Shefa’s lower school classes spent the month of January learning about the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 60s in social studies. One group of students learned about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s work and accomplishments. After learning about his life, they created captions for different historical photographs and sequenced them in chronological order on a timeline.

Another group studied Rosa Parks and Claudette Colvin, comparing and contrasting how these two women helped lead the movement against segregated buses. Then, students wrote a biography paragraph about Rosa Parks or Claudette Colvin’s life and created a small poster with pictures and key information about her life.

Lastly, another group of students learned about activist groups, such as the NAACP or SNCC, and how the Civil Rights Movement was actually led by groups of people working together, not just a few famous leaders. As a culmination, these students researched and wrote an enumerative paragraph about one activist group and then created a corresponding slideshow presentation. The whole lower school came together on January 31 for the students to present their projects to each other and appreciate the learning of others. These projects helped Shefa students honor and celebrate the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King and other Civil Rights leaders.