newspaper – iLearn Technology

News-O-Matic: New non-fiction delivered to your classroom every day!

July 14, 2014Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment12625 views

What it is: Press 4 Kids, News-O-Matic is both a subscription-based app and a free daily email delivered in pdf format. News-O-Matic is a fantastic current event, news source for elementary students. It is a great resource for fresh, non-fiction material for your classroom. Recall, discussion, and comprehension questions are included in each News-O-Matic. You can purchase an app subscription for your class in the 1:1 iDevice setting, or you can subscribe for the FREE daily school edition which is delivered by email. The PDF can be printed out to share with your students, or to keep your class paperless, you can share it on an interactive whiteboard or projector-connected computer.

How to integrate News-O-Matic in your classroom: News-O-Matic delivers a daily newspaper written especially for elementary-age students. Each edition comes with 5 current-event, news stories that cover the latest news, science, sports, and wacky kids stories. Students get a chance to not only read the news, but also rate articles, submit questions, and submit their drawings. News-O-Matic is a great way to keep your students reading regularly. Each day they will get engaging non-fiction reading that helps build a global perspective. Use News-O-Matic daily, as a class discussion starter. Challenge your students to make connections between the current events they are reading about, and the learning they are doing in class. Integrate geography study with reading each day. If you have a classroom map, put a place marker on it each time you read an article that is location specific. This could also be done virtually with Google Earth. This practice will help students visualize where each event takes place, while at the same time building geography skills.

Tips: All publications are ad free, so you never have to worry about inappropriate content.

The school app edition of News-O-Matic is $9.99 and can be found here.

Our Little Earth: Global News for World Citizens

November 20, 2013November 16, 2013Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment4415 views

What it is: Our Little Earth is a great international online newspaper for kids. It is delivered every two weeks directly to email and best of all, it is free! Past editions of Our Little Earth can be found on the site for students to read and explore. Each issue helps students stay informed about what current events are happening in the world around them. Every edition has a map showing students where the news came from for the issue. The articles are easy for students to read and do a great job of offering enough background information so that students can make connections to the text and better understand it.

How to integrate Our Little Earth into your classroom: I really like Our Little Earth kids news, it is simple in its delivery, but packs a substantial punch of great information. This is a fantastic source for students to read just-in-time, non-fiction text, at a level that is accessible to them. Subscribe to Our Little Earth and read through a story-a-day for the weeks following. Make sure to model for kids how to explore the themes, politics, geography and history that is related in each article. This is also a great starting point for kids to fact check, make connections, and confirm the reliability of a source. The news is current, so there is always something fresh!

I love using current news with students, it keeps the classroom relevant and touches enough transdisciplinary themes that students can make connections to other reading and learning they are doing. Combine Our Little Earth with @angelamaiers What Breaks Your Heart project. As students are more informed, they will be able to better articulate things about the world they would like to be a part of changing.

Use Google Earth to help students learn geography at the same time. Create a pin on the map for each story read. Ask students to come up with a title for each story (or use the title provided) to help them remember what they read about that location. Add to the same Google Earth map all year-long so that students can begin to see common themes by geography.

Tips: Use the search feature to help students dig even deeper into events and themes. What happened a year ago at this time?

What do you think of Our Little Earth? How do you plan to use it in your classroom?

Newseum

May 13, 2009Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment3399 views

What it is: Newseum is a neat way for students to see the news from around the country. Front pages of newspapers from around the US are displayed on a map. Scroll over the map and the front page of the newspaper pops up. Click on a different country to display newspapers from around the world.

How to integrate Newseum into the classroom: Newseum is a great site to visit for current events. This is a great way to find out what is happening state to state or around the world that is news worthy. Have students compare and contrast front page events around the country or around the world. Is there a particularly news worthy subject that seems to pop up in multiple states, multiple countries? Newseum could be a great discussion starter about newspapers, should they be saved or will they eventually be totally replaced by the Internet? Use Newseum each morning to get an update of current events using an interactive whiteboard. Have students choose 3 or 4 states or countries each day to check on (also great geography practice). This site is like a virtual field trip around the world for newspapers.

Tips: Because these are actual front pages from around the country, some material may not be appropriate fo your students. Always preview before you let your students loose!

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Newseum in your classroom.

Scholastic Story Starters

April 8, 2009Kelly Tenkely1 Comment3488 views

What it is: Story Starters is a fun site for students in kindergarten through sixth grade to use each day as a quick writing activity. Students type in their name and select a grade to begin. Students are taken to a special Story Starter machine that generates writing ideas for newspaper articles, letters, notebooks, or postcards. They can get a new idea by keeping some elements of the idea and spinning again to change elements. The site also features Scholastic’s Word Wizard which always floats on the webpage. Students can type in a word or double click any word on the webpage and get a definition of the word.

How to integrate Scholastic Story Starters into the classroom: Scholastic Story Starters is a fun website to use with the whole class or as a writing learning center. This is a great site to use with an interactive whiteboard or projector to generate ideas for free creative writing time. Let students take turns being the ‘spinner’ that generates writing ideas. Encourage students to share their writing, it is neat to hear all the different ideas that kids come up with from the same story starter. This would be a great website to bookmark on classroom computers for students to visit as a writing center that they can visit when they are stumped for writing ideas.

Tips: You may have to spin a category a few times to get a story starter that makes sense. This is very quick and easy!

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Scholastic Story Starters in your classroom.