We’re glad you’re here because that means you are taking the time to teach your students about a very inspirational man, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
We know that many teachers have to squeeze in time for social studies and character development lessons. If that’s you, then you have come to the right place.
Our Perseverance & Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. episode is the perfect way to celebrate MLK Day, touch on social studies, and character development/SEL. This resource has many possibilities. You can choose just to watch the video or utilize the supplemental resources throughout the week. We even have some picture book recommendations that are a great supplement to this episode. Regardless of how you chose to use this resource, we’ve laid out a weeklong lesson plan below that will also give you an idea of what this resource includes.
Day 1: Start your week by watching the video.
Before watching: If you have time for a quick discussion, you could ask your students what they think they already know about the character trait of perseverance and have them share with a partner or call on a couple of students to share with the whole class.
After watching: If you have time after the video, have students share examples of how Dr. King showed perseverance from the video. To extend their concept of perseverance, you could ask them to think of a specific way that they could show this trait in the coming day or week
Day 2: Follow up the video with the foldable book.
Read more about Dr King as a class, or have students read independently. Perfect for Remote Learning! Depending on how much time you have, the cut and paste comprehension page would be a good fit as a subsequent activity.
Day 3: Introduce students to the perseverance awards.
If you are physically in class, we recommend printing these on colored paper and cutting them down before handing them out to students. Let students know that since they are becoming experts on perseverance, they will get to be on the lookout for students who are showing this trait. When they notice someone showing perseverance, they can write their peers name on an award and the reason for receiving it. Students can give the award directly to their peer or follow a different system set that fits your management.
Day 4: Check-in on student comprehension.
After spending time learning and talking about perseverance and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. during the first half of the week, today would be a good day for checking student understanding with our comprehension questions.
Day 5: Making words & word search activity.
If there is anything that you didn’t get to earlier in the week, finish that up today. Otherwise, today would be a good day for the making words activity, the word search, or even a picture book!
Picture book recommendations for this episode:
How do I access this resource?
If you’re not already a subscriber, we recommend that you sign-up for a 1st/2nd grade 7-day free trial. No credit card is required to sign-up and you’ll receive full access to not just this resource but our entire library of 1st/2nd-grade character development resources.
*This episode is NOT included in our Kindergarten subscription*
Looking for more ways to teach positive character traits in the classroom? Check out our blog or subscribe to The Character Tree for educational videos and fun classroom activities!