Happy Birthday Dr. King!

In Kindergarten we spent the past several weeks learning about why we have a day off from school today. We started by learning a little about slavery in the U.S. and the underground railroad. The students particularly enjoyed hearing stories about how the slaves escaped such as Henry's Freedom Box and The Patchwork Path.  After reading The Patchwork Path we examined real-life quilts, ranging in age from 100 years old to 7 years old and discussed how people have used these beautiful pieces of art over the years.

Once the students had gained some understanding of what slavery was we discussed it's ending and how things led to the the civil rights movement and the important role Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. played in the movement. We read an autobiography of Rosa Parks, the story of Ruby Bridges, and several books about the life of Dr. King. One day we talked a lot about the fact that although we may look different on the outside, we are all the same on the inside. I used eggs to illustrate this point with the students.

One of the students made the point that Jesus loves us all just the same no matter how we look. I loved that they understood this idea, it was the best part of the week!

To further illustrate this lesson, on Friday we sang "Jesus Loves the Little Children" and placed special emphasis on the line "Red, Brown, Yellow, Black, and White, They are precious in His sight".



Using just those five paint colors (red, brown, yellow, black, and white) we were able to create individual skin tone paints for each student. Tomorrow we will finish our self portraits and review the beautiful ideas Dr. King shared with world.

Happy Martin Luther King Day!