Martin Luther King Jr Day and Other Interesting Activities

This week honors the memory of Martin Luther King Jr.  As such, we have read a biography of the Civil Rights leader.  Genevieve also chose a book about women in the Civil Rights Movement, which we just began to read.

We started our week with a visit to the pet store and art store.  The pet store has long been a favorite stop for Genevieve as she can see all the animals there.  We use it as an opportunity to practice our animal signs and talk about animal's needs and habitats.  It's also interesting to note the differences between various animals.

We had an amazing opportunity after storytime this week.  Some local firefighters were training, so we got to hear about some of the things they do and watch them attach a hose and use the water cannon.  It was a wonderful chance to talk about community helpers and see a fire engine in action.

We read The Jellybeans and the Big Art Adventure, Bridget's Beret, and The Magical Garden of Claude Monet.  These were some fun books about different artists.  The Jellybeans learn that there are many different kinds of artists and that you can use your own interests to make art.  Bridget learns that she doesn't need her beret to make great art.  The end of the book includes some great example paintings by famous artists that inspired Bridget.  The Magical Garden of Claude Monet follows the imagined story of the visit between Claude Monet and Julie Manet.  The gardens are real, and the illustrations are meant to reflect Monet's style.  We spent the afternoon painting, inspired by these great stories.  We may have to try to find some of the other books by Laurence Anholt when studying other artists.

She played Hi Ho Cherry-o and the Hungry Caterpillar Game with Grandma.  She had great fun baking with Grandma and dad too.  Since she made strawberry muffins with Mom, she has been asking to make blueberry muffins, blueberry pancakes, and blueberry oatmeal cookies with dad.  So they had a fun baking day.

Finally, we played Red Light, Green Light and talked about the inventor of the traffic light and a gas mask used by firefighters, Garrett Morgan.  Garrett Augustus Morgan was born in 1877 in Paris, Kentucky to two former slaves.  He was the 7th of 11 children.  He left school early to find work, but when he found a job in Cincinnati he made enough money to hire a tutor.  He moved to Cleveland at 18 to continue work.  In Cleveland, he started in the sewing machine repair shop.  He was so inventive that he made all 32 machines his employees used.

With all his success, he bought a house, got married, had 3 boys, and even bought a car.  He took time to run a newspaper called the Cleveland Call that reported African American news from around the country.  He also invented some smaller items – hat and belt fasteners, a friction drive clutch, a zig-zag attachment for manually operated sewing machines and more.  He died in 1963, and was honored 1 month after his death at the Emancipation Centennial celebration.
   
Some of his inventions were inspired by his desire to save lives.  One invention was motivated by the tragedy of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire.  He created a gas mask hood.  It was put to the test in 1916 when a group of men tunneling under Lake Erie were caught in a gas explosion.  Garrett put on the mask and saved several men.  Orders for the mask poured in from police and fire fighters, and the mask inspired the gas masks used in World War I to protect our soldiers.  He was awarded Medals for Bravery and made an honorary member of the International Association of Fire Engineers.

After witnessing an accident between a horse-drawn carriage and an automobile, he realized we needed a new kind of traffic signal to deal with all the traffic from cars, carriages, bicycles, and pedestrians.  The current stop light was operated by a person who sat for hours, switching between stop and go.  His invention had a “move with caution” signal to give warning to traffic and also had a 4-way stop position to allow pedestrians to cross safely.

http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/gama/gamlife

http://www.socialstudiesforkids.com/articles/ushistory/garrettmorgan