Donna Lewis
   
    Title:
   
   And the News Is...

       [A lesson plan for incorporating Social Studies

(current events) and Language Arts (main theme of a story)]
   
    Grade Level:
   
   3-4
   
    Length:
   
   45 minutes
   
    Performance Expectation:
   
   The students will create a news

collage of 3-5 articles and decide what is the common theme.

Each group will then display their collage.
   
    Materials:
   
   several issues of newspapers and magazines;

            glue          scissors             markers or crayons

            posterboard or large sheets of construction paper
   
    Procedures:
   
   (Introduction)

   The teacher will relate several news stories he/she heard

on the morning news.  Students will then discuss, as a class,

ideas all the news stories share. (Example: The teacher may

state she heard on the radio that morning that stamps have been

issued depicting Princess Diana, she also heard Whoopi Goldberg

has made a new movie and this is the anniversary of Amelia

Erhardts famous flight.  Through classroom suggestions the

students might suggest common themes such as: people, women,

women most people know, etc.)  The teacher will write all the

common themes suggested by the students on the board.

            (development)

   Students will work in small groups, examining articles

in newspapers and magazines.  Each group will select 3-5

stories, and decide upon a common theme for all the

selections.  Students will then create a collage of their

selections and write their names and the central theme on

the back of the poster.  Posters will be displayed in the

room.

            (closure)

   Each student will then move about the room, studying

posters and deciding on their idea of a central theme for

each poster, recording their thoughts in a journal.
   
    Assessment:
   
   Each student will be evaluated on their

individual interpretations of collages.  Assessment

will be based on the following criteria (per collage):

        3 pts.   Student will be able to relate 3 common themes

        2 pts.   Student will be able to relate 2 common themes

        1 pt.    Student will be able to relate 1 common theme

        Students will be given 5 points for working in their

group to create a collage and may earn 10 additional points for

their individual interpretations of collages.

        The rationale behind this assessment is the 5 points for

working in a group, searching through current events selections

would be a social studies grade and the 10 points for

interpretations of main theme correlation would be a language

arts grade.
   
    Adaptations/considerations:
   
   * due to time, students could select only 1 or 2 posters to

reflect upon in their journals.

   * students who have difficulty writing, could explain their

thoughts verbally to the teacher

   * classrooms could use headlines only for this activity

   * if students in the class have difficulty reading, the

teacher could assign a "reader" in each group.

   * might only use the first 4 paragraphs of each story so

students don't get overwhelmed

   * a numbering off system or choosing a color card may be used

to divide the class into groups

   * each group could make an oral presentation of their poster

and explain their choice of common theme

   * television or radio articles could be taped and replayed

for students
   
    Reference:
   
   Donna Lewis, (1997)