A Black History Kindergarten Lesson
Each year we celebrate Black History Month in February. This is a good time to teach your kindergarten students about some famous African-Americans. As you study the life of George Washington Carver, your students will find out how he overcame adversity to study hard and give back to society. The work he did with peanuts and sweet potatoes will be especially interesting to kindergartners.
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The Life of George Washington Carver
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For this lesson you will need the book "A Weed is a Flower: The Life of George Washington Carver" by Aliki or another children's book about George Washington Carver. Gather your students around you to share the book, discussing the story as you read. You may need to give your students a brief explanation of what slavery is, since it may be a new topic for them. After you finish reading the story, make a chart of the important events in George Washington Carver's life on large chart paper. Things to include would be his kidnapping and return to his owners, his college attendance and his work as a scientist and inventor. Let your students give suggestions of items to add to the chart, too.
Making Peanut Butter
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After learning about George Washington Carver, tell your students that he discovered 300 uses for peanuts and that one of them was making peanut butter. Then tell them that you are going to make peanut butter as a class. Make sure that none of your students has peanut allergies before trying this activity.
To make the peanut butter, you will need unsalted roasted peanuts, peanut oil, a food processor, measuring cups and spoons, a spoon or knife and crackers. Measure out three cups of peanuts and pour them into the food processor. Then add two tablespoons of peanut oil. You can let a few students come up to help with the measuring and pouring, if you want. Blend peanuts and oil until the mixture is smooth. Then spread the peanut butter onto crackers with a knife or spoon, so the students can taste it.
Assessment
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For an informal assessment, have the students draw and color a picture of an important event from George Washington Carver's life. They can work on this while they eat their peanut-butter crackers or before you make the peanut butter. If you are teaching this lesson late in the year, have the students write a sentence about their pictures. If it is early in the year, you can let them dictate a sentence that you write for them. This easy assessment will show what your students have learned about this important figure in black history.
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