Each year, to celebrate and commemorate Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s legacy, schools around the district plan educational events for the students to learn about the Civil Rights Movement, the importance of diversity and identity, and the ultimate power of love in the face of intolerance.
At Reed Elementary, students and staff spent family time doing a community project, where they created bags to be used to welcome immigrants and refugees to the United States, and specifically, St. Louis. Students learned that an immigrant is someone who makes the decision to leave his or her home to move to a foreign country with the intention to settle there, and that a refugee is someone who has been forced to leave his or her home. Staff explained how everyone in the United States (with the exception of Native Americans) are either an immigrant or refugee themselves or had family members and ancestors who were immigrants or refugees. The bags will contain shampoo, lotion, soaps and a water bottle. While one group of students worked on creating the bags, another group listed to videos about Martin Luther King, Jr. and his impact on the nation.
Spoede Elementary did the same community project, creating welcome bags for immigrants. Check out the photos of this activity below!
The Fifth Grade Center also celebrated the holiday—the FGC Diversity Committee planned an assembly that featured a student-written and performed skit by the FGC Diversity Leaders, an FGC strings group and the FGC choir. the assembly centered on the Harlem Renaissance and featured a performance by renowned storyteller Bobby Norfolk, who presented the life of Scott Joplin.