Current Events

Melissa and I gave a presentation to our classmates on how to teach current events through fact and opinion.

Here's the link to our powerpoint!

Fact-
*Something that truly exists or happens
*A true piece of information

Opinion- 
*A brief, judgement, or way of thinking about something

How do you teach with fact and opinion? 

1. Give the students an article

2. Have the students read the article

3. Instruct student's to underline the facts and circle the opinions

You can model this for your students! 

Click here to read the article

Melissa and I used this article to demonstrate fact and opinion. This article is from the website Newsela which has hundreds of current events articles and the difficulty can be changed to allow for students to read at their level. We read sentences from the article out loud and asked our peers to tell us whether the statement was a fact or opinion. Newsela has an awesome feature where you can highlight text in different colors. For our demonstration we highlighted opinions in yellow and facts in purple. 

Here is an example from the article of an opinion: 

Here is an example from the article of a fact: 

We had our classmates reflect on what they learned about teaching fact and opinion on Melissa's blog. 

Click here to see what they said!

Why Study History?

Developing a historical perspective helps children to answer questions like: 

Who am I? 

What happened in the past? 

How am I connected to those in the past? 

How has the world changed and how might it change in the future? 

How do our personal stories reflect varying points of view to inform contemporary ideas and actions? 

 (NCSS, 1994b, p. 22). 

In kindergarden children begin to solve questions about the community or school using pictures from past years. They also learn about the people with local buildings and streets are named after. In their school years, children will learn, chronological thinking, historical comprehension, historical analysis and interpretation, historical research capabilities, and historical issues analysis and discussion making. From 5th grade on students become able to be formal operational thinkers so they are able to analyze data into graphs, charts, graphic organizers. They are also able to reconstruct patterns of historical succession and duration. They are able to analyze cause and effect with multiple causes. 

The Bradley Commissions states that learning history is "vital for all citizens in a democracy, because it provides the only avenue we have to reach an understanding of ourselves and of our society, in relation to the human condition over time, and how some things change and others continue" (Bradley Commission, 1987, p. 5). History helps children to develop cognitive skills. 

Want to learn more?

Interdependence of Nations

Nations that are interdependent upon each other benefit by trading.

Why do Nations trade?
Nations trade because they have something that other nations want and need and they need other recourses from other nations.

Is trading always fair?
Some nations have an advantage by providing a product that other nations can't provide. Some nations may provide their good or service better, faster, or in larger amounts giving them a comparative advantage.

What can go wrong?
Some people want tariffs to stop importing certain products. Some nations put trade barriers in place which slows international trade. This effects nations that did not raise tariffs.

Trade issues bring international consequences such as owed salaries and poor working conditions. Students who look at this will also be looking at civic ideals and values, and time, continuity, and change.

How does our country feel about trade?
The U.S. supports free trade without tariffs.

Click here for a great website on teaching trade to children