Post Tagged with: "MLK"

Class Projects, Special Chapel Speaker Celebrate Black History Month

Throughout February, ACS students participated in a variety of special activities for Black History Month. Hallway bulletin boards were decorated in honor of influential African Americans like Harriet Tubman and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Classroom lessons and projects highlighted historical contributions of African Americans as well as the social accomplishments of those who led the civil rights movement. Students in Mrs. Coates sixth grade history class discussed turn-of-the-century discrimination and the development of Jim Crow laws in the South while her eighth graders studied landmark Supreme Court cases, like Brown vs. Board of Education, which led to the end of school segregation.

Elementary and upper school students welcomed special guest speaker Vena R. Noel-Jackson who spoke in each chapel on Friday. Her lively presentations covered the origins of Black History Month, significant contributions of African Americans throughout history, and encouragement about God’s plan for creating unity from diversity. Using examples from her own accomplishments as a runner, Mrs. Jackson reminded the ACS family that despite our differences – age, race, ability, etc. – we can all run for the same prize in following Jesus. “My Prayer is that we celebrate our uniqueness by the power of the love of Jesus,” she said. “Whatever you do, do it all for the Glory of God.”

 

 

 

ACS Honors the Legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

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.