Teach about African American History Month and the famous people who made history long ago or in modern day!
Below is a list of different activities that can be used in grades 3-6 to teach about Black History Month / African American History month.
What is African American History Month?
During February each year, the United States and Canada celebrate African American History Month / Black History Month. The UK, Ireland, and the Netherlands celebrate it every October.
The purpose of this celebration is to observe famous African Americans who have made history.
In February of 1969, black educators at Kent State University proposed a month to celebrate the achievements of black Americans. African American History month was made official about six years later.
It is important to celebrate this month with your students in a variety of ways. Luckily, most curriculum allows for historical texts and events to be built-in, so it should be simple to find at least one activity to share with your students!
For a full list of resources, click here!
Black History Month Biographies
Teaching informative writing can be very difficult. Why not use a step-by-step research and writing guide where students get their own historic African American person to write about? Students absolutely love this project. There are currently posters and a research/writing guide included, but there will be 36 reading passages added before February of 2020.
Click HERE to check it out!
Barack Obama: Text Features
This non-biased activity centers around Barack Obama, his life, and his presidency. Students read a passage and analyze the text features to go along with it. There are questions and a writing prompt included, which are formatted like the AIR Test to help get students familiar with how it looks.
Click HERE to check it out!
African American History Month Cause and Effect Passages
Teach or review cause-and-effect with students by reading about the accomplishments that African Americans have made in history. Students will learn the effects that certain actions caused, and how that’s changed history. This product is also in AIR test format.
Click HERE to check it out!
Dr. Martin Luther King Junior: “I Have a Dream” Speeches
Lead students to think critically about how the lessons that Dr. MLK Jr. taught can be applied to modern day. After reading about Dr. MLK Jr., students will write their own “I Have a Dream” speech. This is one of my FAVORITE activities to do and students love it. I truly love to see how passionate they become and what they come up with!
Click HERE To check it out!
What are your favorite activities to do for Black History Month? Let me know in the comments!