Intermediate Guided Reading Lesson Plan
Title: Martin Luther King Jr. and the Genre:
March Toward Freedom
Biography
Author: Hakim, Rita
Publisher: Millbrook Press
ISBN: 1-87884-133-5
Literacy Core Objective: 5th Grade
S7/O3 Recognize and use features of narrative and
informational text
Text Structure:
Narrative
Informational
Level:
R
Enduring Understanding: Purpose for reading
Many brave men and women fought for equal
rights. They dedicated their lives to ending
slavery, segregation, and unfair treatment. Martin
th
Social Studies Core Objective:.5 Grade
Luther King Jr. was known as a leader during this
S5/O2 Assess the impact of social and political
Civil Rights movement. Students will learn more
movements in recent United States history.
about Martin Luther King Jr. and his role as a
leader in the Civil Rights Movement.
ELL Strategies:
“I Can Statements” - Essential Questions:
Create a brainstorm chart of things that the students
 How did Martin Luther King Jr. show caring,
know about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Share with
fairness and respect to others? Why did Martin
them events from his life that they may not come up
Luther King Jr. dream about change?
with.
 How did Martin Luther King Jr. help change
our world?
 What are some ways we can each become more
caring, fair, and respectful?
Before Reading
Vocabulary: Use the graphic organizer for the vocabulary. Word, Kid friendly definition, and sketch.
You may want to do the vocabulary in sections each day.
movement (p. 5)
vision (p. 5)
civil rights (p. 5)
colored (p.7)
dignity (p. 7)
Jim Crow laws (p. 8)
justice (p. 9)
segregated (p. 11)
boycott (p. 12)
equality (p. 21)
racism (p. 23)
assassin (p. 24)
activist (p. 25)
Activate/Build Prior Knowledge:
Choose a characteristic that will exclude some students. State the characteristic and give a treat to those
who share that characteristic. For example, "All of the students wearing green get a treat today." Listen to
their reactions and encourage upset students to share their feelings through words (eg.- "You seem pretty
angry about this." "You think it isn’t fair." "You think treats shouldn’t be given for the clothes someone is
wearing." After the students seem to understand the point, tell them you agree (they have convinced you
with their words) that it isn’t fair to treat people differently because of how they look. Pass out the treat to
the remaining students. Tell the students that they should be proud of themselves for solving the treat
problem with words. No one took someone else’s candy. They are following the example of a great man
who lived (40) years ago, Martin Luther King, Jr. Tell them that they are going to read a biography about
this man and you want them to listen for how he felt about unfair treatment of people and how he tried to
solve the problem.
Comprehension Strategy:
Connections – Text to Self
During Reading
Attend to Comprehension Within, Beyond, & About the text:
Using appropriate Guided reading strategies, students will be reading at their own pace and teachers will
be listening to students read, monitoring, giving feedback, taking anecdotal notes and running records.
Suggested Pacing:
Day 1 – p. 5-10
Childhood through college
Day 2 - p. 11- 21 The path that led to the end of segregation
Day 3 – p. 21-28 Fighting for freedom until his death
After Reading
Attend to Comprehension Within, Beyond, & About the text:
At the end of each day’s reading students will discuss the events that took place in the life of Martin
Luther King Jr. and create a timeline of his life.
Content Core Integration:(Science, Soc. St., Math, etc.)
Assessment:
Students will decide what their dream for the future is
and prepare their own Dream Speech to recite to the
group/class.
Students will then draw a poster with the heading I
Have a Dream and will draw a picture to illustrate the
ideas in their speech.
Activities:
 Make a magazine/newspaper collage of things
that might represent what Martin Luther King
Jr. stood for or articles about him.
 Design a stamp in his honor
 Practice using the comprehension strategy of
synthesizing to create a Biopic Poster of Martin
Luther King Jr. at the Into the Book Website at
the following website
http://reading.ecb.org/student/index.html create
a login and then drag the synthesizing icon into
the book.
*Not all activities will be done in each lesson. Some lessons may take multiple days to complete.
However, all students should be reading each time you meet.
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