Living the Dream: 100 Acts of Kindness
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Overview
After studying about Martin Luther King, Jr. and what he believed in, students need the chance to apply those lessons. Students count the days between Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Valentine's Day and are challenged to complete 100 acts of kindness during that time. They brainstorm examples of kind acts they could do and discuss how to report acts of kindness they witness. They also select a service project to plan and complete together as a class. For the project's duration, acts of kindness are tracked on a classroom chart. Students are encouraged to acknowledge kind acts by others through thank you notes, and families are encouraged to help report acts of kindness. The project culminates with a Valentine's Day celebration.
Though the lesson describes activities that take place between Dr. King's birthday and Valentine's Day it can be adapted to take place any time of year.
From Theory to Practice
In their book Mosaic of Thought, Ellin Oliver Keene and Susan Zimmermann discuss the importance of making text-to-self, text-to-text, and text-to-world connections (55). Not only does this process increase comprehension, but these connections also make the new learning meaningful, relevant, and engaging.
The first connection our young students make to what they read and hear is the connection to themselves. When students make these connections, what they read and hear has meaning for them in view of their own life experiences and prior knowledge. This significance comes when they "relate unfamiliar text to their prior world knowledge and /or personal experiences" (55). This is our goal as we introduce young students to history: to engage them fully and deeply in the story of real people like themselves, helping them building connections between their own lives and the lives of the people they are studying.
The primary goal of this lesson is the third way to make connections-text-to-world. Students take what they learned about Dr. King and become actively involved in the process of making Dr. King's dream a reality in their own lives and the world they live in.
Further Reading
Common Core Standards
This resource has been aligned to the Common Core State Standards for states in which they have been adopted. If a state does not appear in the drop-down, CCSS alignments are forthcoming.
State Standards
This lesson has been aligned to standards in the following states. If a state does not appear in the drop-down, standard alignments are not currently available for that state.
NCTE/IRA National Standards for the English Language Arts
- 4. Students adjust their use of spoken, written, and visual language (e.g., conventions, style, vocabulary) to communicate effectively with a variety of audiences and for different purposes.
- 5. Students employ a wide range of strategies as they write and use different writing process elements appropriately to communicate with different audiences for a variety of purposes.
- 7. Students conduct research on issues and interests by generating ideas and questions, and by posing problems. They gather, evaluate, and synthesize data from a variety of sources (e.g., print and nonprint texts, artifacts, people) to communicate their discoveries in ways that suit their purpose and audience.
- 11. Students participate as knowledgeable, reflective, creative, and critical members of a variety of literacy communities.
- 12. Students use spoken, written, and visual language to accomplish their own purposes (e.g., for learning, enjoyment, persuasion, and the exchange of information).
Materials and Technology
- Let’s Read About...Martin Luther King, Jr. by Courtney Baker (Scholastic, 2001)
- I am Freedom’s Child by Bill Martin Jr.
- Addictional books and other information sources about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
- Internet access to suggested Websites
- Display board(s)
- Scrapbook
- General classroom supplies (paper, pens, pencils, envelopes, art supplies, and so forth)
- Chart tablets and markers
- Supplies for Valentine's Day party
Printouts
- Sample Letter to Families Announcing the Project
- 100 Acts of Kindness chart (additional examples of 100s charts with different formats are available in the Websites section)
Websites
Preparation
- Collect other sources of information about Dr. King. Books that might be used during this study include the following:
- Young Martin Luther King, Jr.: I Have a Dream by Joanne Mattern (Troll Books, 1991).
- Martin’s Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. by Doreen Rappaport (Jump Sun, 2001).
- Happy Birthday, Martin Luther King by Jean Marzollo (Scholastic, 1993).
- Let’s Read About...Martin Luther King, Jr. by Courtney Baker (Scholastic, 2001).
- Resources from Weekly Reader, Time for Kids, Scholastic’s Let’s Find Out, etc.
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Poster Book published by Kids Books, Inc.
- If You Lived in the Time of Martin Luther King by Ellen Levine (Scholastic, 1994). Note: This book is word intensive and designed for older students, but it provides good information when used as a resource or reference book.
- Young Martin Luther King, Jr.: I Have a Dream by Joanne Mattern (Troll Books, 1991).
- Explore and bookmark appropriate Websites, listed in the Websites section. Note that the sites include information and images which may be confusing or upsetting for students (for instance, the Life site's photo labeled "Arrested for 'loitering' and being manhandled by Montgomery, Alabama police"). Be sure to check the sites carefully to ensure that they are appropriate for your students and that they fit your district's standards.
- Obtain a scrapbook and display board(s).
- Create a 100s chart to keep track of class progress toward 100 acts of kindness. (We passed our goal and began a second chart, so you might want to plan for that possibility.) Additional samples are available in teh Websites section.
- Collect classroom supplies and stock work centers in the classroom.
- Test the Letter Generator student interactive on your computers to familiarize yourself with the tool and ensure that you have the Flash plug-in installed. You can download the plug-in from the technical support page.
Student Objectives
Students will
- identify ways that they can make a difference with their choices and actions.
- participate in Dr. King's dream by caring for, helping, and supporting others.
- keep records of their acts of kindness on a 100s Chart.
- participate in reading and writing activities for authentic audiences.
Instruction & Activities
- Learn about Dr. King.
For the week prior to Dr. King’s birthday, use lessons available from ReadWriteThink and other Thinkfinity sites, including the following:
- Martin Luther King, Jr. and Me: Identifying with a Hero, from ReadWriteThink
- How Big Are Martin’s Big Words? Thinking Big About the Future, from ReadWriteThink
- Dr. King's Dream, from EDSITEment
- Let Freedom Ring: The Life & Legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr., from EDSITEment
- Martin Luther King, Jr. and Me: Identifying with a Hero, from ReadWriteThink
- Focus on Dr. King’s Dream.
Review some of the literature and Websites shared during your first week. Useful Websites are listed in the Resources section. Books which can be used for your review are listed under Preparation in the Resources section. - Discuss what it means to be part of Dr. King’s dream.
- Read Let’s Read About...Martin Luther King, Jr. by Courtney Baker aloud to students. As you share the book, ask students to make connections between the events and ideas in the books and their own experiences. When you reach the last page of the book, ask students what the book means when it says we need to “make the world a better place for everyone.” Take the opportunity to help your students see that Dr. King’s dream is on-going and how they can be part of the dream.
- Read I Am Freedom’s Child by Bill Martin Jr. aloud to students and discuss what it means to be “Freedom’s Child”—what we can do as children of freedom to care for and help others.
- Read Let’s Read About...Martin Luther King, Jr. by Courtney Baker aloud to students. As you share the book, ask students to make connections between the events and ideas in the books and their own experiences. When you reach the last page of the book, ask students what the book means when it says we need to “make the world a better place for everyone.” Take the opportunity to help your students see that Dr. King’s dream is on-going and how they can be part of the dream.
- Plan and implement your project: Live the Dream.
- Use the January and February classroom calendars to count the days between Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday and Valentine’s Day. (You need to decide if you will begin on January 15, King's actual birthday, or on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.) Challenge your students to complete 100 acts of kindness during that period.
- Ask students to brainstorm things that they think they can do. Record their responses on a sheet of chart paper (so that you can save the list for use during the entire project). Encourage them to think of ways they can help others such as recycling, collecting food for a local food pantry, gathering toys for the homeless shelter, helping their parents or grandparents at home, helping younger brothers and sisters at home, helping one another at school, and so forth.
- Ask students to decide how you'll know when people have completed an act of kindness. You may want to “catch people being kind,” making the rule that students cannot report their own acts—someone has to “tell on you.” If you choose this method, invite parents, grandparents, and other family and community members to join in and report acts of kindness they've observed.
- Compose a letter with students to send home to families, explaining the project and how families can participate (here's an example). If desired, use the Letter Generator student interactive to review parts of a letter and compose your letter as a class. Family members, neighbors, and classmates will soon become experts at noticing all the kind acts that are happening and becoming writers of great reports and affirming notes.
- Encourage students to use the classroom writing center to write thank you notes to one another for helping to find lost book bags, sharing crayons or pencils, helping clean up spilled paint, and so forth. These notes become documentation of an act of kindness, and the added benefit is that students will be doing real writing for a real purpose and a real audience.
- Make a display board for all these notes. After the project is officially completed, you can make a scrapbook of all the notes, and add the collection to your classroom library. You can continue to add to the book for the rest of the school year if you want.
- Integrate this project with your math instruction by devising ways to keep track of the acts of kindness that students choose to do. A great option is to add a sticker to a 100s chart for each act of kindness reported. You can also use another piece of chart paper to record the actual activities the students did, using tally marks to keep a record of the number of people who recycled, and so forth.
- Use the January and February classroom calendars to count the days between Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday and Valentine’s Day. (You need to decide if you will begin on January 15, King's actual birthday, or on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.) Challenge your students to complete 100 acts of kindness during that period.
- Choose a class service project.
- Return to the list that students brainstormed when you began the project and ask students to choose an activity that the class can complete as a group.
- Discuss the options, narrow down the list, and vote to choose the option the class will complete.
- Once a project has been selected, ask students to brainstorm or discuss what they'll need to do to make the project a success. Encourage your students to set goals and think about ways to track their success.
- Follow through by involving students with the final step for the project, by delivering the items to a collection point, having someone come to your class to collect the items, and so forth.
- Also document the project as part of the larger list of 100s, on your 100s chart, by adding notes to your display board, and keeping tally of your progress.
Example Project
You might choose to collect food for the local food pantry. Once the food has been collected, students can sort all the items and make a graph to record what they have collected before boxing up the donations. If possible, you can invite a representative of the food pantry to come to your class. Students can give their donation to the representative in person, explaining about the project. Ask the representative to be prepared to explain how the food will help people in your community. If you receive a thank you letter, be sure to include the letter in your scrapbook.
- Return to the list that students brainstormed when you began the project and ask students to choose an activity that the class can complete as a group.
- Celebrate!
- As a reflection and celebration piece, draw a large web- (or wheel-) shaped graphic organizer. Write “Dr. King’s Dream” in the center. Create a spoke from the center for each student in the class, with an oval at the end. Each student will choose something to write in one of the circles. Students can share observations of what they learned from the project, how they felt about being part of the dream, and so forth. The chart will provide a record of what you have learned and experienced.
- Make a banner using the words of Martin Luther King, Jr., as found in Martin’s Big Words or another book you've read. The sentence “Love is the key to the problems of the world,” for instance, works well. You can use hand prints to form the word “LOVE.”
- Display any books and images that you've collected as part of the project as well as your display board of notes, brainstorming lists, 100s charts, graphs, and reflection web. You might choose to keep this display up for your next open house or educational fair.
- Conclude your project with a Valentine’s Party as a tribute to friendship and to Dr. King’s dream.
- As a reflection and celebration piece, draw a large web- (or wheel-) shaped graphic organizer. Write “Dr. King’s Dream” in the center. Create a spoke from the center for each student in the class, with an oval at the end. Each student will choose something to write in one of the circles. Students can share observations of what they learned from the project, how they felt about being part of the dream, and so forth. The chart will provide a record of what you have learned and experienced.
Extensions
- Students might like to to send e-mail cards to special family members or friends in honor of Dr. King’s birthday, using 123Greetings Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Cards.
- Find links to lesson plans and classroom activities that can be used to supplement or extend this lesson from the January 15 entry from the ReadWriteThink calendar celebrating Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday.
Student Assessment / Reflections
The reflection and celebration web provides a strong assessment piece for this lesson. By asking each student to contribute something for the wheel, you can quickly see what students are taking away from the lesson. The web chart creates a record of what students have accomplished and how they feel about it all.
Additionally, the artifacts of the lesson (display board of notes, brainstorming lists, 100s charts, and so forth) provide concrete evidence of the work that students have completed.
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