Happy Birthday, Martin Luther King, Jr.!

One responsibility I feel I have as a teacher is to take advantage of every teachable moment. There are a few of importance currently: MLK Day and Inauguration Day.

Because we were off school on Friday and will be off on Monday and Tuesday is Inauguration Day, we "celebrated" MLK Day on Thursday. We watched MLK's "I Have a Dream" speech on You Tube and wrote our own dream speeches. The kids got very into it. There was even some crying when kids were making jokes about their dreams and others were taking it very seriously.
(I meant to take a picture and write down some of their speeches, but just plain forgot.)

Because my portable mate and I teach social studies together, we were trying to decide how to display our students' speeches. Being in a portable doesn't give us much space to put anything, never mind student work. We scoped out empty walls within the school looking for a place that no other teacher was using. We found it! Plenty of wall space where we could focus on our students' work. And then the idea came to us.

"The Dream Quilt"
We put each child's speech on colored construction paper and attached them together to form a quilt. It looked amazing. Teachers were stopping to read a speech every time they passed by. My teaching mate and I were so proud of our kids! (and ourselves for thinking of this fabulous idea)
Update: My kids saw the quilt for the first time in the hallway today and they loved it! They took time to find their square and also read the dreams of their classmates. Here are a few of the dreams I would like to share:
* I have a dream that one day the kids of America will have a say in national decisions.
* I have a dream that one day we will give the homeless a home.
* I have a dream that one day no one will make fun of what we do or wear.
* I have a dream that one day we will throw the people who make bad choices out of this country.
* I have a dream that one day soccer will be played all day and I get to play too.
* I have a dream that one day no one will be racist.
* I have a dream that one day people will be who they want to be.
* I have a dream that one day everybody can go to college.
* I have a dream that one day police officers can stay in banks to protect the money.
* I have a dream that one day all bandits will be sent to jail.
* I have a dream that one day people will notice the good life, the good life of peace and harmony.
* I have a dream that one day animals will be allowed at school.
* I have a dream that one day people won't starve from hunger.
* I have a dream that one day all families will be required to have chapter books.
* I have a dream that one day the economy will be alright.
* I have a dream that one day trails won't derail.
* I have a dream that one day there won't be anymore beer joints.
* I have a dream that one day people will make good choices and don't go to jail.

Remember that these are the dreams of 4th graders!