Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Craft: Our Friend, Martin

Today, after learning some facts about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the Stars asked if they could "do a Dr. King craft."  

Happy to oblige, I quickly dug through our scrap paper bin and put the paper cutter to use.

Here's what you'll need for each student:

1 four-inch diameter brown circle (head)
1 one-inch diameter brown circle (to be cut in half for ears)
1 5 X 4 black rectangle (body)
4 4 X 1.5 black rectangles (arms and legs)
1 white triangle (point down, for shirt)
2 small white triangles (for shirt collar)
1 2 X 2 brown square (fold in half and cut two ovals for hands)
1 2 X 2 gray square (fold in half and cut two ovals for shoes)
2 small white circles or wiggle eyes
blue crayon (tie)
black crayon (hair, eyes, nose, mustache, mouth)




I model assemblage projects like this at my desk step by step, sending the Stars back to their own for each part of the project:






Dr. King is holding a banner that reads " Our Friend, Martin, Had a Dream:"


A fact sheet was glued to the back.



Click here for the link to my Facts About Our Friend pdf.


Even pre-cut assemblage crafts such as this end up having their own character!



*****

Each January, it's always interesting to hear my students' interpretations and opinions of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and segregation. After a kindergarten-appropriate introduction and explanation of segregation (we listened to a retelling of Rosa Parks' story and Dr. King's subsequent involvement, and then sorted blocks by color, but ~kept~ sorted groups apart no matter what, even if one block piece was needed for our constructions), I eavesdropped while the Stars worked with partners at centers.  One pair re-enacted Rosa Parks' bus incident at our dollhouse.  After reaching the point where the police were called, the Stars stopped.

Student 1:  This is silly.  
Student 2:  I know, but it's just pretend.
Student 1:  No, I mean the police part.  The man had bad manners.  A man wouldn't ask a lady to move.  He was rude.
Student 2:  I wonder why the policeman didn't tell him that?
Student 1:  Maybe the policeman was rude too.
Student 2:  You know, if I had tired feet, and there were no more places to sit, I'd just ask someone to take turns with me.  She can sit for a few minutes, then I can sit for a few minutes.  Then she can sit for a few minutes, then I can sit for a few minutes.
Student 1:  Yeah, that would work.  
Student 2:  We solved the problem Mrs. Sommerville!

Another pair was trying to figure out ~why~ segregation happened.  Earlier, the Stars decided that segregation meant "sorting people by their skin color and not letting them be together no matter what."  

Student 1:  Did the brown people have bad germs?
Student 2:  Nope.
Student 1:  Did they have cooties?
Student 2:  Nope.
Student 1:  Were they going to get markers and color all of the peachy people brown?
Student 2:  That's funny!  But nope, they weren't going to make everyone else brown. 
Student 1:  Huh.  I don't get it.  What was the problem?
Student 2:  Maybe the peachy people thought the brown people DID have germs and cooties and WERE going to color everybody else.
Student 1:  Well that's just fiction.  It doesn't really happen.
Student 2:  I know. 
Student 1:  I mean, I colored my baby brother when I was in pre-k, but I used ALL of my markers, not just the brown one.  So coloring people can really happen, but EVERYBODY doesn't do it.
Student 2:  Uh huh.

*****

What have you heard lately from your students?


2 comments:

  1. so cute, very unique! THIS IS COOL ♥

    ReplyDelete
  2. Awesome idea thanks for sharing

    ReplyDelete

As always, thank you for your comments, tips, suggestions and questions!