Honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

We can change the world together! The students of South Boston Catholic Academy celebrated Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Birthday. K1 students celebrated Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. by reflecting on how they could make the world a better place after reading stories about him. Students first created an earth by using blue and green ink. Next, they were asked what they could do to make the world a better place. They wrote their responses on a hand. Some of these responses included “Make people feel better”, “Be nice and kind”, “Wear my mask to help stop the Coronavirus” and “Say Thank You.” In celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, our Art Teacher, Ms. Valerie Szmurlo, read the book “Martin’s Big Words” by Doreen Rappaport, in Art Class and created a guided portrait of Dr. King Jr. Students were able to talk about the importance of treating people with respect no matter what they look like and how Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. changed our world for the better. In K0 Art Class, we read the book "Have I Ever Told You?" by Shani M. King and talked about how to be kind and how to respect everyone. Students then traced their hands so their thumb and pointer finger made a heart. They were encouraged to color the hands however they wanted using patterns. To honor the tremendous lifetime of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., our Music Teacher, Ms. Eleanor Tynan, helped students in 2nd grade Music learn a song about his “I have a dream speech”. After learning the song, students used words from the speech to compose a musical rhythm! What creative rhythms they came up with, too! Teachers, also, read several wonderful books about Dr. King, in their classrooms, books such as: Happy Birthday, Martin Luther King by Jean Marzollo; Meet Martin Luther King, Jr. by Johnny Ray Moore; “If you Lived at the Time of Martin Luther King” by Ellen Levine and “Martin’s Big Words…The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.” by Doreen Rappaport to their students. Grade 1 students learned about MLK leading peaceful protests. In class, students discussed many inspirational quotes by Dr. King, Jr. some of which are: “Love is the key to the problems of the world.” “The time is always right to do what is right;” “Hate cannot drive out hate. Only love can do that;” and “If I cannot do great things, I can do small things in a great way.” Thank you and God Bless you, Dr. King for making the world a better place for everyone! New applicants are welcomed to email Mrs. Jamie Brown at j.brown@sbcatholicacademy.org to learn more about South Boston Catholic Academy.