CURRENT EVENTS:


Students have chosen a day of the week to present a current event.  The school day before their current event is due; students select and prepare an article during silent reading time.  On the day that the current event is due, students present a basic summary of the article (who, what, when, where, why) and they locate the event on the world map for the class.

Students will complete a total of four current events each quarter (the only exception is that fourth quarter students will be preparing and presenting only three for a total of 15 current event during the academic year).  They have been given a handout (available below) that explains how to complete the current event assignment and another handout with an example article completed for them.

I create a PowerPoint presentation of the 15 (or so) most significant and interesting news items.  The review will be posted after current event presentations have concluded in both PowerPoint and PDF formats.  We review the news items in class, and students take a quiz on the items at the end of the second week.  Quizzes alternate between individual and group.



Current Event Explanation and Presentation Schedules:


Current Event Assignment Sheets for Semester 1:
Current Event Assignment Sheets for Semester 2:











Current Event Reviews:  Semester 1



Current Event Reviews:  Semester 2




CURRENT EVENT SOURCES:

The New York Times

The Washington Post

BBC News

NPR News

The Christian Science Monitor


MAPS:

world: continents

world: physical

world: pacific view

Africa map
Africa map (blank)

Asia map
Asia map (blank)

Europe map
Europe map (blank)

North America map
North America map (blank)

United States 
United States (blank)

Oceania map v.1 (blank)
Oceania map v.2 [slightly larger] (blank)
link to a "clickable" online map: http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/g(ocea.html             
link to a very good map of Oceania:  http://www.martinsaphug.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/East-Asia-Oceania-Political-Map.jpg

South America map
South American map (blank)


Links to geography quizzes and other geography resources:

 http://www.lizardpoint.com/fun/geoquiz/afrquiz.html

      a wonderful resource in which the quiz provides the country's name and you click on the country--the drop down window in the middle of the right side of the window allows you to choose other continents/regions

http://www.ilike2learn.com/

     another great resource with bright colors and other maps available (from the linked menus on either the left or right of the window)