"Love is the key"

Today schools, banks, government offices and many more are given the day off in honor of an extraordinary man and his dream.  Martin Luther King Jr. was a man who gave our nation so much hope and love, that he deserves more than one day to be honored.

Reading aloud a book to your child about MLK might seem like an insignificant way to honor such a significant person in our nation's history, but without reading aloud and discussing who MLK was your child may never understand the importance of his movement.

My favorite book to read aloud to children about MLK is Martin's Big Words by Doreen Rappaport and illustrated by Bryan Collier.  This book so elegantly and simply tells the story of Dr. King's life from childhood until he was taken from this world much too early.  Intertwined in the text are actual quotes and words of MLK.  His own words flow so smoothly with Rappaport's words and adds so much richness to the story. I like that this story tells of Martin as a child because I think that helps children to relate to him even more.  To make the story even more more appealing the illustrations by Collier are amazing.  At the beginning of the book Collier discusses his inspiration for the collages used through out the book, which makes the art speak to you almost as much as the words.

Today would also be a good day to share with kids MLK's most famous speech, "I Have A Dream." Of course you can find a lot of variations on YouTube but there is one very simple video found at Readeez.  This video has one simple picture and you can hear about 1 minutes and 42 seconds of his speech.  The words simple and slowly flow across the screen so older children can follow along with what MLK was saying.  Check it out sometime.

So, today many have been given the entire day off- let's do something that would make Dr. King proud.  Help a neighbor, send a care package to the soldiers, make a meal for someone in need, READ a book to someone.  Dr. King said, "Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others?'"  What will you do for others today?

Happy Reading!
Laura

Make A Difference Day

Today is Make A Difference Day- a day dedicated to doing something small, or big to make a difference in someone's day or life.  I wanted to share with you a book about a class who decides to do something BIG to make a difference in the life of someone half way around the world.

Give a Goat by Jan West Schrock is the true story of a fifth grade class inspired by a read aloud to do something to make a difference.  Mrs. Rowell, a fifth grade teacher, decides to read aloud the book Beatrice's Goat, to her class.  The book was about a girl named Beatrice who lived in Uganda and was too poor to go to school.  One day visitors came to the village where Beatrice lived and gave her family a goat.  The goat made milk and Beatrice would sell the extra milk that the goat made until one day the family had enough money to send Beatrice to school.  

Beatrice's story inspired Mrs. Rowell's class to want to give a goat!   The story then goes on to tell about how Mrs. Rowell's class worked together to research and come up with a plan to raise money to give a goat through Heifer International.  The plan the class came up with was to sell healthy snacks to the teachers and students.  The book goes into detail about all the work the class had to do to make this happen (if you are a teacher it even talks a little about the cross-curricular connections!).  By the end of the month they had made a profit of $180.  That was "enough to buy a goat, a flock of chickens and some ducks." What a difference this class made and it was all inspired by a read aloud from their teacher!

Here are a couple of more quote I like from the book:

"Imagine, a whole bunch of children could go to school because of our math project!"

"But I felt good knowing sometimes a little gift can make a big difference.  After all, our class had made a difference for three families just by selling snacks.  I really like the idea that if we helped one family, they would be able to help another family, then another family, and then another family, in a long chain of passing on the gift."

So what will you do to make a difference today?  If nothing else snuggle up and read a book with a child!

Happy Reading!

Laura