Curated OER
Giant Smelly Plant Attracts Thousands
Read and discuss a news article about a rare corpse plant that bloomed in Washington D.C. Because this native Indonesian plant blooms so rarely, people flock to see it. After reading the article, your class answers comprehension...
Curated OER
NASA Plans Moon Base
Learners react to statements about the moon, then read a news article about NASA's plans to build a permanent base on the moon. In this space science and current events activity, the teacher introduces the article with a discussion and a...
Curated OER
Reporting from the Front Lines
Students examine the battle of Gettysburg as they write news articles. In this Battle of Gettysburg instructional activity, students become familiar with the job of the news reporter as they report on the events of the Battle of...
Curated OER
Gas Prices Keep Rising
Students discuss rising gas prices, then read a news article about how the increase in fuel cost may affect other prices. For this economics and current events lesson, the teacher introduces the article with a discussion and vocabulary...
Curated OER
Celebrating 100 Years of Flight
Participate in the 100th anniversary of the first flight. In groups, learners use the internet to research the roles the Wright Brothers and Amelia Earhart played in promoting the use of flight. They use the information to write 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
Writing Newspaper Articles
Students write newspaper articles regarding their service learning experiences. In this writing skills lesson, students review the writing process skills to develop high-quality articles. Students write articles regarding the their acts...
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 plan, students work with a partner to choose a current newspaper article. Key concepts and...
Curated OER
All the News That's Fit to Click: Analyzing New York Times Design
Explore the New York Times, online and in print. Partners take the roles of reader and monitor while each peruses the newspaper. Discussion questions compare the online version to a hard copy print edition. Links provide comparison of...
Read Works
Bat News
Get the bat facts with a short nonfiction reading passage. After reading the passage, readers respond to questions that focus on main idea, inferencing, vocabulary in context, and author's purpose.
Curated OER
Wiki Comment: The News and You
Kids explore the world of news media by creating a wiki page. They will create a wiki page on the Internet in order to comment on and question the stories that take place in the world. They will practice creative writing by summarizing...
Curated OER
Not Getting the News about the Stamp Act
How did American colonists react to the Stamp Act of 1765? Your young historians will examine primary source material by reading excerpts from a transcription of the Pennsylvania Gazette and then identifying the sentiments expressed...
Curated OER
Words In the News Big Rise in CO2
Middle schoolers complete vocabulary and word work activities including an online quiz. They read an online article while focusing on answering specific information questions. They discuss ways to improve the environment and present them...
Roald Dahl
Matilda - The Third Miracle
Magnus takes a visit to the classroom in the 20th chapter of Matilda. Or does he? After reading, learners interview the person in the hot seat to get a detailed account of what happened during this chapter. Then, they write individual...
Teaching Tolerance
Community Newsletter
What does it take to develop and publish a newsletter? Young academics create a newsletter with original artwork for their school or community. They explore social justice themes and spread messages of tolerance and inclusion. Scholars...
Breaking News English
More People to Stick to New Year's Resolutions
What makes a good New Year's resolution? Practice goal-setting and reading comprehension with a set of language arts activities. English learners work on cloze passages, synonym matches, interviewing exercises, and...
Energy for Keeps
The Energy Times
Extra! Extra! Read all about past and present energy use in a classroom-made historical newspaper. Useful as a cross-curricular assignment between science, history, and language arts, the project is sure to get young journalists...
Newseum
Case Study: The Execution of Ruth Snyder (1928)
The case of the 1928 execution of Ruth Snyder takes center stage in a lesson that asks young journalists to consider the ethics involved in publishing an image of an execution. A series of discussion questions ask individuals how they...
Media Smarts
Media Awareness Network: Hate or Debate?
Discuss the difference between legitimate debate on a political issue and arguments that are based on hate through a science-fiction scenario that shows how a controversial issue can be discussed in both ways. Then learn how purveyors of...
Society for Science & the Public
Easter Islanders Made Tools, Not War
When studying artifacts, especially tools, how do archaeologists determine what the devices were used for? In what ways might researchers' previous experiences influence their perception of an artifact? An article about researchers'...
Novelinks
The Martian Chronicles: Response Writing
Follow the format of Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles with a journal-writing activity. Readers choose a character and examine the character's life and circumstances through brainstorming, research, and discussion before...
Teaching Tolerance
You Are the Product
What does it mean for a product or service to go viral? Scholars explore the topic by reading an article about the economics of social media. After reading, they complete a 3-2-1 data chart with information they learned from the text and...
Curated OER
Comparing Languages: News Clips
Students analyze newspaper articles. They review their assessment task and rubric and read newspaper articles to compare languages. They answer questions related to their articles using dictionaries as needed. They compare word usage...
Curated OER
Finding Main Ideas
What is the main idea? Previewing a text is a great way to identify the main idea without even reading, but what areas of a text do you preview? Teach your third, fourth, and fifth graders the most important areas to preview before...