Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a man who epitomized the 2018-19 ACS theme “All In.”
Throughout the school year, ACS students learn about the life and legacy of the late civil rights leaders, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as part of their history/social studies curriculum. Several classes have been reading, writing, and watching videos about Dr. King over the past week as we approach Monday’s national holiday in honor of Dr. King.
The students in Mrs. McCarthy’s 3rd grade class, pictured below left, have been learning about Dr. King’s contributions to America and the characteristics that made him a great leader. The students wrote essays inspired by the theme — “Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. had a dream, and so do I” — describing their dreams for America and how they can achieve those dreams.
In Mrs. Hoover’s 4th grade class, the students read “My Brother Martin,” an inspirational story written by Dr. King’s older sister, Christine King Farris, about one of Dr. King’s boyhood experiences that inspired a movement. Videos and class discussion have touched on the country’s history as it has dealt with segregation. The class also watched a video of Dr. King delivering his famous “I Have a Dream” to a crowd of some 250,000 people at the 1963 March on Washington.
In Mrs. Bird’s PreK4 class, pictured below right, the students read stories about Dr. King and his dream for a country where people of every skin color are able to play, work, and go to school together. The students created a banner decorated with their handprints dipped in different colors of paint representing various skin colors — almond, beige, caramel, chocolate, ebony, peach, and white. Mrs. Bird said the students also talked about their own dreams for the future and their dreams were written onto white clouds that surround the edges of the banner.
