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Students Work in Teams at Armstrong To Learn About Martin Luther King’s Legacy
Armstrong Teamwork: Two friends share a smile during a buddy activity about Martin Luther King, Jr.
To honor of the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., students at Armstrong Elementary School in the Hazelwood School District participated in buddy activities, working in teams at various grade levels to enhance their knowledge about the historical figure.
An acrostic poem was the focus of a literacy activity for second-grade students in Yvette Smith’s class and their fourth-grade buddies in Jennifer Lynch’s class. An acrostic poem is one that the letters of a person’s name start each line.
Smith led the activity by asking students to think of words that start with the letter d to describe Dr. King’s efforts. The children responded with words such as doing, decide, did, does, dependable, delightful and dream.
“What big ideas did Dr. King stand for?” Smith asked. The class answered with single phrases such as harmony, peace and equality.
“He wanted everyone to be equal,” a small voice said. “He wanted everyone to go to the same places,” another followed. “He wanted white people to get along with black people,” said yet another.
Smith praised the class and they began working on their poems, making rough drafts on notebook paper before creating posters with their buddies.
In Tammy Roberts’ third-grade room, kindergartners from Kathie Eckelkamp’s class sat with their buddies while Roberts read a story about Dr. King. As she read, students were encouraged to sign the letters ‘M L K’ if they heard a fact they were familiar with from their studies.
At points throughout the story, Roberts asked questions of the children and encouraged them to talk to their buddies about their feelings. One question was “How would you feel if you couldn’t play with someone because you didn’t look the same?” Many said they would feel sad.
Eckelkamp said the students also completed a similarities and differences matrix about Dr. King’s life in comparison to their own lives.
“We wanted the students to draw conclusions that Dr. King was very similar to them in that he liked sports, he had a nickname and that he liked to spend time with his friends. We wanted them to understand that he worked to show kindness and respect to everyone, which are two of our five school behavior expectations,” Eckelkamp explained.
Down the hall, third-grade students in Kevin Keppel’s class worked with first-graders from Michelle Chitwood’s class. The students had packets of information about Dr. King. The older students helped the younger ones point out important notes.
“Mr. Keppel and I wanted the students to learn some new vocabulary words, like segregation and protest. We also wanted the students to see how Dr. King was able to influence others in a peaceful manner,” said Chitwood.
“We thought this went well with our PBIS programs,” she continued. PBIS stands for Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports. The program is used by all schools in the District to establish behavior expectations among students, as well as consistency among staff.
The curriculum focus for the activity was to locate information within the text to find facts and to draw conclusions. “The students always enjoy working with their buddies,” said Chitwood. “I think the best part is that it helps them feel successful with their learning.” (story courtesy of Hazelwood District Communications Dept.)
