MLK Jr. Day

Last week, the kids had Friday off and we had a teacher planning day.  Since MLK Jr. day is today and we would be doing a bunch of fun activities learning about and celebrating the amazing things that Martin Luther King Jr. did for our country, my Master Teacher decided to introduce our friend Martin last week.  During the afternoon carpet time, we read a short book about MLK and his life.  The book started out with a short story about how Martin wanted to go home to play with a white friend, but couldn't because his friend's mother would not allow them to play together due to the color of his skin.  We then paused the story to explain that black and white people were separated in school, neighborhoods, restaurants, almost everywhere.

Now, let me just add in here that kindergartners ask questions and tell you everything on their mind all.the.time. We could be talking about the letter "K" and one of them will raise their hand as say, "Mrs. Rist, I have 2 sisters and a goldfish named Max!"

So when one little girl raised her hand I was expecting "I've seen a cow before!!"  but instead, she said "I don't understand; what do you mean black people and white people?" So we spent 5 minutes looking at our hands and noticing how we're all different "shades."  When the story continued onto Rosa Parks and her brave decision to no give up her seat on the bus, the kids were amazed that she was arrested.  They kept saying "What?!  That's not something you go to  jail for!"  Then another little girl was literally in tears saying, "I can't believe he was killed, he was just trying to be nice to everyone!"

It was just amazing to me that a group of 5-year-olds have figured out that people should never have lived like that, but it took so long for the country to see it!  This was an amazing week and I can't wait to see what else I am going to learn from both my master teacher and the students.

Our MLK masks we made!: