Blog Posting for 11/14/2014
This week news4kids.org aired the following stories:
Skateboard Guitars in Argentina K-2
Ebola Outbreak 3-5
Swimming with Whales in Australia K-2
Midterm Elections 3-5
Newscast: Skateboard Guitars in Argentina K-2
Essential Question: What does Ezequiel Galasso use to make electric guitars?
Vocabulary: craftsman, deck, grip tape, Tony Hawk, Pearl Jam, recycle
Learning Objectives:
– Define recycling in their own words.
– Explain how Galasso transforms old, broken skateboards into electric guitars.
Summary: Skateboarding is a steadily growing sport in Argentina. More people than ever are going to skate parks to perform rail slides, and big jumps. One risk of performing freestyle moves in the park is the chance of breaking a board. Until recently most skaters in Buenos Aires would throw their boards in the trash. Now a local guitar maker and craftsman, Ezequiel Galasso has created a completely new use for the old and battered skateboards. He makes them into electric guitars!
Newscast: Ebola Outbreak 3-5
Essential Question: What is Ebola and how did the recent outbreak occur?
Vocabulary: Ebola, virus, contract, contagious, quarantine, symptoms, Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone
Learning Objectives:
– Define Ebola as a contagious virus that originated in Africa and has recently spread to other countries.
– Explain how Ebola is spread – through contact with bodily fluids and NOT simply through the air.
– Define the word “quarantine” as a method of separating people who have a virus to reduce the risk that they will spread it to other people.
Summary: Recently, many people in the U.S. have been worried about the possible spread of Ebola, a virus that has recently affected many people in the West African nations of Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. Although the news of a contagious disease may be scary, the U.S. government and medical community are taking many steps to make sure that Ebola does not spread among Americans and to stop the outbreak of Ebola around the world. Although it is very unlikely that Ebola will become a serious problem in the U.S, it is important to learn the facts about Ebola and understand why so many people are talking about it.
Newscast: Swimming with Whales in Australia K-2
Essential Question: What distinguishes a humpback whale?
Vocabulary: humpback, majestic, cod, anchovies, sardines, mackerel, bubble net, blowhole, acrobatic, flipper, propel, migrate
Learning Objectives:
– Identify a whale as a mammal that lives in the water and has a blowhole that helps it breathe and also catch food.
– Define a humpback whale as the sixth largest whale in the world that has a large hump on its back.
– Explain how humpback whales can propel themselves up to 50 feet in the air using their large flippers.
– Explain why humpback whales migrate to the Indian Ocean.
Summary: Tourists that visit Queensland’s Fraser Coast have the chance to get up close and personal with the sixth largest whale in the world, the humpback whale. More than a million people have gone humpback whale watching, but now visitors have the chance to be eye-to-eye with these majestic mammals by swimming with them in the open ocean.
Newscast: Midterm Elections 3-5
Essential Question: What is the structure of the United States Congress?
Vocabulary: Congress, election, midterm, House of Representatives, Senate, senators, governors, Congresspeople, delegates, representatives, parties, Democratic Party, Republican Party, campaign
Learning Objectives:
– Explain how Congress is split into two bodies: the House of Representatives and the Senate.
– Identify that we have 435 members of the House of Representatives, 100 senators, and 50 governors, and explain how the number of delegates to the House is determined.
– Identify November as the month in which governmental elections take place, every two and four years.
– Name the two main political parties as the Democratic and Republican Parties.
Summary: Every two years, during November, governmental elections take place in all 50 states across the country. This year’s elections are “midterm elections”, because it is in the middle or half way point of President Obama’s term or time in office. The people who ran for office this election are all 435 members of the House of Representatives, 36 out of 100 senators, and 36 out of 50 governors.
