Title: Martin’s
Big Words
Author: Doreen
Rappaport
Illustrator:
Bryan Collier
Age Range: 5-8
year olds
Summary
Martin’s Big Words is a story on the
life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The
story starts out with MLK as a young boy who comes across a sign that reads “WHITE ONLY.” His mother explains that
signs like that are all across the Southern states and he should remember that
he is as good as anyone else. These
words empowered MLK to do great things.
In the story it states that he always used the word “love”
when everyone else used “hate.” The
story talks about Rosa Parks and how she got arrested and goes on to say that many African Americans decided to stop riding the buses until they
were allowed to sit where ever they pleased.
MLK was one of them. The story
states that for years after this incident African Americans continued to
protest for equal rights and how many where murdered and beaten but MLK had to
convince them to not fight back and how love was more powerful than fists. The story ends with MLK’s “I have a Dream”
speech and that ultimately results in the end of segregation.
Element 3: Exploring
Issues of Social Injustice
I think
this book is a great way to teach element 3.
This book provides students with information on Dr. Martin Luther King
Jr., segregation, civil rights, and a little bit on Rosa Parks. This book allows students to understand some
of the problems African Americans had to overcome. This book is a great way to teach students
the history of segregation and the civil rights movement and how far we have
come from this. I believe this book was
written very well for students to understand the history concepts.
Activity
I think
this book would be great to share on Martin Luther King day. As a follow up activity I would show students
the Martin Luther King speech and also use a template with eight boxes on the
page. The first box will be titled “My
Big Words.” In the following boxes I
will have students write their own big words at the top in big letters then
have them draw a picture or describe why that word is big to them. This activity will coincide great with the
book because it talks about Martin Luther King’s big words and how he used them
to empower himself and others. I will encourage
students to share their big words and see which students chose the same words
and have students explain the words are big to them. I would then hang all of the students' words
on a bulletin board in the classroom or hallway to empower students with their
own hopes and dreams.
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