Newsletters
HAPPY WEDNESDAY
EVERYONE!
There is a lot
going on right now in NIE Land. Please
watch for several separate emails that pertain to just certain grade levels.
Just a reminder
about the Design an Ad Teacher Meeting next Wed, Jan 31st at
NIE WEEK is March
5th - 9th
NO BOOKS DAY! is
Wed, March 7th. This is a fun day
anticipated by students and teachers alike.
All of your subject matter can be found in the newspaper. Text books are off limits for the day! I plan
to visit as many participating classrooms as possible that day. Mark your calendars now & watch for the
registration form in mid February.
This year's theme
is "Now I Get It!" Improving
Comprehension With Newspapers. I am
currently reading through the extensive teaching guide & the information is
very well written. My 12 year old
struggles w/comprehension, so I am learning how to help him as well.
Here’s what is in
today’s NIE Notes:
1. Mini Page Lesson Plans/Standards
2. Teacher
List – by Pete@resco.ca - a computer tutorial
3. A
TEACHING UNIT YOU CAN USE: The Democratic Process and Values
4. S.O.S. for Busy Teachers
5. Twig
Walkingstick: What's with the curlicue light bulbs?
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Mini Page
activities meet many state and national educational standards.
Each week we
identify standards that relate to The Mini Pages content and offer activities
that will help your students reach them.
Happy Birthday,
Boy Scouts! -- Issue 5 -- Jan. 27-Feb. 2
This week's
standards:
€ Students
understand that physical activity provides opportunities for enjoyment,
challenge, self-expression and social interaction. (Physical
Education)
€ Students understand
how groups and institutions work to meet individual needs and promote the
common good. (Social Studies: Individuals, Groups and
Institutions)
Activities:
1. Draw a picture
of yourself doing an activity boys learn about in the Boy Scouts. Write a sentence
telling about your picture.
2. Make a list of
the Boy Scout merit badges. Share the list with family members and friends.
Ask them to
suggest a new merit badge. What suggestions do they have? Was any new badge
suggested by more than one person?
3. Find a
newspaper story about a situation in which an individual or group needs help.
Write several sentences explaining how Boy Scouts could help in that situation.
4. Select three
different merit badges shown in today's Mini Page. Find at least two items in
the newspaper that could be used to help a Boy Scout earn each badge. Explain
your choices.
5. Prepare a new
manual for young people about how to survive in a different setting, such as a
school or a city. Include suggestions for how to find your way in that setting,
what equipment you would need and what skills you would find useful. Also
include advice on how to help other people in specific situations in that
setting. Suggest at least five merit badges for your setting.
(standards by Dr.
Sherrye D. Garrett, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi)
Black History
Sites -- Issue 6 -- Feb. 3-9
This week's
standards:
€ Students
understand that history relates to events and people of other times and places
by identifying examples of interesting Americans. (Social
Studies: History)
€ Students use biographies and stories to understand the individuals who are
honored by the nation.
(Social Studies:
History)
Activities:
1. Pick a
building or park in your neighborhood that might make a good national park site
one day.
Draw the
building/park. Write a sentence telling why it is important.
2. Find a news
story about an African-American individual in your newspaper.
Which national
park site do you think that individual might like to visit? Write several
sentences telling why the individual might like that site.
3. Draw five
large circles on a large piece of paper. Label the circles:
Government/Politics,
Education, Arts/Entertainment, Sports and Business. Now cut out photos and
names of African-American individuals from the newspaper. Paste the photos and
names in the appropriate circle. Share your poster with a family member or
friend.
4. Which national
park site would you recommend to individuals interested in
(a) military
history, (b) music, (c) history of the civil rights movement,
(d) education and
(e) African-American women?
5. Use resource
books and the Internet to learn more about one of the national park sites
featured in today's Mini Page. Use these questions to guide your research: What
person or persons were connected with the history of the site? What time period
in history does the site represent? Who worked to have the person or history
memorialized at the site? Why do you think this is an important site? Write a
paragraph discussing your research.
(standards by Dr.
Sherrye D. Garrett, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi)
Issue 7
Feb. 10-16
The Second and
Third Amendments
Working with the
National Archives and The Bill of Rights Institute, The Mini Page introduces
kids to the Second Amendment with an issue based on the times that the Second
and Third Amendment were written. Find out about the words kids show and the
background of both amendments.
Issue 8
Feb. l7-23
A Kid's Guide to
Business
As many as 80
percent of new businesses fail. Many experts think that kids should know the
basic good business practices at an early age. The Mini Page works with an
expert, Lecturer Lawrence Gelburd of the Wharton School of the University of
Pennsylvania.
Issue 9
Feb. 24-March 2
The Polar Bear
The polar bear is
in trouble! Polar bears spend most of their time on ice in the Arctic seas. But
this ice is melting so rapidly, it is threatening the existence of the whole
species of polar bears. Bears are drowning and starving. Experts believe that
if we don't do something now, polar bears could disappear within 35 years, and
polar bears could be extinct in 100 years. But experts say it is not too late.
We can fix this if we act now.
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The Teacher List
by Pete@ resco.ca
My pal, Danny
Maas, has another Teachers Improving Learning with Technology episode! In this
online video tutorial episode, you will build upon a lesson from Microsoft to
build a simple but interactive and media-rich timeline using Microsoft Excel.
As a sample student activity, work with Danny to create a personal timeline
with a major event from each school year. This is the latest episode from the
video podcast TILT – Teachers Improving Learning with Technology, and is
available to watch online or download in Windows Media or iTunes.- The URL: http://tilttv.blogspot.com
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Meeting your
objectives while teaching something beyond the basics: - A TEACHING UNIT
YOU CAN USE NOW!
With the
excitement about the 2008 election already starting to build, it’s a great time
to show teachers how civic education fits into any curriculum at any time.
These activities teach reading comprehension skills, critical thinking skills
and civic engagement skills.
This is a
complete teaching unit about the importance of an involved citizenry that could
be used in any elementary, middle or high school program at any time.
A TEACHING UNIT
YOU CAN USE
Unit: The
Democratic Process and Values
Objectives:
Students will understand the mechanics and importance of increasing voter
participation and engage in constructive conversation on that issue. Students
will participate in a debate in order to learn the value of considering
opposing views and applying democratic values to a discussion.
Materials:
newspapers, pens, paper
Strategies:
1. Talk to
students about the importance of every vote. To illustrate this, you’ll want to
remind them about the closeness of the presidential election in the year 2000.
They should also know that the 2000 election wasn’t the only disputed one in
history. The first disputed presidential election was the fourth one, in the
year 1800, which was finally decided in the House of Representatives and
resulted in the election of Thomas Jefferson. More recently, in 1960, in the
contest between Kennedy and Nixon, only about100, 000 votes separated the two
men. Since your students have experienced a close election in their lifetime,
ask them what they recall about the Bush – Gore contest and its aftermath. 2.
Once students understand the impact of every vote, ask them to discus what
voting can change. Have them skim the newspaper to find stories that could be
affected by a vote. In doing this they can see the power and scope of the vote
in America. 3. What do students think is the best way to increase voter
participation? Do they think we need to give people a day off from work to
vote? Do they think we need to arrange transportation to the polls? Do they
think more people would vote if it could be done by telephone or computer?
Allow time for students to brainstorm ways to get out more voters. Accept all
ideas and list them on the board. Following that discussion, have students read
an editorial in the newspaper to see how one is written. Then have them write
an editorial about the best way to get more people to the polls. 4. It may be
fun to have students use the newspaper as a source for supporting reasons and
then have two students role-play a conversation in which one of them convinces
the other - a reluctant voter - to vote. Follow-up Activities: 1. People vote
because they believe they have a stake in society. Do your students think that
they have a stake in society and, if so, should they have the right to vote
despite their age? Allow them to debate changing the voting age to include
younger children. They can use the newspaper to cite examples of reasons why
younger children should be allowed to vote.
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S.O.S.: Help for
Busy Teachers
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sites of the
School Days
a weekly update
to
Kathy Schrock's
Guide for Educators on DiscoverySchool.com http://discoveryschool.com/schrockguide/
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Site 21
ReadWriteThink:
Student Materials http://readwritethink.org/student_mat/index.asp
...this great
collection of Flash-based, interactive activities target literacy skills for
all grades; you can supplement your own lessons with the tool or use one of the
included ideas
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Site 22
The Gilder
Lehrman Institute of American History: For Teachers & Students http://www.gilderlehrman.org/teachers/index.html
...this page, for
teachers and students, provides lessons, tips, and ideas for use of this
collection of more than 60,000 primary source documents detailing the political
and social history of the US from 1493 to modern times
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Visit this and
previous Sites of the School Days by going to http://discoveryschool.com/schrockguide/sos.html
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Smart Stuff with
Twig Walkingstick: Hey, Bu'b! Save Dough! Cut Gas! By Kurt Knebusch - (330)
263-3776 - knebusch.1@osu.edu
Q. Dear Twig:
What's with the curlicue light bulbs?
A. Hmm. Yes. I
think I know what you mean. I think you mean compact fluorescent
("flor-ESS-ent")lamps, or CFLs. More and more people now buy them and
use them. They use them in place of incandescent
("in-can-DESS-ent")
light bulbs, the normal, roundish Thomas Edison kind. CFLs do look like
curlicues. Well, roundish ones. Or vanilla soft-serve ice cream cones. Hi Ken -
please post on my website an Delete Jan 4th newsletter. Thanks. Dawn
Why switch? The
U.S. Energy Star program says CFLs use up to 80 percent less electricity than
regular bulbs. Lower use means lower bills. Replacing five old bulbs in your
house with CFLs would save you about $60 a year. If every home in America did
that, the savings would hit around $6.5 billion a year. And the nation would
cut its output of greenhouse gases (which fuel global climate change) as much
as if it got rid of 8 million cars.
Call it a bright
idea! For details, start here: http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=cfls.pr_cfls.
Twig
P.S. Picture a
CFL as a skinny little fluorescent bulb (like in a ceiling) coiled in a tight
little spiral.
Notes: CFLs cost
more than incandescent bulbs - from two to 10 times as much. But a number of
companies, non-profit groups and government agencies offer special deals -
lower prices - to get more people to use them. In the course of its life (on
average, four to five years), a CFL will save you $30-$80 more than it cost
you. Sources: Energy Star, Project Porchlight, Green Energy Ohio, the Michigan
Department of Environmental Quality, and the Ontario Ministry of Energy. Got an
illuminating question for Twig? Send it to his in-the-dark assistant, Kurt
Knebusch, knebusch.1@osu.edu.
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Newspaper In Education Coordinator
