January and February are the perfect time to teach your students about Martin Luther King Jr. because we celebrate not only his birthday, but also Black History Month. These holidays provide the perfect platform for sharing about noteworthy African Americans who stood up for what was right.
To kick off our study, I always loved to read a couple of Martin Luther King books:
and one of my all-time favorites, Martin’s Big Words
One of the best things about this book is the powerful words and the incredible illustrations:
To accompany this book and extend my student’s learning about the power of words, I have created a Poster Packet of important quotes from the story:
You could use this activity either before or after reading the story. I use it after reading it through once. I hang the quote posters around the classroom and have the students walk through and read them. Then, I have them think about what the quote means and how it could be used to influence and encourage people to pick up the cause of civil rights.
Here’s the preview of the posters plus a student activity sheet to use:
You could also divide your students into groups and assign each one a quote. They could focus in one what the quote means and then prepare a short presentation for the class.
These posters could also be used as a thought-provoking bulletin board.
Note: This packet is included in my MLK Mega Packet and is also sold separately in my TpT store.
Speaking of, heres my MLK Mega Packet:
Here’s a preview of what’s included in the 55-page MEGA Packet!
This ready-to-use packet that will inform, challenge, and edify your students as you learn about Dr. King’s legacy and the lasting impact he made on our world.
Inside the Head of a Leader
And then to continue our unit, we will discuss what made Martin Luther King, Jr. a great leader.
{Here is the example of an activity we did last year}
We listed the qualities of leadership he exhibited and things he was passionate about inside his “head.”
Disclaimer: I am by NO MEANS an artist, so don’t judge my poor representation of MLK 🙂 
I told the students that Martin wasn’t the only leader in history. We discussed various examples of other heroes and their characteristics (many of which over-lapped). I then told them I was staring at FUTURE leaders.
“Inside the Head of a FUTURE Leader”
We repeated the exercise, only this time each student got a profile of a boy or girl and filled it’s head with leadership qualities they have and different things they are passionate about. They turned out SO well!
It was an awesome opportunity for the students to not only learn about what makes a great leader – but for them to then see what it will take for them to become a future generation of leaders.
