Catie Raimo

Day 6
1.0 Lesson Plan Details: Martin Luther King Jr.s Life, Grade 4
45 minutes
Concepts:
o MLK accomplishments
o Timelines
Vocabulary:
o Timeline
o Civil Rights Movement
o Segregation
Skills:
o Make timeline
o Research
o Read informational text
1.1 Integration of Learning Outcomes/Objectives
Students will be able to construct a timeline of Martin Luther King Jr.s
life through a web scavenger hunt.
1.2 Standards PA Civics, History, Economics, Geography & NCSS
Themes I - X with subthemes
8.3.4.C: Explain how continuity and change in the U.S. history have
influenced personal development and identity.
NCSS.1.2.b have learners apply key concepts from the study of
history such as time, chronology, causality, change, conflict, and
complexity to explain, analyze, and show connections among the
pattern of historical change and continuity.
NCSS.1.2.c ask learner to identify and describe significant historical
periods and patterns of change within and across cultures, such as the
development of ancient cultures and civilizations, the ride of nationstates, and social, economic, and political revolutions.
1.3 Anticipatory Set
Draw a timeline on the front board. Label the left side 1500 and label
the right side present.
Explain that this is a timeline. A timeline is a line that has dates in
chronological order about a person, event, etc.
Ask the students if they remember what happened in the 1500s?
(They should answer something about the Native Americans
mentioned yesterday)
Write in another date in the middle of the timeline. Write 1950s1960s ask the students if they know anything about these dates. Tell
them that this was the time period that the Civil Rights Movement
happened. The Civil Rights Movement was when African Americans
were fighting for equal rights in the Southeast because of segregation.

Segregation is when groups are being separated because of

something, like race.
Ask the students if they know the leader of the Civil Rights Movement.
Write 1929 on the timeline. Tell them that the leader of the Civil
Rights Movement was born during this yearit was Martin Luther King
Jr.

1.4 Procedures
Read Aloud
o Have the students go to the carpet for a read aloud.
o Once the students have gathered on the carpet, tell them that
they are going to listen to a read aloud today about Martin
Luther King Jr.s life, titled A Picture Book of Martin Luther King,
Jr. by David Adler.
o Before reading the book, draw a timeline on the board. Explain
that as you read you will add important events and ideas about
MLKs life that is learned from reading the story. When all the
dates are added to the line on the board, explain that you
created a timeline. A timeline represents key details of a
persons life or event that are in chronological order. It is a good
way to see how the time has changed overall.
o Read A Picture Book of Martin Luther King, Jr.
o While reading, ask the students to help find the important dates
in MLKs life. The students can write the dates on the board
when they come across them in the book. (Teacher will point out
the first date and write it up on the boardthen students will do
the rest)
o After the read aloud, discuss the life of Martin Luther King Jr.
Touch on the timeline on the board.
Web Scavenger Hunt
o Explain to the students that they are going to create a timeline
of Martin Luther King Jr.s life. They are going to create a
timeline by adding key information about MLKs life through a
web scavenger hunt.
o Dismiss the students back to their desks by table numbers,
having them get a laptop from the laptop cart.
o Once students are back at desks and have logged into the
PowerPoint, pass out the timeline they need to complete.
o Explain that they will follow the links connected to the pictures
to find the important dates of MLKs life.
o When they have finished the timeline, have the students put it in
their portfolio. Remind them not to loose the timeline because
the portfolio will be collected at the end of the unit for the
assessment.
o After they have done that, they can do the enrichment activities
found at the end of the scavenger hunt.
o As students are working on the web scavenger hunt, the teacher
will monitor the classroom, assisting students when they need

help. While circulating the room look at students timelines to

formatively assess their knowledge of MLKs life.
When all the students have finished, gather them back on the carpet to
discuss the timeline they just created.

1.5 Differentiation
For students who are more advanced: I will encourage these students
to create extra dates on their timeline about MLKs life. They can also
create a timeline about another important person involved with the
Civil Rights Movement or one of the Native Americans talked about the
day before.
For students who are struggling: I will provide these students with a
differentiated timeline. It would have some of the dates filled in for
them already. I would also guide them through the scavenger hunt
helping them navigate the information on the webpages.
1.6 Closure
Bring the students back together once they have all finished. Ask the
students to compare their timeline of MLK to the timeline created at the
beginning of the lesson. Ask how they are similar and different. Ask what
makes a timeline and how can they be used. Ask why MLK was important for
the Civil Rights Movement. Have them share with a neighbor. Remind the
students to put their timelines in a safe spot for now so they can put it in the
portfolio for the final assessment. Tell the students that tomorrow they will be
learning about the economics of the Atlantic Coast States, which is where
MLK was born and gave his famous speech.
1.7 Formative/Summative Assessment of Students (P-12)
Formative assessment: During the read aloud, the teacher will check
the students understanding of a timeline when they call out and write
the dates from the book on the class timeline. The teacher will
circulate the room while the students are doing the scavenger hunt,
checking their timelines through observation.
Summative assessment: the students will construct a timeline about
MLKs life. The timeline will be put in the portfolio for the summative
assessment of the entire unit.
o A rubric will be used to assess the students timelines.
Excellent (5)

Good (4)

Dates on
timeline

Student is
missing no
dates from the
timeline.

Student is
missing 2 or
fewer dates
from timeline.

Order of
dates on
timeline

Student has all

the dates in
the correct

Student has 2
or fewer
dates out of

Fair (3)

Weak (2)

Student is
missing
between 3-6
dates from
timeline.
Student has
3-6 dates out
of order on

Student is
missing 7 or
more dates
from
timeline.
Student has
7 or more
dates out of

order on
timeline.

order on
timeline.

timeline.

order on
timeline.

1.8 Materials/Equipment
A. STUDENT MATERIALS/ READING RESOURCES:
Web Scavenger Hunt PowerPoint
Scavenger Hunt Timeline Worksheet
Laptops
B. TEACHER MATERIALS/RESOURCES FOR LESSON DESIGN:
Adler, D., & Casilla, R. (1989). A picture book of Martin Luther King, Jr.
New York: Holiday House.
Content Outline
Rubric for timeline

D. Content outline attached

1.9 Technology
In the lesson, the students will be using laptops to do a web scavenger hunt.
They will be provided with the website links they need to use to complete the
scavenger hunt. Additional enrichment activities with links are provided as
well. In the enrichment activities, the students do online word searches and
cross word puzzles, as well as watch a video of MLKs I Have a Dream
Speech.

Content Outline about Martin Luther King Jr.

I.
Childhood
a. Born on January 15th 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia
b. Had an older sisterWillie Christine, and younger brotherAlfred
Daniel
c. Father was a pastor and mother was a teacher
d. Likes
i. Play basketball, football, and baseball
ii. Ride his bike
iii. Sing, especially in church
e. Learned to read at home
i. Liked reading about black leaders
II.
Schooling
a. Attended segregated schools in Georgia
b. Finished high school two years earlyat 15
c. Went to Morehouse College in Atlanta
i. Studied to become a minister
ii. Received a BA degree in 1948
d. Went to Crozer Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania
i. Studied there for three years in theology
ii. Elected president of his predominately white senior class
iii. Received a Bachelor in Divinity in 1951
e. Went to Boston University for doctorate
i. Completed his residence in 1953
ii. Received Ph.D in Systematic Theology in 1955
III.
Personal Life
a. Married Coretta Scott in 1953
b. Had two sons and two daughters
IV.
Career
a. 1954became a pastor of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery,
Alabama
b. Member of the National Council for the Advancement of Colored People
V.
Montgomery Bus Boycott
a. Rosa Parks
i. Refused to give up her seat on the bus
ii. Sat in the first row for African Americans but a white man needed
a seat and was told to move
iii. Arrested (December 1, 1955)
iv. Fined $10
v. Not the first to get arrested, but it sparked the movement
b. December 5th 1955
i. Start of the Movement
ii. Pamphlets were handed out about movement
iii. African Americans walked, took taxis, rode horses
iv. 90% of African Americans did not ride the busses
c. Lasted 382 days

VI.

VII.

VIII.

IX.

d. Results
i. Supreme Court outlawed discrimination on intrastate busses
(November 13th 1956)
ii. All states had to follow the new law
iii. MLK celebrated by riding next to a white man
e. Major event of the Civil Rights Movement
Southern Christian Leadership Conference
a. Founded by MLK
b. Elected president in 1957
c. King traveled over six million miles and spoke over twenty-five hundred
times, appearing wherever there was injustice, protest, and action
d. Advocated peaceful protests
i. Inspired by Mahatma Gandhi
ii. Did not physically fight
iii. Sit-ins, picketing, etc.
iv. Gained national attention through the media
v. Results of protesting
1. Was arrested about twenty times for protesting
2. His house was bombed
3. Assaulted at least four times
4. Received five honorary degrees
5. Named Man of the Year by Time in 1963
March on Washington, D.C.
a. Why?
i. Wanted to end segregation and Jim Crow Laws in the South
ii. Peaceful way to bring up issues to government
b. Planned on August 28th 1963100 years after Emancipation Proclamation
c. Gave I Have a Dream Speech in front of Lincoln Memorial
d. Over 250,00 people gathered to support him
e. Lead to other speeches and protests for African American right to vote,
desegregation, and fair hiring
Nobel Peace Prize
a. Awarded Nobel Peace Prize on October 14, 1964
b. 35 years old, youngest man to receive award
c. Received award because of his leadership of non-violent protest
d. Turned the prize money ($54,123) to furtherance the civil rights
movement
New Laws
a. Civil Rights Act of 1964
i. Signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson
ii. Outlawed segregation and Jim Crow laws in South
iii. Outlawed discrimination based on race, national background and
gender
iv. Originally proposed by President John F. Kennedy
b. Voting Rights Act of 1965
i. Citizens could not be denied the right to vote based on race

X.

XI.

ii. Outlawed literacy tests and poll taxes

Memphis, Tennessee
a. Organizing a march for black sanitation workers to receive equal pay and
better conditions
b. Assassinated by James Earl Ray at the Lorraine Hotel
c. Died on April 4, 1968
After death
a. 1983the third Monday in January was declared an annual federal
holiday to honor the life and ideals of Martin Luther King Jr.

Name: ___________________________________________________
______________________________________

Date:

The Life of Martin Luther King Jr.

_____________________
MLK was born in Atlanta,
Georgia.

_________ MLK
graduated from
Morehouse
College

_____________________
Montgomery Bus Boycott
started

___________ MLK
received a Ph.D.
from Boston
University

_____________________
MLK gave his I Have a
Dream Speech

_____________________
Montgomery Bus Boycott
ended

_________________
the Civil Rights Act
was signed

___________ MLK
was awarded the
Nobel Peace Prize

_____________________
MLK was assassinated by
James Earl Ray

_________________
the Voting Rights Act
was signed

_________________
MLKs birthday was
made a national
holiday

Name one thing that you have learned about Martin Luther King Jr.s life that was not included on the timeline.
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