A Great {Accidental} Lesson

This week in whole group reading, we have revisited the Cause/Effect strategy at the Interpretive level. (You Jan Richardson fans will know what I mean.)  Basically, they find the effect, turn it into a "What caused..." question, and then infer the cause.  I really like the strategy.  Anyway, my team and I take turns planning different subjects.  For the last few weeks, I've been planning whole group.  The plans I came up with this week, were good.  I'm not too modest to say that; however, on Monday, I completely threw my plans out of the window (Smartboard lesson and all).  I really wanted my students to have a lesson on Martin Luther King, Jr. and I wanted them to do a writing activity.  So, my intent was to [secretly] skip the strategy for one day.  I decided to read aloud, Martin's Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  Would you believe, there was all kinds of effects where the students had to infer the cause?!  IT WAS PERFECT!!  The students loved it.  :)  For their writing activity, I am having them write a short paragraph about what peace means to them.  I printed the writing paper out on different colors and I will put these on the wall.  I was told that I don't have enough student work on the walls.  Yeahhhh, so, what I'm seeing looks really great!  They have wonderful ideas in their heads! :)

What are you doing to celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr. in your classroom?