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	Date and Author:	Today 9:36 am by hotapplepie
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=[[image:Lesson_Plans_A_La_Mode.jpg width="250" height="105" align="center"]]=
**Here are assignments you can use to engage your students with this week's news, events, and anniversaries. **
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FOR MORE NEWS-RELATED LESSONS WHICH ARE WRITTEN DIRECTLY TO STUDENTS, SEND MIDDLE AND HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS TO THESE PAGES (LINKED HERE):

[[Activity Sheet|ACTIVITY SHEET]]- Students can print out a pdf and complete the assignment.
[[Page One Prime|PAGE ONE PRIME]]- A news story with a reading and writing follow-up assignment.
[[Quote of the Day|QUOTE OF THE DAY]] - An inspirational quote and writing assignment.
[[Word of the Day|WORD OF THE DAY]] - Terrific vocabulary builder. Wonderful for SAT practice.
[[Video News Views|VIDEO NEWS VIEWS]] - Students can watch an engaging short video, vote in a poll and complete a writing assignment.
[[Write the News|WRITE THE NEWS]] - A detailed writing lesson.
[[From the Core|FROM THE CORE]] - Students can read the timely selection and take an instant comprehension self-assessment.

AND FOR YOUR K-3 STUDENTS:

====[[Newsie K-3|NEWSIE K-3]] - Students can watch the short video and complete the activity. ====

**March 15-19, 2010**

Language Arts

# March 20 is Fred Rogers’ birthday. He was the host of the popular children’s TV show, //Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood//. It entertained while teaching kids. Which children’s show listed in the newspaper would your students recommend for young kids to watch? Why?
# One great aspect of newspapers is that there are so many different types of writing and writing styles. It’s terrific modeling for students who need practice in different writing genres. For example, direct students to the personal advice column (which you should prescreen to make sure it’s appropriate for school use) to see how one is written. Then have them choose a person from today’s news who could use some advice. They can write a letter from the point of view of that person seeking advice.
# Symbols are often found in the newspaper, especially at holiday time. Send students on a hunt through the news to find symbols of St. Patrick’s Day. They should describe each one they find and what the symbol stands for. Finally, have them design a symbol that describes themselves. They can click [[http://artpad.art.com/|here]] to access an easy-to-use online drawing program to create their symbols.

Math

# On March 16, 1958, The Ford Motor Company produced its 50 millionth car. Challenge students to seek out the Fords advertised in today’s news. They should find the average price of a new Ford and then research online to find out what it was in 1958 and compare.
# Introduce the concept of estimation. Explain that today’s challenge is to estimate how many words are in the Sports section of today’s news. Divide your class into small groups and allow time for them to brainstorm methods of estimating the total. Then allow each group to work through the problem and compare each group’s results.
# Daylight Savings Time went into effect on March 14. Research has shown that traffic accidents increase just after this shift. Have students look in the news for any mention of accidents and then use the e-edition archive tool to search for accidents from the previous week. Do they see an increase, and if so, what is the percentage of increase?

 Science
# Last year, a chimpanzee in a zoo stored a cache of stones and then threw them at zoo visitors. Since he collected them and then used them, it showed that he had the ability to plan ahead. Share this story with students and then ask them to look in the news for examples of other ways people and animals have characteristics in common.
# Noted German physicist Albert Einstein was born on March 14, 1879. He earned the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1921. Is there a newsmaker today who is making great strides in science? Challenge students to find one and to write about the person they chose. As an interesting aside, there is a theory that Einstein may have had Asperger’s Syndrome, a form of autism. Historians indicate that he had several signs, including obsessive interests, difficulty with social relationships and problems communicating. It may be interesting to allow students to go online and to learn more about autism and [[http://www.findingdulcinea.com/features/profiles/e/albert-einstein.html|Einstein]]. This could help them understand classmates who have similar issues. 
# It’s National Agriculture Week. Invite students to find at least five items in the news that relate in some way to agriculture and to write about what they find and how each item fits in.

 Social Studies

# For Women’s History Month, this week, have students select a newsworthy woman from today’s news whom they believe will make history. They can brainstorm the reasons why they think so and create a mind map of the reasons. There’s a great online [[http://www.bubbl.us/|tool]] for brainstorming which creates terrific visual mind maps. Here is a mind map about suffragette Alice Paul, for example.
# [[media type="custom" key="5617627"]]
America’s first military school, The U.S. Military Academy in West Point, NY, was opened on March 16, 1802 to train young men. In 1976, they began admitting women. Can your students find any stories in the news about women involved in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan? Have them summarize what they find. Do your students think that women should be allowed in combat? Currently, although they are on the front lines in many cases, they are not permitted in combat. Do your students think that should change?

3. Historians still debate whether the murder of Julius Caesar was unjust or the removal of a bad dictator, but one fact remains. Marcus Brutus, one of the Roman senators who masterminded and enacted the assassination, had been close to and trusted by Caesar. In the Shakespearean play, “Julius Caesar,” Brutus is portrayed as a hero. The character of Caesar, seeing that he is about to be betrayed, says, “et tu, Brute?”, which translates to “you too, Brutus?” World leaders, like President Obama, must have allies they can trust. Can your students find politicians in today’s news whom they believe to be trustworthy and helpful to the President? Have them choose one and explain why they chose that person. Students can read more about Caesar [[http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/03/0311_040311_idesmarch.html|here]].

4. March 16th is [[http://www.findingdulcinea.com/features/profiles/m/james-madison.html|James Madison]]’s birthday. As one of the Founding Fathers, he helped draft the Bill of Rights. In his honor, invite students to find a news story that involves one of the First Amendment freedoms.


**Teachers! Got a newspaper lesson you'd like to share? Please click the discussion tab above and post your lesson. **

Lessons written by Deborah Drezon Carroll. Carroll taught for ten years in Philadelphia, PA and is the author of two parenting books and is currently working on a new one. (Check out her blog at [[http://raisingamazingdaughters.wordpress.com]].) She also coordinated the Newspaper in Education department of the //Philadelphia Inquirer// for 16 years.