Every time we read this story, our kids love it. We love how engaged the kids are! It’s an interesting topic and story, which generates insightful classroom discussions and makes for amazing word collages.
Martin Luther King Jr. Small Group Instruction
After reading Martin’s Big Words as a class, we always find students are hungry for more information as this is generally their first time learning about the civil rights movement.
We provided a variety of text to further their research. Our students were absolutely engrossed with all the different types of informational text we studied in our small reading groups. They were especially fascinated with the map and letter from Birmingham Jail.
Martin Luther King Jr. Writing Activities
After we learned about Martin Luther King Jr., we gave our kids TONS of options for writing in response to text. (Click here to download a free MLK writing worksheet). All of the resources we use for small group reading and writing can be found in our Martin Luther King Jr. Text Pack for Young Researchers. All of the text is differentiated, making it super easy to plan for small group instruction.
BULLETIN BOARD IDEAS
We displayed our learning about Martin Luther King Jr. and other civil rights heroes on a bulletin board for all to see. For more details, check out our blog post
