Mission Dolores Academy | The education of tomorrow rooted in tradition.
MDA Celebrates Black History Month
February 12, 2019
Things have been busy, per usual, here on campus recently, with students fully immersed in projects and activities to celebrate Black History Month. Here's an insight into what our students will be doing at school this month to celebrate Black History Month:
Kindergarten
- Students are learning the song: A Man Named King and sing both at school and in Mass.
- In small reading groups, students will read a nonfiction emergent text to find important details about an influential African American figure.
- In small reading groups, students will make a poster about their figure and present it to the class.
- In small reading groups, students will learn a song that applies to their figure to share with the class.
- Students will draw portraits of Dr. King to be displayed at the entry of the school building.
First Grade
- First Grade is learning about biographies. Students will read a variety of biographies about influential African Americans in the United States and discuss both in small groups and as a class.
- Students are learning about the Civil Rights movement and vocabulary words associated with this such as segregation, equality, democracy, etc.
- Students are focusing on courage and what it means to be both brave and to stand up for what is right.
Second Grade
- Second Grade is focusing on the government and laws, learning about the three branches of government.
- The class will create their own law and discuss the different laws for African Americans and whites in our past.
- They will read about important historical figures and create their own acrostic poem after learning about people such as Maya Angelou.
Third Grade
- Third Grade is doing a mini-research project on significant African American figures.
- Students will be making brochures of their figure.
Fourth Grade
- 20-minutes daily spent teaching about both significant African American figures in history and other topics including Segregation and the Civil Rights Movement
- On Friday afternoons, students are doing activities like the Underground Railroad Freedom Quilt and writing letters of appreciation to Rosa Parks.
Fifth Grade
- Biographical writing on prominent figures in African American history
- Focus on African American scientists
- Symbolic meanings of poems from African American authors
- Civil Rights movements today vs. in the past
Sixth Grade
- Social Studies: Studying three plays from three groups about three defining topics from black history: (Trans Atlantic slave trade; Civil War; Civil Rights Movement)
- Literature: Biographical writing on prominent figures in African American history
- Literature cont.: Students will appeal to the the US Government to have their biographical figure displayed on a historical landmark.
Seventh Grade
- Social Studies: long form timeline of African American/black history
- Literature: Biographical writing on prominent figures in African American history
- Literature cont.: Students will appeal to the the US Government to have their biographical figure displayed on a historical landmark.
Eighth Grade
- Social Studies: Scavenger Hunt studying COINTELPRO using primary sources from the FBI
- Literature: Biographical writing on prominent figures in African American history
- Literature cont.: Students will appeal to the the US Government to have their biographical figure displayed on a historical landmark.