However you choose to celebrate Dr. King's birthday this year, be sure to have your celebration include sharing some of his wisdom with your sons and daughters. Here are some of his well known messages and some not so well known, all of which remain so powerful and relevant today. Enjoy! Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. [...]
If you are looking for interesting ways to enable your children to focus on the life and work of Dr. King on his holiday, take a look at the King lessons and activities on educationworld.com, found here. Scholastic.org asked teachers around the nation how they honor the work and legacy of Dr. King, and you can find their great [...]
Merry Christmas! This being the last Thursday before Christmas, this Thoughtful Thursday brings Christmas poetry to get us all into the spirit of the holidays. "Christmas Eve: Nearing Midnight in New York" by Langston Hughes (1902-1967) describes how "the city that never sleeps" settles down to await Christmas morning. Paul Lawrence Dunbar (1872-1906) gives us a beautiful "Christmas Carol". [...]
Hope that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Today's Thoughtful Thursday (yes, it's the Friday edition) celebrates Thanksgiving in all of its family and food-filled glory, with poems from two of our most celebrated African-American poets: Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872-1906) and Langston Hughes (1901-1967). We begin with Hughes' classic "Thanksgiving Time", a wonderfully vivid celebration of the day. We then [...]
Halloween is tomorrow, and scary movies are everywhere. From the "Halloween" reboot and "Venom" in the theaters to countless horror movies running on TV and available on demand, it will be pretty easy for your children to get their fill of frights over the next few days. But can they handle it? Common Sense Media offers a guide to [...]
Halloween is less than a week away, so today's Thoughtful Thursday features some Halloween poems for you to share with your sons and daughters. This assortment includes the celebrated African-American poet Paul Laurence Dunbar's scary tale of a hanging from the tree's perspective, the classic witches chant from Shakespeare's Macbeth, and a silly poem about a Halloween party by [...]
On the day after Independence Day, today's Thoughtful Thursday offerings give us food for thought about celebrating these United States at a time where we feel so far from united. The first is a series of excerpts from Frederick Douglass' "What to the Slave is The Fourth of July", a powerful speech he gave to a group of New [...]
This has been a rough week for social justice lovers. Today's Thoughtful Thursday offers a few thoughtful poems to help you get through, beginning with a classic poem from Langston Hughes in honor of Independence Day. Enjoy. Let America Be America Again Let America be America again. Let it be the dream it used to be. Let it be [...]
Monday is Dr. King's birthday, and in celebration this Thoughtful Thursday brings you lots of suggestions for books about Dr. King to read with your children. Enjoy. Children's Books About Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. < strong> My Brother Martin by Christine King Farris My First Biography of Martin Luther King, Jr. by Marion Dane Bauer March On! The [...]
Since we will be taking a break from posting on Thanksgiving day itself, today's Thoughtful Thursday offers up some Thanksgiving poetry for you and your family to enjoy. We begin with two poems from Paul Lawrence Dunbar (1872-1906), who was one of the first African American poets to gain national recognition. You will note the distinctively different voices in [...]