Making MLK Day the Beginning of a Civil Rights Movement Week

With today being Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, I wanted to reflect on his life and work with our children like I usually do every year on this day. We usually read a story or two about his life, we've watched short documentaries about him, we've listened to his I Have a Dream speech. This year I wanted to do something a little different, but I hadn't prepared anything ahead of time. Thankfully we had this little gem on our bookshelf that I must have picked up at a book sale this past year: 

It's a story told by, and from the perspective of, the daughter of fellow activists and friends of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Even though Paula is four years old in the story, it's lyrical writing is so intentional in its word choice and organization that it held the attention of both my nine and twelve year olds. The content of the text led us to research and discuss Jim Crow Laws, including where that name came from, the famous march from Selma to Montgomery, and The Voting Rights Act of 1965. Here are some resources I found that we used today and hope to be using the rest of the week:

Who Was Jim Crow? from the National Geographic website
Jim Crow Stories on the PBS website
March from Selma to Montgomery video on the History Channel website
Civil Rights video on BrainPop
Five Lessons on the Civil Rights Movement for elementary school students from Eyes on the Prize on the PBS website
Going the Extra Mile for MLK Day from Teaching Tolerance
Teaching MLK with the Social Justice Standards from Teaching Tolerance
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