Civic Holidays - MLK Day, Presidents' Day, and Memorial Day

Greeting + Calendar Circle + share Ruby Bridges courage stories from homework. Teacher: 'Yesterday we honored Ruby. Today we look at HOLIDAYS that honor citizens of the past.'

• Display Civic Holidays Calendar Strip
• Place current month in highlight
• Affirm 'holidays carry memory'

A CIVIC HOLIDAY is a day a community sets aside to HONOR or REMEMBER someone or something important. Today let's meet 3 American civic holidays - and a 4th (Lunar New Year) that many of our own families celebrate. (1) MLK DAY (3rd Mon in Jan): honors Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who led the civil rights movement using NONVIOLENCE and powerful WORDS. (2) PRESIDENTS' DAY (3rd Mon in Feb): honors all US presidents, especially George Washington (1st) and Abraham Lincoln (16th). (3) MEMORIAL DAY (last Mon in May): honors people who DIED while serving in the US military. (4) LUNAR NEW YEAR: celebrated by many of our families - Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, and many others - to welcome the new year and honor family.

• These are citizenship words. We say them on MLK Day.

  model Teacher reads 5 big words slowly: PEACE / FREEDOM / LOVE / DREAM / TOGETHER. Each comes with a Collier illustration spread.

  prompt Read excerpts from 'Martin's Big Words' (Rappaport/Collier 2001) - MLK's words about peace, love, dream, together.
• Presidents are CITIZENS who served. They are also imperfect - just like all citizens.

  model Teacher: 'A president is the leader of the country. We honor presidents on Presidents' Day. The country has had 47 presidents to date; we look at four today.'

  prompt Examine President portrait cards (4 diverse cards: Washington, Lincoln, Obama, and Kennedy or other) with provenance.
• Memorial Day asks us to REMEMBER - not just celebrate.

  model Teacher: 'Memorial Day honors people who died serving our country. The red poppy is the symbol - taken from a 1915 poem by John McCrae.'

  prompt Examine Memorial Day photographs (poppy fields, Arlington National Cemetery, community parade) with source lines.

• Name ONE civic holiday and who or what it honors.
• Why do we have civic holidays?

M-1-S-CIV-08-A Chart

MG-11 36x12 inch year-long horizontal strip mounted under daily Calendar Circle. 8 civic holidays with date + symbol + one-sentence explanation: Constitution Day (Sep 17), Indigenous Peoples' Day / Columbus Day (Oct 2nd Mon), Veterans Day (Nov 11), Thanksgiving (4th Thu Nov), MLK Day (3rd Mon Jan), Lunar New Year (late Jan/early Feb), Presidents' Day (3rd Mon Feb), Memorial Day (last Mon May). Velcro additions for child input.

M-1-S-CIV-08-C Photograph

8x10 public-domain photograph of red poppies in a field (Library of Congress, c.1920). Paired with John McCrae's 1915 'In Flanders Fields' poem excerpt printed below. Source line + date.

M-1-S-CIV-08-D Manipulative Physical / non-image

Lunar New Year red envelope (hongbao) with traditional gold characters + small dragon banner artifact + provenance card noting Chinese, Vietnamese (Tet), and Korean (Seollal) variants. Source line: 'Cultural artifact from [name] family's home tradition, with permission.'

• In small groups, match each holiday to its date AND its person or event.

  scaffold Pre-matched 2 of 4 pairs
• Add each civic holiday to MG-11 Civic Holidays Calendar Strip with date + symbol + one-sentence explanation.

  scaffold Velcro tile placement

• Name 2 civic holidays and who/what each honors.

• Display MG-11 with all 4 civic holidays added
• Preview: tomorrow we'll WRITE our own Classroom Constitution

• Tonight, ask a family member: 'What civic holiday do you most remember from when you were 6 or 7?' Bring one sentence.