The Legacies of Mandela and MLK

Sixth graders recently read two picture book biographies titled Nelson Mandela by Kadir Nelson and Martin's Big Words by Doreen Rappaport.  We talked about apartheid and segregation and discussed the meaning of the word "legacy." We discussed how these two important historical figures achieved change and left a legacy of nonviolent protest and reconciliation.  Students were then challenged to think and write about their own legacies and how they would like to be remembered at the Howe-Manning School once they move on to 7th grade.

Database of the Month: Kids InfoBits

Kids InfoBits is a database designed for elementary school-age students.  It includes a broad range of authoritative, searchable content from books, magazines, news sources and images.  Broad subject categories include animals, arts, geography, health, literature, music, people, plants, science, social studies, sports, and technology.  Categories and subcategories are labeled with representative images so that students may visually understand hierarchical relationships and connections.  This is a great tool to support 21st century learning and may be accessed from my specialist website or from the library catalog.

Kids Infobits is offered free to member libraries of the Massachusetts Library System through stated and federal funding and does NOT require a username and password to access! Simply click on the link and you are ready to research!