What is Fair? Rights and Justice for a Kindergarten Classroom
Lesson 4: Historical Connection – Civil Rights Movement
Teacher: Jackie Beck
Subject Area: Social Studies, Literacy
Grade Level: Kindergarten
Time Needed: 50 minutes
Topic: History of Civil Rights Movement
MMSD Standards
-Social Studies: History Standard 3: Compare and contrast people and objects of long ago and now
-Reading: Students will read to interpret and critically analyze texts
-Language/Communication: Students will actively participate in discussions with large group, small group, and/or with peer
NCSS Standards
-Time, Continuity and Change
-Individuals, Groups and Institutions
-Civic ideas and practices
School of Ed Standards
-Standard 2: Understands social context of schooling
-Standard 6: Connects school and community
-Standard 11: Uses Technologies
Objectives
-SWBAT understand the basic reasoning behind the Civil Rights Movement
-SWBAT become experts about an influential person from the Civil Rights Movement and demonstrate this through drawing
-SWBAT share their knowledge on the influential person with their peers
-SWBAT describe why it is important to be fair
Materials
- “Child of the Civil Rights Movement” by Paula Young Shelton and Raul Colón
- “Rosa” by Nikki Giovanni
- “Coretta Scott” by Ntozake Shange
- “My Brother Martin: A Sister Remembers Growing Up with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.” by Christine King Farris
- Paper
- Crayons/Colored Pencils
Lesson Context
This is the fourth lesson in a unit about fairness. In the previous lesson, students wrote about a time in their life when they were faced with an unfair situation. This lesson is going to bring in a historical perspective and connect the idea of fairness to the Civil Rights Movement.
Lesson Opening
Remind the students that yesterday they wrote in their journals about a time in their life when they felt they were in an unfair situation, or were being treated unfairly. Today we are going to learn about a time in our country’s history when many people were treated unfairly because of the color of their skin.
Procedure
Explain to the students that there was a time in our history when black people and white people were not treated equally; black people were treated unfairly by our society. Black people (African Americans) were not allowed to do the same things as White people. African Americans had different kinds of jobs, different places to eat and play, and even different schools to go to. But then there were some very influential and hard-working people who realized that it was not fair to treat people differently because of the color of their skin, and that is how the Civil Rights Movement began.
Read the book “Child of the Civil Rights Movement” by Paula Young Shelton and Raul Colón. This is a valuable book because it goes through a lot of situations in which the protagonist faced prejudice, and also introduces important figures from the Civil Rights Movement. During the read-aloud, be sure to stop and explain the significance of the young girl’s stories and the people she meets along the way during the Civil Rights Movement – this should be an interactive read-aloud; encourage students to ask questions to clarify anything they might find confusing.
After reading the book, tell the students that they are going to be learning more about influential people in our country’s history who realized that separating people based on the color of their skin is not fair. These people were mentioned in the book, but now the students are going to go more in-depth.
Break the students up into the three guided-reading groups (three groups of five students). Each group will be reading a different book together with you at the guided-reading table. The books are:
· “Rosa” by Nikki Giovanni
· “Coretta Scott” by Ntozake Shange
· “My Brother Martin: A Sister Remembers Growing Up with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.” by Christine King Farris
(Check your school’s library for other possibilities of age-appropriate Civil Rights-related books)
Each group will go through the book with you. You may need to elect certain pages to skip, due to large amounts of information. After each group has finished reading about their influential person (Rosa Parks, Coretta Scott (King), or Martin Luther King, Jr.) they will discuss the importance of the person in their guided reading group, and will draw a picture depicting something important that they did. This will be a checkpoint for assessment (see Assessment section).
Closure
The students will jigsaw to share information. After all three groups have met, have the students in each group count off 1-5. Then have all of the ones get together at a table, and the twos, and the threes etc. This will leave five groups of three people, with one person from each guided reading group who is an expert on their historical person. Each student should share their drawing with the group. Ask the students to explain why their person thought it was important to be fair.
Special Considerations
It is important that each student is able to share his or her information in order for this jigsaw method to be successful. If there is a student in your class who is shy or timid when it comes to sharing, be there as a support to when it is their turn to inform the group. If they need a lot of help, ask them specific questions about their person so that they do not have to come up with everything to say.
Assessment:
Please see attached file (below)
Subject Area: Social Studies, Literacy
Grade Level: Kindergarten
Time Needed: 50 minutes
Topic: History of Civil Rights Movement
MMSD Standards
-Social Studies: History Standard 3: Compare and contrast people and objects of long ago and now
-Reading: Students will read to interpret and critically analyze texts
-Language/Communication: Students will actively participate in discussions with large group, small group, and/or with peer
NCSS Standards
-Time, Continuity and Change
-Individuals, Groups and Institutions
-Civic ideas and practices
School of Ed Standards
-Standard 2: Understands social context of schooling
-Standard 6: Connects school and community
-Standard 11: Uses Technologies
Objectives
-SWBAT understand the basic reasoning behind the Civil Rights Movement
-SWBAT become experts about an influential person from the Civil Rights Movement and demonstrate this through drawing
-SWBAT share their knowledge on the influential person with their peers
-SWBAT describe why it is important to be fair
Materials
- “Child of the Civil Rights Movement” by Paula Young Shelton and Raul Colón
- “Rosa” by Nikki Giovanni
- “Coretta Scott” by Ntozake Shange
- “My Brother Martin: A Sister Remembers Growing Up with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.” by Christine King Farris
- Paper
- Crayons/Colored Pencils
Lesson Context
This is the fourth lesson in a unit about fairness. In the previous lesson, students wrote about a time in their life when they were faced with an unfair situation. This lesson is going to bring in a historical perspective and connect the idea of fairness to the Civil Rights Movement.
Lesson Opening
Remind the students that yesterday they wrote in their journals about a time in their life when they felt they were in an unfair situation, or were being treated unfairly. Today we are going to learn about a time in our country’s history when many people were treated unfairly because of the color of their skin.
Procedure
Explain to the students that there was a time in our history when black people and white people were not treated equally; black people were treated unfairly by our society. Black people (African Americans) were not allowed to do the same things as White people. African Americans had different kinds of jobs, different places to eat and play, and even different schools to go to. But then there were some very influential and hard-working people who realized that it was not fair to treat people differently because of the color of their skin, and that is how the Civil Rights Movement began.
Read the book “Child of the Civil Rights Movement” by Paula Young Shelton and Raul Colón. This is a valuable book because it goes through a lot of situations in which the protagonist faced prejudice, and also introduces important figures from the Civil Rights Movement. During the read-aloud, be sure to stop and explain the significance of the young girl’s stories and the people she meets along the way during the Civil Rights Movement – this should be an interactive read-aloud; encourage students to ask questions to clarify anything they might find confusing.
After reading the book, tell the students that they are going to be learning more about influential people in our country’s history who realized that separating people based on the color of their skin is not fair. These people were mentioned in the book, but now the students are going to go more in-depth.
Break the students up into the three guided-reading groups (three groups of five students). Each group will be reading a different book together with you at the guided-reading table. The books are:
· “Rosa” by Nikki Giovanni
· “Coretta Scott” by Ntozake Shange
· “My Brother Martin: A Sister Remembers Growing Up with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.” by Christine King Farris
(Check your school’s library for other possibilities of age-appropriate Civil Rights-related books)
Each group will go through the book with you. You may need to elect certain pages to skip, due to large amounts of information. After each group has finished reading about their influential person (Rosa Parks, Coretta Scott (King), or Martin Luther King, Jr.) they will discuss the importance of the person in their guided reading group, and will draw a picture depicting something important that they did. This will be a checkpoint for assessment (see Assessment section).
Closure
The students will jigsaw to share information. After all three groups have met, have the students in each group count off 1-5. Then have all of the ones get together at a table, and the twos, and the threes etc. This will leave five groups of three people, with one person from each guided reading group who is an expert on their historical person. Each student should share their drawing with the group. Ask the students to explain why their person thought it was important to be fair.
Special Considerations
It is important that each student is able to share his or her information in order for this jigsaw method to be successful. If there is a student in your class who is shy or timid when it comes to sharing, be there as a support to when it is their turn to inform the group. If they need a lot of help, ask them specific questions about their person so that they do not have to come up with everything to say.
Assessment:
Please see attached file (below)
| lesson_4_assessment.doc |
