A Picture Book of Martin Luther King, Jr. by David A. Adler - Teaching Ideas

Martin Luther King, Jr. was a great man. He believed in peace, fought for fairness and loved all. This is a great intro book for your students to get to know MLK and all the events from his childhood to adulthood that helped make him the man he was.

I have come up with some information to help you create a great nonfiction lesson about MLK.

If you would like some nonfiction activities about MLK without having to create them yourself then take a look at the packet I created to go with this book.

Reading level: 3.5

Theme: courage/bravery

Genre: biography

Suggested Vocabulary: protest, doctorate, being kicked about, meet hate with love, content of their character, Nobel Peace Prize, prejudice

Reading skills and strategies:

• Purpose for reading – interest, to find out more about Martin Luther King, Jr.
• Author’s purpose – inform {evidence} Told us when he was born, January 15, 1929. Told us he became a minister. Told us that he was assassinated.
• Organization – the story is organized in sequential order.
• 1929 - born January 15
• 1947 - became a minister
• 1953 - married Correta Scott
• 1955 -1956 led the boycott from the busses
• 1963 - march on Washington and gave the "I Have a Dream Speech"
• 1964 - won the Nobel Peace Prize
• 1968 - assassinated on April 4^th in Memphis, Tennessee
• Compare & contrast – compare black rights of the past to black rights of today.
• Drawing conclusions/inference – Why do you think Martin Luther King, Jr. preached peace and not violence? (text evidence) MLK was a minister and believed that “you must meet hate with love”. (what I know) – I know that fighting only leads to more hate and more fighting. (conclusion) – I think Martin Luther King, Jr. preached peace and not violence because fighting would lead to hate and he wanted the hatred to stop, so peaceful protests would stop the hatred.
• Fact & opinion – {facts} Martin Luther King Jr. was born January 15, 1929. MLK married Correta Scott. Martin Luther King became a minister. MLK gave a speech called "I Have a Dream".  MLK won the Nobel Peace Prize. MLK was assassinated in 1968.  {opinions} Martin Luther King was a great leader. MLK was a good singer. MLK worked too hard. “White Only” is a bad idea. Martin Luther King shouldn’t have gone to Memphis to help the garbage workers.
• Main idea & details - {main idea} Martin Luther King Jr. was a great man. {details} He became a minister. He led the protest that changed the bus rules. He preached peace. He led many marches for freedom. He made a speech called "I Have a Dream". He won the Nobel Peace Prize.
• Story elements - list title, author, topic, organization, author's purpose
• Summarize main idea – {who} Martin Luther King Jr. {did what} preached peace and fought for equal rights for all {why} so the world would be free of hate, prejudice and violence.
• Strong Thought – When a bomb was thrown into Martin Luther King’s house and his followers wanted to fight, he told them that “We must meet hate with love.” What would you have done if the bomb was thrown into your house?
• Visualize – Martin Luther King Jr. worked hard to make the world a better place. Visualize what you would do to make the world a better place.

Happy reading!

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Swimmy

Swimmy finds fish that are just like him.

By Leo Lionni

 

Swimmy is a happy little fish until one day a big tuna fish eats his brothers and sisters. Swimmy finds himself alone and afraid in the big ocean. As Swimmy swims along, he discovers a world of wonderful sea creatures. At last, he comes upon a school of fish that look just like his brothers and sisters. He is so excited about all the creatures that he has seen in the ocean he tells the little red fish to come with him. Unfortunately for Swimmy, the fish won't go because they are too afraid of the big fish. Swimmy comes up with a brilliant idea so the little fish don't have to be afraid. What do you think Swimmy's idea is? Will the other fish like his idea? Have fun reading Swimmy with your students and discovering if Swimmy really did have a brilliant idea.

Reading level: 3.5

Theme: Cooperation, teamwork, confronting fears, marine life, and creativity and imagination

Genre: Fable, folk tale

Vocabulary:  mussel shell, swift, darting, gulp, marvel, Medusa, swaying

Reading skills and strategies: sequence, visualize, story mapping, asking questions, predicting, making connections, drawing conclusions/inferencing, Bloom’s leveled questions, classify and categorize

Grammar: nouns, adjectives 

Writing: letter writing, personal narrative using adjectives, journal entry and cinquain poem

I have included a 3 page inferencing activity as well as a list of leveled questions that can be used with this book. If you like what you see, I have created a packet of activities specifically for this book using all of the strategies and skills listed above.

A peak at all the goodies in the Swimmy Skills and Strategies Teaching packet.

Isn't this just a great little story, don't you love Leo Lionni's illustrations? Is this a "go to" book for you, or one you don't think to grab? Which Leo Lionni book is your favorite?

Let me know :)

Happy reading!

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