Remembering Dr. King

I hope you are enjoying Human Rights Day as much as I am.  I have to admit I slept in until 9:00 and didn't bother to shower until I put my littlest one down for her nap, at 1:00!  Yep, total relax day!  I have loved every minute of it.  Making pancakes and buttermilk syrup (yummmmm!)  Playing Hungry, Hungry, Hippos with the kids, folding laundry, watching the Miss America Pageant (because I haven't had a chance to and so why not, even though thanks to facebook I already knew who won),  and bbq-ing for lunch.  Later today we are headed to go help some friends move... yipee!  The kiddos are excited to play with friends and watch movies while the grown-ups move boxes and clean.  I am just super jealous, I dream about the day when my family of 5 is not trying to squeeze into our tiny 1300 square foot home.  Someday right?!

Tomorrow we will be talking about Dr. King in out kindergarten room and I thought I would share a few of my favorite resources with you.  I know you will be shocked to see a Harry Kinder video, because I NEVER use them, haha.  I think I am Mr. Harry's biggest fan! 

 

We will also be reading this book:

I love this book.  I have been reading it to my classes every year since 2005. 

In kinder I like to keep the conversation brief, however when I was a first grade teacher we began a discussion on human kindness after MLK jr Day and continued it through Valentines day.  We enjoyed a month of seeking out opportunities to be kind.  Every act of kindness had to be reported by another student or teacher (you could not report your own kind acts) and each act of kindness was written on a heart.  We (as a first grade) plastered our hallways with hearts and by Valentines hoped to have more than 500 hearts.  Each year  our random acts of kindness project grew and by my third year teaching first grade we had the entire school participating and had more than 3,000 hearts adorning our school hallways.  We had parent volunteers helping us di-cut hearts, hearts, and more hearts.  

Sadly we have not continued this tradition the past few years.  Our first grade team has all dispersed into different grade levels and different schools.  We were no longer there to head it up.  

The years that we did participate however always reminded me of how a focus on being kind seemed to create a more caring and loving class.  

So tomorrow I will focus less on the injustice, the violence, and the tragic end of Dr. King and more on his message of love and kindness.  

Enjoy the rest of your long weekend.  Back to the classroom tomorrow!