A Hand is a Hand, A Person is a Person

Happy belated birthday Dr. Martin Luther King Jr!  In honor of the great reverend's birthday, the boys and I had a bit of fun this morning.  Obviously, at the ages of 3 1/2 and 2 1/2, this was designed as a very basic, hands on lesson, to introduce them to diversity. I hate to admit it, but there is minimal diversity in the small town we live in. I love our town, but it is true.  So, to start our morning, I had the boys read We March with me again.  Each time we read it, they notice more and more about the march on Washington.  For instance, today Pierce recognized that there were no guns, and they only used words.

After we read the book, I had the boys watch the last 5 minutes or so of the infamous speech that was given by the moral leader.  Both of the boys were amazed at the size of the crowds, what was being said, and the fact that he did not yell.  Simply stated by Carter, he had a deep voice.  This was our first time using the laptop to see a video clip during our "school" time, and I can safely say we will be using it more often.  The boys really took to seeing in action, what we just read about.

Then it was their turn to say what they dreamed of.  All I wrote on the chalk board was "I Have a Dream..." and it was their job to tell me what they dream, or hope for, in the future.  I was expecting some silly answers, but they surprised me.  Pierce said he dreamed of a place with less cars, and more trains, to be an astronaut, everybody being friends, and less houses and more land.  Carter explained he would like to be a farmer when he grows up.  Both of them had great ideas!

That was enough sitting around for us, so we moved on to our art project of the day.  I had the boys put both of their hands on top of mine, and we counted how many fingers we all had, if we had the same kind of fingers, (thumb, pointer, etc.,) and if we all had bones on the inside.  Then Pierce noticed something, that I honestly had not noticed before:  both of the boys have darker skin than me.  Yes, I knew I was Irish, but I did not realize just how Italian they were.  Pierce got all excited and asked if he was African American as well, and I kindly explained that he is Italian, which is why he does not sun burn in the summer, and I do.  

Then it was off to the kitchen table we went.  I had placed large pieces of paper on the table, as well as paper plates full of different colored paints.  My instructions were simply to paint their hands as many colors as they wanted, and then make hand prints on their paper.  

 Once they really started to get into it, I asked if a blue hand print was the same as a pink hand print.  Carter said no, they are different colors.  Yes, it is true, but I had them look to compare the same things we had compared with each other.  Then Pierce got it; no matter what color it is, a hand print is still a hand print.  It is still 5 fingers, still bones, still skin; color does not change those basic facts.

To finish the artwork, I cut out a heart and wrote on it, with today's date.  They were both so proud of their lesson today, they could not wait to tell our local librarian about it when we arrived at the library.  I am so impressed that they understood as much of this lesson that they did.  Like I said, this was supposed to be introductory, but man they took off with this lesson.  Thank you boys, for yet another wonderful school day.

A hand is a hand, just like a person is a person, no matter what color they shall be.