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Bright Ideas Lesson Plans

A Kid´s Week in Review

The day after Martin Luther King´s Birthday, I asked my second graders what we were celebrating on Monday. I asked if they´d participated in or attended the parade. Then I shared pictures, from the Washington Post, of the rehearsals taking place for the Inauguration Parade that would be held the same week.

I brought their attention to the security rehearsal photos for each of the family members of the president and vice president. We shared the information we were reading in the captions. Next, I shared the Washington Post and the News-Journal Mini Pages from the week, both of which were highlighting the Inauguration and the celebration of Martin Luther King´s Birthday.

We read and discussed excerpts from both Mini Pages, and covered the significance of both of these events.

By the end of the week, we were following up our discussions, with articles and news coverage of the new President and of Martin Luther King. Both men are leaders who serve as role models for our students. Martin Luther King was a designer of the today we are experiencing. He too marched in Washington and added to history. The Inauguration was a significant event that added another page to that history. Our children shared it, by reading and comparing two newspapers and watching and listening to the news media.

The children were drawn into the activity by the photos of the instruments in the parade. We talked about parades and ways we celebrate birthdays and different holidays. We found there were several holidays each year when we have parades.

By the end of the week, the children were talking knowledgeably about the Inauguration. As a teacher, I felt good knowing that I´d taken a current event and made it a meaningful experience for my students.

Carol Hyman
Westside Elementary

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