Martin Luther King Milestones

Create a time line with colorized copies of photos of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

• 1.

  Work with a small group of classmates to research the life of Martin Luther King Jr. Each child researches a different aspect of King's life: family events, education, career, political involvement, speeches, historic moments. As a group, combine your information about key events to understand how his work propelled the Civil Rights Movement.

• 2.

  Create a pictorial time line on a long sheet of roll paper. Show each aspect of King's life with a different color of Crayola® Marker. Include a key to the colors.

• 3.

  Use Crayola Colored Pencils to fill open areas with key phrases from King's public addresses. To make his inspirational words resonate, fill in lettering with closely-spaced parallel lines in bright two-color combinations.

• 4.

  Find photographs to add to your time line. Colorize them with Crayola Crayons. Mount photographs on construction paper with a Crayola Glue Stick. Trim with Crayola Scissors.

• 5.

  Tape yarn to each photo. Glue photos to the roll paper. Run yarn from photos to the appropriate places on the time line.

Benefits

• Students research information about Martin Luther King Jr.'s key role in the American Civil Rights Movement.
• Children identify at least 10 major events in King's life and his influence on the Civil Rights Movement.
• Students create a pictorial time line of these historical events with dates, photographs, and excerpts from speeches.

Adaptations

• Students find an event in King's life that took place on their birth date during his lifetime. Create posters indicating where he was on that date, what he did, and how it affected his life and/or the lives of others. Design appropriate visuals and add co
• Create math questions using data from the time lines. Find numerical facts from King's life to incorporate into questions, such as how many people attended speeches and miles traveled from city to city.