Blog Posting for 1/16/2015
This week news4kids.org aired the following stories:
Key West Dog Walk K-3
Maasai Olympics 4-8
Chinese Ice Fishing Festival K-3
French Terrorist Attacks 4-8
Newscast: Key West Dog Walk K-3
Essential Question: What makes dogs unique animals?
Vocabulary: Dachshund, domesticated, breeding, companions, interspecies, Chihuahua, Irish Wolfhound, social intelligence, mimic
Learning Objectives:
– Note that there are over 300 different breeds of dogs in the world.
– Identify dogs as unique animals in their social intelligence.
Summary: Key West Florida brought in the New Year with the 10th annual Key West Dachshund Walk, where participants and their pups strolled through the streets of the island’s historic district. About 175 short-legged dogs and their owners took part in the walk, many of whom sported fancy costumes and accessories.
Newscast: Maasai Olympics 4-8
Essential Question: What is the purpose of the Maasai Olympics?
Vocabulary: Maasai, javelin, tradition, co-exist, tourism, rungu, exposure, endangered, extinction, interweaving
Learning Objectives:
– Identify the Maasai tribe as living in southern Kenya and northern Tanzania, and find those countries on the map.
– Explain why the tradition of hunting lions has now become an Olympics competition that does not involve killing lions.
– Identify some unique aspects of Maasai culture.
Summary: This tradition has existed among the young men of the Maasai tribe for hundreds of years. The Maasai believed that in order for a young boy to become a warrior and a man, he must prove his strength by killing a lion. Only then could he start dating Maasai women and be respected by his friends and family. However, in the past ten years, many tribe members have started protesting this tradition. Today, instead of hunting for lions, Maasai boys prove that they are ready to be warriors by competing and winning Olympic-style events instead.
Newscast: Chinese Ice Fishing Festival K-3
Essential Question: What is ice fishing and where is it most popular?
Vocabulary: Ice fishing, harvest, Great Lakes, auction, endurance
Learning Objectives:
– Define ice fishing as a winter sport, most popular in northern, cold regions of the world, that involves breaking through ice and retrieving fish from the icy water below.
– Identify the Great Lakes Region on a map.
Summary: Dozens of fishermen gathered on frozen Chagan Lake in northeast China’s Jilin Province during the annual Chagan Ice Fishing Festival, hoping for a good harvest during the annual fishing season. The festival will last two months, and attracts thousands of visitors. Chagan Lake, which means ‘holy water’ in Mongolian, is one of the largest freshwater lakes in China. Its pure water quality makes it home to nearly 70 different kinds of fish and shrimp.
Newscast: French Terrorist Attacks 4-8
Essential Question: What recent terrorist attacks have transpired in France?
Vocabulary: extremists, hostages, Charlie Hebdo, satirical, Al Qaeda, Muhammad, condemn, democracy
Learning Objectives:
– Describe the three recent terrorist attacks in France.
– Explain the meaning behind the slogan, “Je suis Charlie.”
– Explain the Islamic prohibition of depicting the prophet Muhammad.
Summary: Recently a terrorist attack took place in the French capital Paris when Islamic extremists attacked the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo’s main offices. In the attack, 12 people were killed including the magazine’s chief editor, head cartoonists, and 2 police officers. Two days after the attacks French police and anti-terrorist forces tracked the attackers, two brothers Cherif and Said Kouachi, and killed them in a shootout. Unfortunately another extremist, Amedy Coulibaly, took hostages at a Jewish grocery store and killed four French citizens before being killed by the police. The day before Coulibaly, accompanied by his girlfriend, Hayat Boumeddiene, shot and killed a French policewoman. In total 17 innocent French citizens were killed in the attacks. Boumeddiene is believed to have escaped to Syria.
