Martin's Big Words {Book Companion}

The topic of Martin Luther King Jr. always elicits student engagement as I introduce biographies. The comparison between times: then and now, discussion of equality and the introduction of civil rights really ignites a passion with my littlest learners.  A popular book to spearhead discussions is Martin's Big Words. I'm overjoyed to share my newest book companion to align with the text.  Link provided in graphic below.

Captivate students with winter themed fun while meeting learning standards! This 77 page packet is packed full of excitement.

What's included...

 Build background knowledge of Martin Luther King Jr. with a KWL.

A heavy dose of story vocabulary will assist language learners with words such as hymns, preach, minister, Gandhi, peace, war, arrest, citizens, courage, rights, protest, mayor, governor, strike, and segregation.

Provided are several options for recording vocabulary words. Option one includes a vocabulary book with clipart images. Option two includes blank vocabulary response pages. Option three includes interactive pages.

Reread the story throughout the week using my prepared interactive skills pages. Included are essential questions, flip flaps for note taking, and a student page for informal assessment. Each of the above options are provided for equality, discrimination, facts and opinions.

You'll find engaging comprehension response sheets with a story map, compare/contrast, plot, and timeline of events.

Encourage students to write biographies with several paper options and provided clipart to assist in activating schema.

Last, you'll find several instructional posters to assist in teaching timelines and developing student biographies.

UPDATE:

After a week of book discussions, my students dove into timelines to create their own biography for Martin Luther King Jr.

Taking the writing sheets, I cut out the graphics and taped each to the white board.  Using several books to support our learning, we identified the major milestones in MLK Jr's life.  I recorded words the kids used to describe the graphic in green.  After reading several additional early biographies on MLK Jr., we were able to identify few important dates to record under specific graphics in red.  

Students were asked to select the five events they felt comfortable and most knowledgeable about when creating their own biography.  To prep for this, I printed five copies of each page.  Since I create the file with the same page side by side, printing five copies gave me 10 of the same page.  I set the writing pages out under the specific event on the timeline. With the variety of biography pages available (approximately 10 events), I didn't find a need to print additional copies.

Students used the key words from our previous lessons to create sentences for their individual biography response.  I have two varying abilities featured above.