Curated OER
Budget Busters
Use this economic activity to focus on writing summaries of informational text. First, middle schoolers define common economic terms used to describe news about the economy. They closely read news about the federal budget deficit and...
Curated OER
Science in the News
Students explore science in the news through articles, magazines, and internet news sites. They select articles, read them and summarize them to identify the audience that would care about their topics. As they present their articles...
Curated OER
In the News
Young scholars research a report using a local or national news story. They exchange reports with a partner in order to examine an issue. They work together to create a report on a global issue.
Curated OER
Weekly Current Events Summary
In this current events worksheet, students read a news article of their choice and then respond to 9 short answer questions about the article.
Curated OER
Summary Selections: Activity Menu for Summarizing and Retelling
In this literacy worksheet, students engage in sixteen activities to summarize and retell what they have read. Activities include flip books for the Five Ws, sequencing, somebody wanted but so..., and literary elements. Activities will...
Curated OER
Found Poems
Students summarize articles found in the newspaper and use key concepts to write a poem. In this reading comprehension and writing lesson, students work with a partner to choose a current newspaper article. Key concepts and vocabulary...
Curated OER
News Quiz | April 4, 2012
Everyday there are new headlines to excite your class. After a quick look at the April 4, 2012 edition of the New York Times, your class will take a topical quiz. Find out what they know about current events, and what they retained from...
Curated OER
Newspaper Article Analysis Worksheet: World War I
In this newspaper analysis worksheet, students review an article of their choosing and respond to 6 analytical questions.
Curated OER
Idea-Noun Definition: Source Searching
A great idea for showing language arts pupils the universality of themes, even in the real world! Have class members choose an idea-noun (peace, justice, war, love, etc.) at the beginning of the year or semester. They complete weekly...
BrainPOP
World History Lesson Plan: Uncovering Essential Questions
Have you ever noticed a news story revolves around an essential question? Scholars research methods of reporting historical events. Working in groups, they use an interactive module to gather information on a historical topic, uncovering...
Personal Genetics Education Project
Genetics, Jobs and Your Rights
Your class will read an overview of the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act, passed in 2008 and address the question of whether or not genetic information should be used to influence our career paths. In jigsaw style, they then are...
Channel Islands Film
Cache: Lesson Plan 4 - Grades 4-5
After viewing the West of the West's documentary Cache, individuals craft either a newspaper article chronicling the discovery of the cache on San Nicolas Island, a historical narrative of the placement of the cache in the cliff side, or...
Penguin Books
An Educator’s Guide to Chraisma by Jeanne Ryan
Often, science fiction makes a lot of connections to real life. An educator's guide for the novel Charisma by Jeanne Ryan, has readers discuss many of the real-life issues that come in the text. A brief summary helps garner interest in...
Curated OER
Let's Get the Facts!
Students observe and demonstrate the process of summarization. They discuss the three steps of summarization, then silently read a National Geographic Kids News article. As a class they complete a semantic map of the article, and write...
Curated OER
Front Page News
Students collect and analyze the front pages of various newspapers and perform research on the Titantic tragedy. They choose a name for their newspaper, a headline, gather photographs, and write a front page article. Using computer...
Curated OER
The Furry News: How to Make a Newspaper
Students investigate the process of making a newspaper using children's literature to create context for the lesson. The readers are asked to predict the events of the story as it is read to them. Then the teacher uses guided questions...
Curated OER
What Was That All About?
Through direct instruction, the teacher demonstrates how to identify the main idea and supporting details of a text when creating a summary. As a class, read a paragraph, highlighting relevant information and crossing out extraneous...
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Exploring Media: Understanding and Identifying Editorial Perspective in Television and Radio News
Students research the topics Boat People: A Refugee Crisis, Dr. Henry Morgentaler: Fighting Canada's Abortion Laws, and CANDU: The Canadian Nuclear Reactor on the CBC Radio and Television Archives Web site.
Curated OER
Writing a Personal Narrative
What is the difference between a news story and a personal narrative? This plan has learners write a personal narrative using the topic of service projects in their community. Consider completing a cross-curricular extension by bringing...
Curated OER
TEXT MESSAGING
Students examine the differences between standard and non-standard English and use text-speak to rewrite a plot summary and a news story. They identify a type of non-standard English and determine the characteristics that make it...
Curated OER
Zero Tolerance and Toy Guns
Seventh graders write a short reaction to the "Zero Tolerance" policy in regards to students and play guns. They read several news articles about the problems associated with the zero tolerance and students with play guns. They write a...
National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science
A Case Study of Memory Loss in Mice
Using a short news article, high school or college biologists examine the scientific method in practice. The article, which focuses on an Alzheimer's experiment performed on rats, has very limited information, so learners must be able to...
Curated OER
Archaeology In The News
Students investigate the different articles of archaeology that is found in a variety of research and news resources. They read one of the selections and complete the worksheet as a guide to writing a summary of the article. Students...
The New York Times
Decision Point: Understanding the U.S.’s Dilemma Over North Korea
Simulate the Situation Room and analyze the US's relationship with North Korea. The plan starts off with a quick review and an examination of a online timeline that updates as the situation continues. Next, the class reads an article and...