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Carton of eggs take students to day of civil rights protests

By JERA FREEMAN
Special to Leader-Press
 
Clements/Parsons Elementary students were transported back to the 1960s and 1970s to the days of civil unrest in the United States. Learning about non-violent boycotts, rallies, marches and sit-ins, the kindergarteners were transported to the March on Washington to hear Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech through the power of video.
 
Using BrainPOP, Jr., an educational website geared for young students, videos and narration provided a lot of insight, in a kid friendly manner, into the life of Martin Luther King Jr., teacher Dianne Wyers said.
 
“Teaching students about historical figures, like MLK, Jr., help students better understand how our nation was shaped and why we celebrate various holidays,” Wyers said.
 
Once the kindergarten students learned about the efforts of Martin Luther King, Jr. they created a web diagram listing various facts they learned about him. Students and teachers discussed his dream he had for our nation. Afterwards, students wrote if they had a dream for our nation what it would be. That was kindergartener Xavier Skiles’ favorite part.
 
“I liked writing my dream,” he said, showing off his work with a smile. Xavier’s dream was to “bring pets from the bad guys” and he drew an animal being rescued by a group of heroes.
 
Kindergarten teacher Brittany Doolan conducted an experiment with her students when talking about Martin Luther King, Jr.’s dream for the country. Doolan had students compare two eggs, one white and one brown, and better understand the concept of diversity and cultural differences.
 
“Even though the two eggs have different color exteriors, they are exactly the same on the inside,” Doolan said. “It’s a simple and fun experiment, but with a very important lesson.”
 
Doolan ended the experiment by gathering all kids on the carpet. They talked about their friends and that we liked them for the type of person they are, not the color of their skin, or shirt, or eyes, or hair.
 
Kindergarten student Serenity Fincher was excited to go home and share the lesson with her parents.
 
“I liked learning about Martin Luther King and the video was neat,” she said.

 

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