MLK

This week, Nathan and I did a preschool lesson about Martin Luther King and why we honor him with a holiday.  We started out reading a very basic children's biography (in the picture) explaining who he was and what he did.  We talked about how unfairly African Americans were being treated in those days.  When I explained how there were separate schools, stores, water fountains, etc. for the different races, I asked him how he would feel if we went to Kroger and they didn't let him in just because he's blond.  Of course, he found this to be a crazy idea.  We also talked about how MLK worked with President Johnson to push forward with civil rights reforms.  When he saw the picture of MLK talking to LBJ in his book, he recognized LBJ instantly from Laura's president project last month!  After that, we read another MLK story in which children talked about MLK's "I have a dream..." speech and then shared their own dreams for making the world better.  When I asked Nathan what dreams he might have to make the world better, he answered, "I dream that everyone would be warm and cozy at night........and I dream that they keep making more Madagascar movies."  Oh, to be four again and have such simple dreams for the world! :)  After the books, Nathan made his own model MLK doll with a cut-and-paste template we found online.  The rest of the afternoon, he used it as sort of an MLK action figure;  he used this deep voice and kept saying, "President Johnson, we want better treatment for dark-skinned people."  Love this kid!

On another note, Laura had her second math team competition of the year this morning.  She competed against about 40 other 2nd grade students from the 4 elementary schools in the district.  Once again, she made it to the final round before bowing out.  That put her in the top 15 2nd graders in the district!  We are very proud of the mind she seems to have for math.  Now, she is unwinding at a friend's slumber party.  It should be interesting to see how tired she is tomorrow!!

Gina