Social Studies Lesson
ED 629
Martin Luther King Jr.
By: Abby Nussbaum
Unit: Martin Luther King
Jr.
Grade level: 5th
Lesson: The biography
of Martin Luther King Jr.
used to reinforce
understanding of fact
and opinion
Objectives
After reading a brief
biography of Martin
Luther King Jr.,
students will be able
correctly answer 8 out
of the 10 questions on
a fact and opinion
worksheet.
Materials Needed
Brief biography of Martin Luther King Jr.
http://www.lucidcafe.com/library/96jan/king
.html
Martin Luther King fact and opinion
worksheet
http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/
TM/WS_MLK_248a.shtml
Overhead projector
Activity 1
Explain to students that fact is something real
or true, and can be proved. Explain to them
that an opinion is a belief or judgment that
cannot be proved, and may or may not be true.
Ask students to remember the story of The
Three Little Pigs.
Write their statements on the
overhead projector.
Demonstrate how to make a
T-chart with fact on one side
and opinion on the other,
then have the students, in
groups of 4, make their own
charts.
Then, go through each of the
statements that were made
by the class, and ask them to
determine which is fact and
which is opinion.
Place each in the appropriate
column on the chart
(encourage students to do
the same).
Tell the children that this
understanding of fact and
opinion will be applied to
the article of the life of
Martin Luther King Jr.
Hand out copies of the
brief biography of Martin
Luther King to each
group of students.
Read the piece aloud
with the students.
Hand each group the fact
and opinion worksheet
and have them fill it out in
their groups.
Unit: Martin Luther
King Jr.
Grade Level: 5th
Lesson: Use a
variety of sources to
discover different
places that were
important in the life
of Martin Luther
King Jr.
Objectives
After reading two different sources about
Martin Luther King Jr., students will be
able to identify 3 different places that
were important in the life of Martin Luther
King and why.
Materials Needed
Two different sources of information on
Martin Luther King
http://www.lucidcafe.com/library/96jan/king.h
tml
http://www.infoplease.com/spot/mlkbiospot.h
tml
A blank U.S. map
http://www.abcteach.com/Maps/usa.htm
Computer access
Activity 2
Hand out the two
biographies about Martin
Luther King to each
student.
Read through one of
them together as a class.
Have the students read
the other article in pairs.
As a class, go over the
important places that
affected Martin Luther
King’s life.
Have students research
Martin Luther King online
(in pairs) and see if they
can find other places
important in his life.
Have students place a
star sticker on each state
that was of importance
and label the city.
Have them fill out a
separate key to the map,
telling why each place
was important to him.
Have each pair of
students tell the class
why each place they
found was of
importance in Dr.
King’s life.
Assessment will be
given in the form of a
test in which the
students must match a
place name with the
importance it had in
Martin Luther King’s
life.
Unit: Martin
Luther King Jr.
Grade Level: 5th
Lesson: Students
will use the
famous “I Have
Dream” speech
to create their
own speech
about their
dreams in the
future.
Objectives
After reading and listening to Martin Luther
King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, students will
be able to list 3 of his wishes, and write their
own “I Have a Dream” speech (including at
least 3 of their own wishes).
Materials Needed
Recording of King’s “I Have a Dream” speech
http://www.history.com/media.do?action=clip&id=
mlk_i_have_a_dream
Copies of King’s “I Have a Dream” speech
http://www.usconstitution.net/dream.html
Copies of the “I Have a Dream Too!” worksheet
http://web.archive.org/web/20060406142608/http://
library.thinkquest.org/10320/Starter.htm
Activity 3
Explain to students that
they are about to learn
Martin Luther King’s
dream for his future
and tell them to begin
thinking about their
own dreams for the
future.
Pass out copies of the
printed “I Have a
Dream” speech to each
student and have them
follow along as you
play the audio version.
Discuss with the class
what kind of dreams
MLK had for the
future, and why many
people consider this a
great speech.
Tell the students to
think about their own
dreams, pass out the
“I Have a Dream Too”
worksheets and have
the students complete
them.
Unit: Martin Luther
King Jr.
Grade Level: 5th
Lesson: Students will
put events in the life
of MLK in
chronological order
Objectives
Students will be able to identify and put in
a timeline, at least 5 important events in
the life of Martin Luther King Jr.
Materials Needed
Access to a computer with internet
Clothespins and Clothesline (or rope)
Index cards
Textbooks
Activity 4
Have students
research individually,
dates that were
important in the life of
MLK, and record each
of these dates and
why they were
important on separate
index cards (include
their name as well).
Have students get in
groups of 3 and
discuss the events
they each found.
In their groups,
have students
organize the events
in chronological
order
Get the class back
together as a whole
and tell them King’s
birthday was on
January 15th 1929.
Ask each group if
they had an event
that happened in
that year and collect
the cards
accordingly.
Once you have
collected all of the
index cards, hand
one out to each
student and have
them draw a picture
to show that point in
MLK’s life.
Attach the index card
to each drawing and
hang them on the
clothesline in
chronological order to
display their work!
Unit: Martin
Luther King Jr.
Grade Level: 5th
Lesson:
Students will be
able to correctly
use a checklist
to evaluate web
resources for
bias.
Objectives
After reading two
different sources,
students will be
able to identify 3
bias’ in the life of
MLK.
After reading two
different sources,
students will be
able to correctly use
a checklist to
evaluate the Web
content for bias
Materials Needed
Computers with internet access
Copies of checklist for evaluating web
resources
http://library.usm.maine.edu/research/resear
chguides/webevaluating.html
Activity 5
In pairs, have students find
two sources online and
evaluate the web content
for bias.
Have students use the
checklist to help them in
evaluating the web
content.
In order to assess, you
may want to have students
fill out an their own
individual bias evaluation
sheets as well.
Resources
http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/0
2/lp248-01.shtml
http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/0
2/lp248-02.shtml
http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/0
2/lp248-04.shtml
http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/0
2/lp248-03.shtml
http://www.education-
world.com/a_lesson/02/lp248-05.shtml