Here is a calendar with daily lesson plans using the newspaper for the month of April. The calendar is from the NIE Institute.
To download a printable copy, click on the following link: April Lesson Plans
Red River High School drama students (L-R) Jacoba Woodard, Nic Rolph, Morgan Yound, Seth Cline and Erin Lesch present their annual Character Education performance for children at Century Elementary School Wednesday. Photo by Eric Hylden/Grand Forks Herald
Here is an activity page on Respect to use with younger students. Download by clicking on the following link: RESPECT
March 6 is the Annual Awareness day for “Spread the Word to End the Word.” Grand Forks Red River High School graduate Erin Baumann, 31, stood before hundreds of Valley Middle School students Tuesday and told them what happens when the word “retard” is used. Read the full story by Jennifer Johnson, Herald staff writer, by clicking on the following link: http://www.grandforksherald.com/event/article/id/258148/
Erin Baumann greets her mom and dad, Meredith, left, and Tim Baumann, with a big smile after her presentation to middle school students at Valley Middle School Tuesday. Her speech on stopping students from using the “r-word” in reference to kids with developmental disabilities is part of Wednesday’s national campaign day Spread the Word. Photo by Eric Hylden/Grand Forks Herald
RESPECT – The easiest way to show respect is to treat other people the same way you like to be treated. The world is filled with billions of different kinds of people. All of us have different colored skin and hair. We are different shapes and different sizes. We all have different abilities, too. Some folks can run fast as lightning, or climb a cliff in seconds flat. Other folks need wheelchairs or specially trained dogs to help them get around. Everybody has a unique way of looking at life, too. That’s what makes our world so fascinating! Can you imagine a world where everyone looks the same, and has the same point of view? Yikes! That would be pretty boring!
Luckily, we are all unique and special. And every single one of us deserves to be treated fairly, spoken to nicely, and heard. If everyone showed that kind of respect, there’d be a lot less arguing and fighting.
Here are two FREE guides from the NIE Institute. They are called “Respecting Others.” One is geared for grades K-3 and the other is geared for grades 3-7. Click on the following links to download.
To learn more visit: http://r-word.org/
Information and activities are from KRP’s The Ultimate Holiday Activity Guide.”
March is National Women’s History Month
Schools and communities have been celebrating March as Women’s History Month since 1987. As you plan your classroom celebration, consider creating a bulletin board display of women in history or publishing a Women’s History Month newsletter. You could also stage a play about a milestone in women’s history or sponsor a school debate to discuss women’s issues.In addition, you can use the newspaper to demonstrate the effect that women have on society today, as well as illustrate the contributions women have made in the past.
Consider the following activities:
1. Encourage students to keep a scrapbook of newspaper stories about women who achieve success or make a difference in people’s lives.
2. Tell students about Deborah Samson, a young woman who in 1782 disguised herself as a man to serve in the U.S. Armed Forces during the Revolutionary War. Samson could have faced execution for lying to the army, but she served fearlessly. Now, have students find a story about a woman who exhibited bravery and courage in the line of duty, a military officer, policewoman, firefighter, etc. Allow them to share their stories and discuss whether a woman would have been allowed to do such a job 20, 50, or 100 years ago.
3. Talk about women in government and the many ways they serve as governors, senators, cabinet secretaries, and in other positions once held only by men. Compare the number of female political figures featured in the newspaper to the number of male political figures. Ask them to discuss their conclusions.
WOMEN’S HISTORY GUIDE This guide from the NIE Institute provides biographies of 45 historic women celebrating their accomplishments. A newspaper lesson activity is provided with each bio related to the woman’s area of achievement.
To download click on the following link: legacy.grandforksherald.com/pdfs/WomensHistoryGuide[1].pdf
Here is a calendar with daily lesson plans using the newspaper for the month of February. Each day there is a specific subject focus. Monday – Language Arts, Tuesday – Social Studies, Wednesday – Math, Thursday – Science and Friday is thematic for each month with topics on Newspaper Knowledge, Character Education, Critical Thinking, Life Skills, Careers and Moral Reasoning. The calendar is from the NIE Institute.
To download a printable copy, click on the following link: http://legacy.grandforksherald.com/pdfs/Feb.pdf
A North Dakota man will receive the Medal of Honor on Feb. 11 at the Whitehouse. Read the complete story in the January 17 Grand Forks Herald.
An undated photo of Staff Sgt. Clinton Romesha, while on duty in Afghanistan (Photo credit: Romesha family).
What is the Medal of Honor?
Here is a special page that focuses on the Medal of Honor Character Development Program created by the Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation. The program was produced in conjunction with a group of educators, and the educational curriculum is focused on perpetuating the legacy of the Medal of Honor and its Recipients while providing character education to our nation’s students.
Click on the following link to download the page: http://legacy.grandforksherald.com/pdfs/medal_of_honor.pdf
Note: if you are going to print this pdf, make sure to adjust your print setting to fit on page. The pdf is bigger than 8.5 x 11 (normal print size.)
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.: Celebrate Black History provides a biography, an overview of his upbringing and the history of his most important achievements. This Newspapers in Education supplement is from the NIE Institute.
Click on the following link to download: http://bit.ly/X85N1T
Note: if you are going to print this pdf, make sure to adjust your print setting to “fit on page”. The pdf is bigger than 8.5 x 11 (normal print size.)
Have you seen yet another story in the news about an adult using a computer to lure a minor? This story was published on www.grandforksherald.com recently. “Grand Forks Police have arrested a paraeducator at several middle schools on a charge of luring a minor by computer, police said today.” Click here to read the story.
You can help your teen use Facebook safely by explaining the importance of setting strict privacy controls, using smart judgement about what they choose to post, behaving appropriately and understanding that anything they put online can potentially be misused. Here are more tips on navigating this tricky territory.
1. Talk to your teens about controlling their information. Encourage them to be selective about what they share by customizing recipients of their posts. Activities on Facebook, including the applications teens use and games they play, can be viewed by others.
2. Use strict privacy settings. Review all of the options on your privacy settings page. Facebook’s default settings tend to keep information public until a user makes it private (although Facebook is a little stricter wiht minors’ accounts). “Friends Only” is a good choice for most items, but you can be more selective.
3. Pre-approve tags. Choose settings that allow you to see everything you’ve been tagged in (including photos) before the tag links to your page.
4. Use notification settings. You can tell Facebook that you want to be notified of any activity performed on your name, including photo tags.
5. Don’t post your location. Facebook lets users post their location on every post. Teens shouldn’t do this for safety and privacy reasons. Teens can also “tag” their friends’ location but you can prevent anyone from tagging your location in the How Tags Work section.
6. Set rules about what’s appropriate to post. No sexy photos, no drinking photos, no photos of them doing something that could hurt them in the future. Teens also need to be thoughtful about their status updates, wall posts and comments on friends’ posts. Remind them that once they post something, it’s out of their hands.
7. If in doubt, take it out. Use the “Remove Post” button to taken down risky posts.
8. Encourage teens to self-reflect before they self-reveal. Teens are very much in the moment and are likely to post something they didn’t really mean. Work with them on curbing the impulse. Teach them how to ask themselves why they’re posting something, who will be able to read is and whether it could be misunderstood or used against them later.
9. Watch out for the ads. There are tons of ads on Facebook and most major companies have profile pages. Marketers actively use Facebook to target advertising to your teen.
10. Create your own page. The best way to learn the in and out of Facebook is to create your own page. A great way to start talking to your teens about their Facebook experience is to ask them to help you create your own page.
11. “Friend” younger teens. If your kids are in middle school, it may be a sound policy to know what they’re reposting, since teens that age don’t necessarily understand that they’re creating a digital footprint. Keep in mind that kids can block you from seeing things, so chek in with them, too.
12. Talk to your high school-aged teens about whether they’re comfortable letting you “friend” them. Many will be. But if you are your teen’s friend, don’t fill his/her page with comments, and don’t friend his/her friends. Many parents say Facebook is the only way they know what’s going on in their teens’ life, so tread cautiously.
13. Choose your battles. You’ll see the good, the bad and the truly unfathomable. If you don’t want your teen to unfriend you, don’t ask them about every transgression. Keep it general.
14. Be a model friend. Remember that your teens can see what you post, too. Model good behavior for your teens and keep your own digital footprint clean.
15. Review Facebook’s Safety Center. Several FAQs, from general safety to safety for teens, provide detailed information on how to use Facebook safely.
To download a printable copy of these tips, click on the following link: http://bit.ly/SkUXd2
Throughout the year, we get to celebrate, or show how grateful we are, for certain people and things on holidays.
On some holidays, kids get to stay home from school, and parents get the day off work. Those are great days for the whole family to hang out together, celebrating!
On Arbor Day and Earth Day we show our appreciation for the earth and its natural resources. On President’s Day and Martin Luther King, Jr. Day we take time to remember, and show our gratitude for, the great leaders of our country who struggled for our rights and freedoms. On Veteran’s Day we say thanks to the men and women who have fought and died protecting our nation all over the world. On Labor Day we give thanks, and a day of rest to those people who work hard at their jobs all year long. On Mothers Day, Fathers Day and Grandparents Day we show how grateful we are for our loved ones.
As you can see, the list goes on and on. That’s because we all have a lot to be thankful for! We can be thankful for our health, our families, our friends, and much more. But you know what? We don’t have to wait for a holiday like Thanksgiving to say we’re grateful. You can show how grateful you are every day!
A great way to show gratitude is by being polite and saying “thank you” and “you’re welcome.” Being loyal and faithful to your friends and family shows gratitude. Just treating other people, young and old, with respect shows gratitude. Handshakes, hugs and kind words show gratitude, and make other people grateful to you! And you know what’ s the best part? You can spread a little gratitude all year long!
What or who are you grateful for? On a piece of paper make a list of all of the things and/or people you are grateful for.
Information is from the Washington Times NIE and the NIE Institute.
Central staff and students wearing their “Knights Fight Cancer” t-shirts on Oct. 2, 2012. Over 250 t-shirts were sold by GF Central DECA students to raise funds for the “Look Good Feel Better” program at Altru Cancer Center.
Tickets were also sold for a chance to win one of the 25 gift baskets. 8 baskets were specially donated by the following businesses: Choice Health and Fitness, GFC Volleyball, GFC English Dept, UND bookstore, Pampered Chef, Thirty-One , Scentsy, Valley Dairy. Check out these great baskets!
A check for $2,600.00 was donated to the “Look Good Feel Better” program at the Altru Cancer Center. Great job!
