Mansfield ISD announces the Black History Month observances that several campuses have chosen to provide to their school communities.
Elementary Schools
Janet Brockett - Campus is integrating Black History Month in their reading, social studies, and research projects across the grade levels.
Willie Brown – De Cee Cornish, an African American Story Teller coming on Feb. 6, 9:00-1:00 in the library. Black History Month Trivia each morning on the announcements with opportunities for students to research the answers to the questions, turn in their answers and will hold a drawing each day for 1 prize winner. Mrs. Varner's husband, Mike Varner, will bring his African Drum Ensemble from UTA to perform on Friday, February 22, 2008, in the Cafeteria. The performance at 8:30 a.m. – 9:00 a.m., will be for Kindergarten, 1st Grade and ½ of the 2nd Grade Classes. The second program will be at 9:15 a.m. – 9:45 a.m., for the second half of 2nd Grade, 3rd and 4th Grade Classes. Mr. Varner is a professor in the music dept. at UTA.
Erma Nash – Campus observances include:
Kindergarten - Read and discuss Sweet Clara and the Freedon Quilt. Students and teacher will brainstorm ideas to describe "freedom" and why it is important. Students will create an illustration to show "freedom" and all illustrations will be glued together to create a class "freedom quilt".
1st- Will read and discuss many biographies of famous African Americans who have made great contributions to society and how they changed our lives for the better.
2nd-Will pull up Culture and Change from Scholastic.com on the internet where we will meet famous African Americans, listen to jazz music, and participate in an interactive timeline.
3rd- Research famous black Americans such as Martin Luther King, Jr., Jackie Robinson, Harriett Tubman, Rosa Parks, and George Washington Carver. Students will share what they have learned with each other. In addition, 3rd graders viewed and discussed the movie My Friend Martin, this was an overview of the life on Martin Luther King, Jr.
4th- Have been sudying about the Civil War/Slavery. Viewed a video from United Streaming on Harriet Tubman. Read a story called "A Place Called Freedom:, which is about the Underground Railroad and rights of African Americans. Listened to the song "Follow the Drinking Gourd." Learning about what sharecropping was and student will participate in simulation activity to help them understand more fully the concept. Will be reading and discussing an article entitled "Roots of Freedom" in the Scholatic News magazine.
The campus will also do daily announcements about famous African Americans on the PA.
Martha Reid – Students will read books about black leaders who impacted communities. Students are making Dr. Martin Luther King, “I Have a Dream” writings, and will continue working on the character traits of good citizens. Langston Hughes poetry will be shared daily. February 29, the campus will also have the parents, of one of the teachers will come and talk to her class about living in Birmingham, Alabama, in the 1960’s.
Mary Jo Sheppard – Daily: Black History Fact of the Day!
Week of February 19, 2008 - Each grade level will be given a category including, African American Inventors, Sport, Entertainment, etc. Each class on that grade level will be given a person to display on their door along with a Biography. On Wednesday, February, 27, 2008 judges will go around and judge doors. The winning class will receive a prize. The teacher will also receive a special prize.
February 25-29, 2008 - Mary Jo Sheppard "DREAM BIG" WEEK
- 25th Monday-Black History Month Fast Facts
Scavenger Hunt of Interesting Facts Posted Around School
- 26th Tuesday-Black History United Streaming
- 27th Wednesday-READ IN entitled "A Moment in Black History"-- Parents and People From Community will read to Classes. ( 9:00 - 9:30 A.M. )
- 28th Thursday – Judge Black History Hall of Fame
- 29th Friday –"I Have A Dream" info-mercial presentation presented by Mary Jo Sheppard 2nd Graders.
Cora Spencer – The library is going to highlight African-American authors and biographies during the month. Music and PE are going to incorporate songs and dances on Fun Fridays.
Art classes will celebrate Black History Month as follows:
- Kinder: Paper Kufi Hat
- 1st and Second – Kente Paper Weaving
- 3rd – Adrinka Sponge Stamps
- 4th – African Foil Wall Mask
Fourth Grade will be doing the following activities:
- Black History Time Line using "Time For Kids" in the computer lab
- Various Reading Passages celebrating African Americans who have been a positive role model and impacted society in an innovative way.
- Study of African American Inventors and their contributions
- History Match-Up focusing on African American Accomplishments
- Black History Mystery Research using reference materials/technology
- United Streaming Lessons
Kindergarten has chosen four African Americans to study. We will be reading about Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice, Oprah Winfrey, and Barack Obama. The students will write a short synopsis on what they have learned.
Second Grade will be making timelines on the lives of Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Jackie Robinson. Each class will make one timeline and the other classes will observe the others w/activities (scavenger hunt) etc.
Third Grade will create a Black History Time-Line that includes biographical information on about 50 people. The students conduct research and write a summary.
Intermediate Schools
Della Icenhower – On February 4 the school will celebrate the Annual African-American Read-In. On February 21 they will have a combined Music Program/Step Show. The step show honors Dr. King and his work.
Mary Lillard – Campus Observances:
Ms. Simmons' class will read Martin's Big Words and they completed reading comprehension activities including, but not limited to, his famous speech. The class also included an excerpt from his famous speech in our social studies journals. They often refer to Dr. King and his character traits that he exhibited in his life. The class will read several other books together about influential black leaders, and have discussions about the impact of these great leaders on us today and how we should respect them and strive to exhibit some of those qualities in our lives.
Ms. Edwards, Librarian, on February 18 - 29, will be sharing 2 books about Marian Anderson. She will also share a CD Ms. Anderson singing, so the kids can have an idea what she sounded like (even though it is not their style).
During Feb. 19–22, Lynn Martinez will be teaching in her Social Studies class, about the Underground Railroad / reading Follow the Drinking Gourd / studying Harriet Tubman. Ms. Martinez will be coming dressed in period clothing to tell the story on Tuesday, Feb. 19 and Wednesday, Feb. 20, 5th block (1:50-3:00).
Mary Orr – Mary Orr Intermediate School will once again participate in the National African-American Read-In on Monday, February 4, 2008. This year they have planned a program where community members and MISD staff members will read selected poetry and prose written by African-American authors. There will be a 5th grade assembly from 8:15 to 8:45, and a 6th grade assembly from 9:00 to 9:30. The event will culminate with Mr. John Washington and Rev. Michael Evans reading poems by Langston Hughes combined with quotes by Dr. Martin Luther King. The final performance will be the entire audience participating in a celebratory song.
Each day during announcements a student will read a paragraph about a famous African American bringing attention to their contributions and accomplishments in America . The campus will continue this through the end of February.
Middle Schools
T.A. Howard – The Black History Celebration will be Friday, February 29, 2008 at 6:30 pm in the cafeteria. There will be singing, dancing, recitations, and orations all performed by our very own students. In addition to the show and various activities going on in teachers' classes, the school will have daily announcements over the PA. Also, the campus will hold an oratory contest (in which the winner will be announced within the Black History Celebration) with the theme "Dare to be Different."
Danny Jones – A Black History Month Program on February 26. Mr. John Washington, former school board member will be the guest speaker. The campus will also highlight literature by Black Authors during this month.
High Schools
Legacy – Black History Month Observances:
- Playing music from different genres by Black-American musicians daily.
- Recognizing inventions and accomplishments of Black-Americans during announcements.
- Posters of Black-Americans in display cases.
- Signs acknowledging "Black History Month" around campus.
- Biographies of Black-Americans during announcements.
Alternative Education Center/BIC - Black History Month Activities:
Social Studies - High School
- A Quote each day from prominent African Americans that our students will analyze.
- Students will choose from a list of 50 African Americans and will do a 4 paragraph biography on that individual and will list the characteristics that they admire most in that person. Attached will be a full page portrait that the students will color and then mount on construction paper to be displayed in the hall and classroom. The website ABC-CLIO will be utilized for research.
- United Video Streaming - Profiles of Courage, Controversy and Sacrifice - WWII Minority Units, The Civil Rights Movement and African American Heroes of Sports. Students will view the video and answer 10 questions from each video.
Elementary / Intermediate BIC
- Information regarding Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was introduced in January. In February, we will continue to study his life and contributions. We will learn about Rosa Parks and explore the relationship between these two Americans. Students will develop a Civil Rights Timeline.
- Students will read newspaper articles related to famous African Americans. They will use information from articles and other sources to create informative posters to be shared and displayed in hallway.
- Throughout the month, students will work on packet containing short biographies and questions related to 20 influential individuals including artists, entertainer, athlete, inventor, explorer, politician, educator, etc.
- Younger elementary students will complete a coloring and activity book - Famous Black Americans.
- In Language Arts students will be reading about and doing an activity about Jackie Robinson.
Timberview – Campus observances:
The Timberview library has a visual display of biographies and books.
All technology classes will complete a power point presentation and then present it to the entire class. Each class will present a different time-line of African American History. 1600, 1700, 1800-1850, 1850-1900, 1900-1950, and 1950 to present. They will include all events and people for their time-line.
Teen Leadership and Timberview boys' basketball varsity player students are going to Icenhower to read books by African American authors or about African Americans on Monday, Feb. 4
Social Studies teachers have centered daily lessons around Black history.
Information regarding outstanding African Amercian leaders is shared each day over the PA.
Ben Barber Career Tech Academy – Campus observances:
Strategies for Success class will be create posters and reports on successful African-Americans. They will then have a presentation and celebration to honor black history month. After the poster/report project, this class will be studying the book Gifted Hands, The Ben Carson Story.
Intro to Electronics classes are writing an essay on Garrett Morgan, an African-American who invented the traffic signal.
One of the Culinary Arts classes is cooking food from Nigeria and the western part of Africa. Some examples of food are Bobotie, African yellow rice, fried plantains. A video will also be shown on a famous African-American Chef.
Check back for updated campus information on events and displays.
Back to top
 February is celebrated as Black History Month - an annual celebration that has existed since 1926.
Much of the credit for Black History Month goes to Harvard Scholar Dr. Carter G. Woodson (pictured at right). In 1926, Woodson organized the first annual Negro History Week, which took place during the second week of February. Woodson chose this date to coincide with the birthdays of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln -- two men who had greatly impacted the black population.
Over time, Negro History Week evolved into a four-week-long celebration of African American History. Because of the variation in terms used, February is also known as African American History Month, Afro-American History Month and Black Experience Month.
February has much more than Douglass and Lincoln to show for its significance in black American history. For example:
• February 23, 1868: W. E. B. DuBois, important civil rights leader and co-founder of the NAACP, was born.
• February 3, 1870: The 15th Amendment was passed, granting blacks the right to vote.
• February 25, 1870: The first black U.S. senator, Hiram R. Revels (1822-1901), took his oath of office.
• February 12, 1909: The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was founded by a group of concerned black and white citizens in New York City.
• February 1, 1960: In what would become a civil-rights movement milestone, a group of black Greensboro, N.C., college students began a sit-in at a segregated Woolworth's lunch counter.
• February 21, 1965: Malcolm X, the militant leader who promoted Black Nationalism, was shot to death by three Black Muslims.
|
