Yesterday I did a lesson on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. with my four year old Preschool class. (I didn't even attempt it with my threes since they can't grasp the whole concept of time lines and would get all confused with Bible story characters and Dr. Martin Luther King)
Anyway my first job is to get them to understand that this is not Martin Luther who nailed the 95 theses to the door and started our Lutheran churches, but rather a black man who lived hundreds of years later who was in no way related to Martin Luther. Second concept is that black people actually have various shades of brown skin and are not really black. I used the word brown when talking about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as opposed to black. Actually when I showed them the first picture I had, they answered my skin color question with orange! The picture gave him an orangish tinge. Okay, on to the actual story.
I have a very nice biography that tells his story in simple terms for little ones. They gasped in unbelief when we read about white only playgrounds, bathrooms, and bubblers. We had a lively discussion about how that would make them feel, etc. and then of course, how instrumental Dr. King was in changing things. They again felt so badly when they heard how he was shot. One little girl said, "I want to cry when I hear all of this." They also talked about how they want to give him a big hug when they meet him in heaven. Wow, I think, I am really getting through to these little guys. So I press on and tell them how far we have come to be having a brown president. Oh boy did I ever get discussion here! My students come primarily from conservative families and they were not afraid to let me know that this new brown president killed babies. One little girl further tried to explain that he doesn't really kill the babies but allows the mothers to decide if they want to kill their babies. Oh brother, this is pretty intense for four year olds. I merely wanted them to understand how far our country has come to have elected a brown president who as a child probably couldn't even play on some playgrounds here in our country, but they couldn't get past the issues. They weren't being racial at all, they wouldn't have wanted any president (white, black, or orange) who killed babies at this point! They continued to say that they wanted the white haired grandpa to be president. I told them that God had control of the situation and we had to show this new president respect. They settled down some and I tried to get them back on track. I think we ended our lesson on a good note. I think they walked away knowing what a great man Dr. King was and how much he changed our views of brown people. They asked to sing Happy Birthday to him so we did.
On a side note, they sure do love to say the name Barack Obama, it just rolls off their little tongues. At least they can say lots of prayers for him by using his name, he will need all of our prayers!
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