7 Ways to Celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day in the Classroom

Martin Luther King Jr. Day is Monday, Jan. 20, 2020. Just in time for the holiday, we’ve got ideas for honoring the civil rights activist in your classroom.

1. Celebrate the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. with this special collection of videos and web-exclusive features from trusted public media partners.
   
   
2. These fiction and nonfiction children’s books tell the stories of ordinary people who stand up for what they believe is right, including Dr. King. 
   
   
3. NPR curated a special series called “Remembering Martin Luther King Jr.” Anywhere from three minutes to more than 30, these podcasts deserve a listen. 
   
   
4. Dive deeper and listen/read some of Dr. King’s most famous speeches.
   
   
5. Invite students to listen to Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech and illustrate a phrase or line from it. As a bonus, ask students to explore what they dream someday will happen. Have students prepare their own “I Have a Dream” speeches to share. 
   
   
6. Review the Six Principles of Nonviolence with students, and assign small groups of students to write and perform skits that demonstrate these. Ask students to brainstorm additional principles of nonviolence and use them as classroom norms.
   
   
7. Choose a phrase (e.g., PEACE) for students to write an acrostic poem. Create a classroom-wide acrostic poem that includes all of your students’ words.