News & ELA -Together at Last!
Objective
Big Idea
Warm Up
To warm up class today, I will ask students to share what the following mean to them -
1. The morning or nightly news
2. Newspaper - online or print
Most (not all) will not have an opinion because they do not watch the news or read the paper (other than local sports information occasionally)
Independent Work
Today is all about immersing my students in current issues and topics, so it is a perfect day to introduce them to Newsela. Newsela is an online treasure! It has current articles rewritten to specific Lexile levels, organized by category, and searchable by common core standards. Beyond that this includes quizzes and discussion questions.
Today, I will register my studies and send them to this article. We'll read and talk about the article in terms of controversy and the "current-ness" of the topic. Then, I'll challenge students to read at least two more articles about topics that interest them in an effort to get in tune with multiple topics. As they read they'll compete the following in their journal:
List the titles of the each article you read. Then, after reading write a brief summation of what the piece was about and how you feel about it.
I'll monitor while students surf the site looking for something to catch their eye.
Wrap Up
To wrap up class today, I'll ask students to draw a line below what they have written in their journal and respond to the following below the line.
Think about what caught your eye when you were browsing the site and what you are interested in. If you were going to publish an article on Newsela, what are a few topics you'd like to write about. Tell why you chose each one.
