Day 1

Goals:

1. Students will become familiar with events occurring in the Caribbean region through reading newspaper clippings and other sources of news dealing with the Caribbean.

2. To motivate children to read newspapers and magazines in addition to reading books.

3. Creatively decorate classroom.

Time required:

1. One hour for introduction and creation of board.

2. 15 to 30 minutes every day here after to discuss events brought in by students.

Resources\Materials:

Any materials which will allow students to decorate the room with the Caribbean in mind.

Procedure:

1. Construct the current events board.

2. Place the board in an area of high visibility so all students have access to it.

3. Encourage students to browse through newspapers and magazines at home and find articles and pictures which deal with the Caribbean in any way. The teacher(s) will also be adding articles to the board so there will always be something there to discuss.

4. Have the students submit articles and pictures in the morning so they can be placed on the current events board as soon as possible.

5. Discuss the articles and pictures on the current events board at a regular basis. If there are many articles brought in by the students, use more time for discussion.

6.Keep the board activity going until the end of the lessons so the students can see how much information is available on the Caribbean.

7. Allow students to creatively decorate the room in conjunction with the creation of the current events board.

Assessment:

There is no formal means of assessment for this activity. Instead, this activity is a great tool to measure participation by the students. Those students who do not participate will be given assignments that will require them to submit something to the board. Students are not required to bring in articles every day or every week, but they must submit something.

Curricular Strands:

Social Studies - current events

Art - room decoration

Possible Extensions:

Watch CNN in the classroom every morning. Students can build a yearbook of current events from all the articles that are brought into class. Students build individual current events journals they report on at the end of the lesson.

Carribean Unit - written by Trina Collins, Richard Wheeler, & Daniel Shimek

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