Blog Posting for 9/19/2014
This week news4kids.org aired the following stories:
Tomatina Festival K-2
Starbucks in Vietnam 3-5
Australian Dinosaur Bones K-2
Jet Street Luge 3-5
Newscast: Tomatina Festival K-2
Essential Question: What is La Tomatina?
Vocabulary: Tomatina, annual, tradition, ammunition, honor, patron saint
Learning Objectives:
– Define La Tomatina as an annual tradition in Buñol, Spain that is known as “the World’s Biggest Food Fight.”
– Define a tradition in everyday language.
Summary: 22,000 people participated in Spain’s annual tomato fight. This food fight is called the Tomatina. In the Tomatina, or La Tomatina in Spanish, people happily splatter friends, family members, and strangers with tomato juice. This event is said to be “the World’s Biggest Food Fight,” and approximately 220,000 pounds of tomatoes are used. The food fight takes place annually, or each year, on the last Wednesday in August. Students learn about the Spanish festival and that many annual traditions exist.
Newscast: Starbucks Struggles in Vietnam 3-5
Essential Question: Why is Starbucks struggling to find business in Vietnam?
Vocabulary: Hanoi, culture, tradition, export, Ethiopia, Arabian Peninsula, colony
Learning Objectives:
– Identify Ethiopia as the country in which coffee was discovered.
– Explain that the coffee drink begins as a bean that grows on trees.
– Explain why some Vietnamese are not visiting Starbucks, while others may be interested in trying its coffee.
Summary: Starbucks Coffee recently opened three new locations in Hanoi, Vietnam. Vietnam is the second-largest coffee exporter in the world after Brazil, and the Vietnamese consume roughly two million bags of coffee a year. Therefore, opening branches of Starbucks Coffee, the largest coffee franchise in the world, in Vietnam’s capital would seem to be a good idea. Starbucks, however, is currently struggling to find customers, since many locals prefer smaller, locally owned coffee shops to bigger brands like Starbucks. Students learn about how Vietnamese prefer their local shops to the shiny corporate shops.
Newscast: Australian Dinosaur Bones K-2
Essential Question: What is Winton, Australia’s claim to fame?
Vocabulary: dinosaur, extinct, fossil, paleontologist, Outback, stampede, prehistoric
Learning Objectives:
– Identify Winton, Australia, as home to the largest collection of dinosaur fossils in the Australian Outback.
– Define a fossil as the remains of creatures that have become rock over long periods.
– Define a paleontologist as a scientist who studies fossils.
– Explain that dinosaurs are long extinct, but their relatives include crocodiles and birds.
Summary: If you like dinosaurs, a tiny town in Australia is the place to go.
Fifteen years ago, a man named David Elliot stumbled upon Australia’s largest collection of dinosaur fossils in the Australian Outback. Today, Winton is home to the Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum. Students learn when dinosaurs lived and how their remains have turned into fossils.
Newscast: Jet Street Luge 3-5
Essential Question: How is Daz Follows looking to change the sport of street luge?
Vocabulary: jet engine, propulsion, street luge, Daz Follows, thrust, turbines, patent, Guinness World Record Book, Frank Whittle
Learning Objectives:
– Define street luge as a sport in which skateboarders race downhill while lying down on their skateboard-like boards.
– Identify Daz Follows as a racer who is trying to use jet propulsion to make his street luge time even faster.
– Identify Frank Whittle as the man who patented the first jet engine.
– Identify the Guinness World Record Book as an annually printed account of achievements and extremes
Summary: Street Luge is an extreme sport in which competitors travel downhill while lying on a board similar to a skateboard. The sport was created in Southern California in the 1970’s, when skateboarders discovered they could travel faster while lying down on their skateboards. Today, the sport has grown worldwide. There are competitions held and enthusiasts all over the world. Students learn that Daz Follows is set to make a run at having the fastest street luge speed of all time by attaching a jet to his street luge board.