Our Big Words

In order to make sure that I teach about Martin Luther King, I must start early.  I have read Martin's Big Words, in the past, but I have never done an activity with it.  This year I decided that after reading Martin's Big Words students in grades 2-5 would work in groups of 2-3 to create a Wordle.

4th Grade's Word Cloud Layout

My goal was to have students think about the words and teachings of Martin Luther King and create a Wordle to share with others. We ran into a problem when we had to install a program in order to print their creations.  After experiencing this with the first class, I decided that we could use the Cricut to cut out the letters and words.  The 4th Grade students thought it was the most awesome machine ever.  Before they realized just what the machine did, they were concerned that their handwriting would affect the "Word Cloud".  Students either watched the video, Martin's Big Words, played Just or Unjust by Sally at Elementary Matters, or read other books about Martin Luther King while I helped one student at a time cut out their word.  It was interesting to see how each grade level Word Cloud compared to other grade levels.  Now that there are a few "Word Clouds" displayed in the school, next week's classes will have to come up with some new words. That should be FUN!

Our Big Words: A Tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Creating the Word Clouds with the Cricut took more time than we had for each class, so this week's 5th grade class helped me create a Wordle for the class.  Next week, I will plan to do the "Word Cloud" for two days with a 3rd grade class and 5th grade class.