For the news junkies

Need a quick bell ringer idea? Check out these two news resources, which social studies teacher Jaclyn Orlov and a few others are already using successfully in their classes. 
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Wordless News
I look forward to an email from WordlessNews.com every morning. That’s because Maria Fabrizio treats her blog subscribers, like me, to a beautiful illustration depicting a story in the day’s news. Thus, wordless news. The illustrations are colorful, funny, sad, abstract, simple, elaborate … it depends on the day. Maria also provides a link to the source, varying from NPR to The New York Times to NBC News and more.

“Wordless News is a great tool for my students to use problem-solving,” Jaclyn said. “Students look at the picture and try to put it in into context. Sometimes they know what the image represents, and sometimes they don’t. When they don’t, it gives us a great opportunity to examine the image critically and make assumptions based on prior knowledge.”
I would show you an example of one of her illustrations, but that would be violating copyright laws. So, instead, you’ll just have to check it out yourself.

The Week E-newsletter
Here’s some more candy for your inbox: Subscribe to The Week‘s e-newsletter (scroll down and enter your email address in the box in the sidebar), which provides you with the day’s top ten headlines from across the globe. Jaclyn calls this a “great snapshot of current events.” I couldn’t explain it better myself. Here’s what the e-newsletter looks like:
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​“I like this news source because it is a resource that students can utilize to pique their interest regarding the news and then we can relate it back to United States policy on each issue,” Jaclyn said. “This is a timely resource that I can easily incorporate into my daily class activities.”

​The Week is also one more way to integrate nonfiction reading into our students’ lessons in our efforts to meet Common Core standards. Want some ideas on how to do that? Talk to Barb Mason (barbara.mason@chsd117.org) or Kellie Doyle (kellie.doyle@chsd117.org) about a collaboration.