Current Events in History

“What’s Hot” – A Current Events Assignment

It’s easy to forget why we learn some of the things we do in school. Reading newspapers, websites, magazines, and listening to the news is one way we can see how our class content impacts everyday life and creates relevancy. “What’s Hot” will be an ongoing history and science assignment that focuses on current events. Students should be prepared to share their article and discuss the topic with their class. There will be no late assignments accepted for What’s Hot.

Article Requirements: (10%)  Current (only up to a year old).  At least 3 paragraphs long  Related to the current unit that of study  From a reputable source – see the list below (no wikipedia!)  Cited correctly  ANNOTATED to show your thinking – who, what happened, when, where, why/how  Stapled to the back of your summary

On your own paper please include the following:

1. Identify three words that you don’t know and write them on the top of your paper, if you know all of the words, choose three key/important terms. Find the definition of each of the terms and write it in your own words. (10%)

2. A summary of your article – must include the following: (70%)  A correct topic sentence that uses the IVF format  At least five important details from your annotations – who, what, when, where, etc.  A conclusion sentence that restates the main idea of the article  HONORS: your opinion about the topic?

3. A correct citation of your article: (10%)  The title of the article  The date of the article and the date you accessed the article  The author of the article if listed  The source of the article- web or publication

Summary Writing Rubric:

Advanced Summary Proficient Summary Partially Proficient Summary Topic sentence uses correct IVF Topic sentence uses correct IVF Topic sentence does not use format and uses precise format the correct IVF format vocabulary All important details are Contains only some details. All important details are included included (who, what, where, (who, what, where, when, how, when, how, and why if Ideas are not in logical order. and why if applicable) and uses applicable) and uses advanced advanced vocabulary vocabulary Missing a concluding Details are in a logical order. sentence with the restated Ideas are in logical order. main ideas. Ideas are connected to make the writing flow Author restates the Restated main idea doesn’t main idea again as a conclusion differ from the first sentence. without writing it the same as in the first sentence.

Source ideas: Ideas for current event articles: please use the following websites to find current news articles (within the last year). Remember, it needs to be a NEWS article, not an encyclopedia article - no wikipedia, etc. Other news magazines and newspapers are acceptable as well. However we strongly encourage parents to monitor sources for quality publications.

HISTORY SOURCES: SCIENCE SOURCES: 1. Denver Post: http://www.denverpost.com/ http://www.livescience.com/ 2. Coloradoan: http://www.coloradoan.com/ http://www.nationalgeographic.com/ 3. Upfront Magazine: http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/ http://teacher.scholastic.com/scholasticnews/indepth/up http://www.sciencedaily.com/ front/index.asp http://www.sciencenews.org/ 4. National Geographic: www.nationalgeographic.com http://www.scientificamerican.com/ 5. History Channel: http://www.history.com/ http://www.world-science.net/ 6. Time for Kids Magazine: http://www.popsci.com/ http://www.timeforkids.com/TFK/kids/news http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/ 7. MSNBC News: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/ http://www.time.com/time/health 8. Google News: http://news.google.com/ http://www.sciencenews.org/view/interest/id/3/topic/Science_News_F 9. Smithsonian Magazine: or_Kids http://www.smithsonianmag.com/

Here’s an example of what your paper might look like: Name: Period: Date ______What’s Hot______

Key Words and definitions: 1. 2. 3.

Summary of article:

Citation Title of article: Date of article: Author of article (first and last name): Source of article: Here are some websites to help you with your What’s Hot assignment: Summarizing - http://www.columbia.edu/cu/ssw/write/handouts/summary.html Annotating - http://www.spx.org/departments/english/summerreading/documents/SummerReading- Annotating.pdf Citing sources - http://www.psdschools.org/learning/bibformat.aspx http://www.easybib.com/