We had an amazing “history” session we had today for our project. This was the second day that we discussed Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr. and made a “bus” with our chairs to role play what it was like to be told where you could sit on a bus. We picked a color of shoes that had to go to the back of the bus for each bus ride. We did this activity several times each day. Yesterday, Joseph refused to get on our “bus” when he was told to go to the back of the bus. Otherwise, everyone complied. In fact, our very kind kids often gave up their seats in the back of the bus to those who had to stand when there were no more seats there.
Today, Mary refused to get on the bus and said “It’s a bad bus; I’m not getting on it”. She sat down outside the bus. Martha then said, “I’m getting off the bus too”. Then someone said “Everyone get off the bus; it’s a bad bus”. They all got off and sat together on the rug. Martha then put her arms around her friends and said, “We are all brothers and sisters”. All the children began to chant “no, no, no” and “bad bus, bad bus”. Finally, I stepped in and said that they were right, that it was a bad bus, so the law was now changed and they would be able to sit wherever they wanted. The next bus ride, everyone got on and cheered and chanted “yay”.
This is a true story, the names have been changed to protect the children. I’m not making this up. It was amazing and gave me chills. I hope Martin and Rosa were watching. Best to all.