Martin Luther King Jr. Banners

Teaching my first graders about the impact Martin Luther King Jr. had is super important to me as a teacher.  We read books about his life, talk about why he is an inspiration, and watch his “I Have a Dream” speech. I also wanted a fun writing activity that was appropriate for the younger elementary grades. My kiddos just LOVE choices so I decided to whip up some different MLK writing banners.

And speaking of fun writing, check out our Writing Center Starter Kit in our shop to encourage young authors in your classroom!

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Getting Ready

To get started, I printed off the four banner options (below):

• I Have a Dream…
• Martin Lunker King Jr. Was…
• I Can be Kind By…
• MLK Changed America By…

I went ahead and printed them in color and on cardstock so they would hang nicely!

MLK Writing Banners

Then, I brought my kiddos to our classroom carpet and together we made a list of everything we knew about Martin Luther King Jr. on our anchor chart paper.  I wanted to have something that they could refer back to when writing on their banners.

After wrapping up our discussion about Martin Luther King Jr., I let my students pick one of the four banners and get started on writing!  I gave them plenty of time to fill them up, and then I paired students up to share their work.

We all gathered back at the carpet and I asked if anyone wanted to give a compliment to someone for doing a great job during writing time.  Hands shot up into the air and we spent some time listening to students point out what others had done well.

To finish up, I hole punched the corners of each banner, threaded a ribbon through the holes, and hung our work up in the hall.

I loved the added twist of making a banner and we got SO MANY compliments!  I know my students were proud of their work, and I enjoyed seeing how each student wrote something unique.

Grab Your Copy

Want to download these FREE banners??? Simply click on the blue download button below and then hop over and snag our Writing Center Starter Kit in our shop!