Using Current Event News 


Articles in the 

Classroom!

 I never realized before how teachers can really use current news article to include in their students social studies learning. It is so important for students to be aware of what is going on around them in the world today. Looking through the different sites, I was amazed to see how easy it is for teachers to include current news articles in the classroom. The best part about the three websites was they each provided fun ways or activities that allow students to read the current news articles.

In the blog “Free Technology for Teacher”, the author writes about the importance of students reading the current news. The author also writes how current event news relates and ties into many things teachers and students do in the classroom. The current events news articles tie into social studies and teachers can find articles that are appropriate for students while being relevant to what they are currently learning in the classroom.

Current news in the elementary classroom is a great website that provides teachers with a ton of valuable resources. The website gives teachers different activities and tools they can use with their students to include current news in the classroom. One particular activity I read and really liked was the “News Scavenger Hunt”. In this activity students are provided with a list of things to find on the front page or inside a newspaper. Teachers can have students hunt in the newspaper for different subject terms (math terms, grammar terms, sports terms, nouns, or verbs). Teachers can also use this activity to group students together, so they can collaborate on searching together and sharing ideas. This activity can also be used as a contest (the group who finds the most wins). I really liked this activity. It is a short simple inexpensive activity teachers can use to engage students while enhancing their learning on the current news.

The Pearson website was another great valuable website for students. Teachers can assign or students can independently visit the website to learn about the current news. On the website students would click on current news. Under this, news is broken up from years then down to months. The website even has the most current news up to December 2011. Under each month, students can click on whether they want to read news about world news, U.S. news, business news, and disaster and science news. This is such a valuable resource to give students. It’s a great way to engage students in current news. The best part about the website is that it is centered on elementary school children. The articles are appropriate for students to read and understand. This website is a great resource for teachers to incorporate in their classroom to hook students to the current news articles.