February 15, 2011

Lynn Cashell, a teacher in Springfield, Pennsylvania

We subscribe to Time for Kids, a great kid-friendly resource for current events. In addition to reading the articles, there are also great teaching strategies that can be used to boost comprehension, fluency, map skills, test-taking skills, etc.
 

We also use the program Achieve 3000, also known as KidBiz3000. (There is TeenBiz30000 for older students). They provide news articles are from AP and Reuters. My students enjoy telling me about what they discovered and usually manage to stay more informed about current events beyond the local news than I do!

When something has happened in the community, state, country or world, I usually bring it up as a topic of discussion, relating it to something we may be doing in school. For example, bullying, weather conditions, elections, etc. It is always fascinating to hear their opinions on a variety of topics.

Additionally, I co-sponsor a service club for 2nd through 5th graders. Here are some examples of what we do:

• create displays for Black History month, Read Across America, and other such school events;
• collect food for food banks;
• organize Trick or Treat for UNICEF;
• make and send cards and letters to our servicemen and women, as well as residents in local nursing homes; and, most importantly,
• visit the nursing home, food bank, Ronald McDonald House and other places so the students can experience firsthand what goes on there. Plus they get to interact with the people in these agencies and see the impact of what they have provided.

These "real world" experiences help broaden their world.