The Crayon Box That Talked

To teach about diversity and honor Martin Luther King Jr., I read the poem, The Crayon Box That Talked. Before reading, I had the students draw a scene with a brown crayon.  Then I told them to draw the same picture using a variety of colors.  During circle time, I told the students to hold up their favorite picture.  All students held up the colorful picture, except two.  When I asked why they choose their pictures, the students with the colorful pictures said, "There are more colors.", etc.  The two students who choose the brown picture, didn't know why they choose that picture (just like the poem).  I'm sorry that I didn't think to take pictures of the illustrations. 

As I read the poem, I stopped and asked questions.  I also told the students to imagine they are crayons.  In the poem, some crayons did not like some of the other crayons, but they didn't know why.  After seeing the colors being used to make a beautiful picture, they decided they did like each other.  We talked about how we're all different, but together, we can make the world a better place.  We watched Martin's Big Words.  Then the students wrote the definition for diversity for our Word Wall. 

Today was the first day the students have been at school this week, due to snow and ice.  We had a 2 hour delay, so I wasn't able to do everything I planned.  We will watch Our Friend Martin next week, revisit diversity, and write about our Dream to make the world a better place.  We are saving the Martin Luther King biography for Black History Month.  These snow days have put us behind schedule.

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