It's not to late to incorporate MLK

As you all know Thursday is Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr's Birthday. I have been going back and forth for the past week on how to incorporate a Dr. King activity into my treatment sessions. I felt it was important to discuss Dr. King after a student telling me they did not know who he was, they knew he gave them a day off.  I must say brainstorming for ideas was a beast, I knew I needed something that was not to complex and the language so difficult I would lose my students interest. I also soon realized after surfing the net I didn't want to have my student do a word search or answer questions after reading a passage. I wanted learning to be fun, especially for a man who discussed such and heavy topic. In addition to this, I wanted something that would meet the needs of all my students (Fluency, Language, Articulation, etc).

 It wasn't until today that it hit me; while digging in my materials cabinet. It was in that moment I noticed one of my magnetic wands was attach to the metal door, and it came to me why not create a Chipper Chat inspired activity. By doing this I could address many areas of speech, all my groups would get a chance to enjoy the boards, and still give my students a little insight on Dr. King. You know something more than "he gives us a holiday" (shaking my head). Yes that was an actual statement by a student. Now you can see why I felt the students I work with deserved to know more about Dr. King than us having a holiday. Besides that fact that knowing a little about America's could potentially assist in them becoming well rounded individuals. 

First let me begin by giving you some ideas on how this may possible work for you. By using pennies, the soft discs found in the Super Duper, Inc. Articulation cans, a paint dauber to cover the circles provided, or even the magnetic coins if you already have or previously had a chipper chat game. 

MLK Board and Language:

Ideas for using these boards with Language include: 

1. Reading "Martin's Big Words" to you students and have the them answer questions

2. Have your students answer questions from the short YouTube film "The King and his Dream"

3. Provide vocabulary for your kids and have them place the words in sentences 

4. Create a discussion from the vocabulary of books, the YouTube film or your own knowledge.

MLK Board and Articulation:

Ideas for using these boards with Articulation include:

1. Provide words related to Dr. King that address target sounds (i.e. /k/ - King, Coretta, Kids)

2. Read "Martin's Big Words and have students point out words with their target sounds

MLK Board and Articulation:

Ideas for using these boards with Fluency include:

1. Have your students read the "I have a dream" speech, the place a marker of your choice down for each disfluencies (this will help with identifying disfluent moments).

2. Discuss Dr. King and his dream, have your students place a marker down for each timed fluent moment he/she has. 

 I have provide you all with 3 different MLK boards that you can find under the "Printables" tab.

*Remember each activity should be tailored to your students IEP goals/objects and his/her age level. Also if you look under the "Printables" Tab you will find an extra MLK activity for older students. 

Note: All clip art was provided by a site named Clipartbest.com.

 P.S. These boards come out great when printed in color on card stock and laminated.