Monday, May 20, 2013, Tracy Bergum’s 5th grade students from Sacred Heart School in East Grand Forks visited the Grand Forks Herald downtown office. Thanks for coming – we enjoyed your visit!
Sacred Heart 5th Graders
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Tag Archives: k-12 education
Armed Forces Day 2013
May 18 is Armed Forces Day. What is it and how did it originate?
President Harry S. Truman led the effort to establish a single holiday for citizens to come together and thank our military members for their patriotic service in support of our country.
On August 31, 1949, Secretary of Defense Louis Johnson announced the creation of an Armed Forces Day to replace separate Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force Days.
The single day celebration stemmed from the unification of the Armed Forces under the Department of Defense.
For more information and to download a FREE poster visit http://www.defense.gov/afd/
ACTIVITIES
Here are some activities you can use with the newspaper from the NIE Institute.
1. Look through the newspaper for mentions of either active military officials or veterans of war. Why are they mentioned? Create a bulletin board or scrapbook with related articles and photographs. You may want to use an entire week’s worth of papers.
2. Do a newspaper scavenger hunt for at least 15 words that could refer to Armed Forces Day (example: war; holiday; military; etc.). When the 15 words are found, write your own short story using at least 10 of the words you’ve chosen. Give your story a military theme.
3. Many military personnel are on active duty. Find an article that deals with one of our current military operations. Work with two or three fellow students to write an article in favor of or against our current military action. Schedule a classroom debate to discuss the pros and cons.
4. Invite local military personnel to visit your classroom. Have students write feature stories about the visitors, discussing their lives to share with other students.
Congratulations Katie!
Katie Delohery with her 2012 ND Newspaper Association Newspapers in Education Teacher of the Year Award
Congratulations to Katie Delohery who was named ND Newspaper Association 2012 Newspapers in Education Teacher of the Year!
Katie is in her sixth year teaching in the Interventions Program at Grand Forks Herald Central High School. She participates in the Herald’s Newspapers in Education Program.
I nominated Katie for this award for her dedication and her creative ways of using newspapers in her classroom. Here are the judges’ comments: “Delohery has used the newspaper in the classroom successfully– but this is a special situation. Delohery uses the newspaper in her Interventions Tutoring Program – a classroom for “at risk” high school students. It’s a program for students who with out it, might slip through the cracks. Using the Herald in Delohery’s classroom has benefited the students in their learning process.”
Interventions Tutoring is a program to assist students who have been determined to be at risk for school failure. The Interventions Tutoring Program addresses student needs in terms of academic supports, school participation/involvement, and support/related services. The program’s mission is to identify and remove obstacles that cause school failure and increase students’ resiliency, perseverance, connectedness to school, and hope for achievement. The Interventions Tutoring Program’s goals align with school district initiatives for literacy.
• To improve student attitude toward reading
• To improve student motivation to read both in and out of school
• To expose students to a variety of readings
• To engage in conversations about the purposes for reading
• To help students acquire reading skills and strategies
• To promote independent learning and student responsibility for their own learning
Katie shared with me some of the ways she uses the Herald in her classroom:
“The newspapers are on display in our classroom for our students to readily access. We choose an article of the week to display on our bulletin board where multiple copies are available for students to read. One student mentioned, “I enjoy the articles of the week because they are unique articles or articles I typically wouldn’t have read otherwise.” There isn’t an hour that goes by where the newspapers haven’t been used by students.
Since our program’s goals align with the district’s literacy initiatives we often times use articles for reading strategies to help with comprehension. We have used articles for students to practice their questioning, activating background knowledge, predicting, visualizing, connecting and summarizing skills. I asked a student why they enjoy having the newspapers available in the classroom she said, “I really enjoy having newspapers available in the classroom. It keeps me updated on current events and also allows us to do fun learning strategies that involve articles from the newspaper.
Other fun strategies we have done with the articles include: Newspaper scavenger hunts, locating our vocabulary words, learning vocabulary strategies, using context clues, using discussion protocols, examining writing styles, developing opinion pieces and many more. The great thing about getting the newspaper every day is there is a variety of ways we can use them for learning while keeping up with current events. I LOVE watching children learn; it is my passion and I am confident the Grand Forks Herald has helped many students learn!”
Grand Forks Central students attend International DECA Conference
Thanks to KimBerly Clark, Grand Forks Central Marketing Teacher/DECA Adviser for sending us the following information!
Left to right: Jessica Fairley, Jenna Wheeler, Madi Remer, Jason Kuntz, Jamie Griggs and Parker Luney
GFC DECA Members Attend International Conference
More than 16,000 students and advisors from various countries and all 50 states attended DECA’s International Conference April 24-28 in Anaheim, CA. National DECA President Morgan Thompson, from North Dakota, opened the conference in high spirits and Steve Greenbaum, CEO of PostNet, spoke about overcoming adversity and becoming successful. Mr. Greenbaum was featured on Undercover Boss. DECA members competed in a wide margin of events and spent a great deal of time networking with each other.
North Dakota was represented by over 150 students and advisors. Grand Forks Central DECA had six students attending the conference: Jamie Griggs, Jenna Wheeler, Parker Luney, Jessica Fairley, Jason Kuntz, and Madi Remer.
Along with the conference Central students experienced Disneyland, Hollywood, Rodeo Drive, Beverly Hills, and Santa Monica Pier. As a whole the conference in Anaheim California was a great experience. The competition prepared students for real life situations and got them thinking about what’s next.
Congratulations to Grand Forks Central DECA members Jamie Griggs, Jenna Wheeler, and Madi Remer who placed in the top 30% in their event, with over 150-200 members in each event.
Cinco de Mayo
Cinco de Mayo is a national holiday in Mexico, but it is also widely celebrated by Mexican-Americans in the United States. The holiday, which in Spanish means the “Fifth of May,” commemorates the Battle of Puebla, when Mexican patriots stopped a French invasion. It often is confused with Mexico’s Independence Day, which is Sept. 16.
The Battle of Puebla victory was significant in that the smaller, less well-equipped army toppled the bigger, stronger one.
To honor the day, people throughout Mexico, as well as many cities throughout the United States, celebrate with festivals and fiestas, enjoying traditional Mexican food and special music and dances. People often don clothes of red and green — two of the colors of the Mexican flag (along with white). -McClatchy Newspapers
ACTIVITIES from the KRP Ultimate Holiday Activity Guide
While most Mexican-Americans celebrate the traditional American holidays, many also continue to observe the major holidays of their homeland, such as Cinco de Mayo. Often, they do so with fiestas. Explain to students that fiesta means festival, a colorful celebration that can include fireworks, dancing, the ringing of bells, parades, and plenty of food and drink. Another Mexican tradition, the pinata, is also usually present. Pinatas, which are commonplace in many American celebrations, are usually made of papier-mache and are shaped like animals. Find a papier-mache “recipe” and old newspapers and help your students make a pinata for Cinco de Mayo. Display their work throughout the school.
Discuss other ways Mexican-Americans have had an influence on American society and your community. Ask students to find and clip newspaper stories and photos that illustrate this influence. They can create a bulletin board display in honor of this important Mexican national holiday.
Mexico is an important American neighbor. Things that happen in Mexico often affect the United States and vice versa. Have students look for a news story about an event or happening in Mexico that will have an impact on the United States. Allow them to discuss their conclusions. Then have them look for a U.S. story that might have an effect on Mexico.
Celebrate Earth Day with these Newspaper Activities
Every day is Earth Day for people who care about the environment. But for one day each year, people all over the world join forces to call attention to the beauty of the Earth and the ways in which we can protect it.
Here are a number of activities to help you call attention to this special day. These activities are from KRP’s Ultimate Holiday Activity Guide distributed by the NIE Institute.
1. Talk about environmental problems in your community. Have students find a newspaper story about one of those problems. Ask them how they would solve the problem, then have them write a letter to the editor of the newspaper expressing their thoughts.
2. Have students look through the newspaper’s advertisements for products that are promoted as environmentally friendly or safe for the environment. What conclusions can they draw from their findings? Encourage discussion.
3. Ask students to pick one product advertised in the newspaper and discuss the effects that product might have on the environment.
4. Instruct students to look through the newspaper for items that can be recycled. Ask them to list the items and find out if each can be recycled in your community. Conclude by having students come up with their own ways to recycle the newspaper (use as wrapping paper, line the bird cage, etc.). Encourage them to be creative.
A Curriculum Guide to Teach Environmental Education 
Click here to download the guide
Here is a 53 page guide you can download from the EGBAR Foundation titled “THE EGBAR Clean-Up Challenge.” This curriculum was developed to help educators effectively and easily integrate environmental education into their classroom teaching. This curriculum guide covers a variety of environmental issues such as: sources of pollution, hazardous wastes, recycling, energy, renewable and non-renewable resources, global warming, and environmental laws. Each lesson is designed with a student objective, grade level recommendation, list of materials, discussion of teaching strategies for the lesson, and an opportunity to extend the lesson through additional activities. For each lesson there is an accompanying student activity sheet. The activity sheet is ready for you to copy and can be used as an independent assignment or cooperative learning activity.
Cool it: the good, the bad and what you can do about global warming
Is there anything better than a warm, sunny day? All winter, we wait for the weather to warm up so we can throw off our sweaters and pull on our shorts. Warm days let us play in the parks and playgrounds, ride our bikes or head for the swimming pool.
But could our weather be getting too warm? Scientists think so. Environmental scientists and geoscientists study the Earth and its history. They measure and track all kinds of information so they can help us protect the environment. Scientists tell us what may happen in the future and give advice on taking care of our wonderful planet.
This NIE tab, Cool it: The Good, the Bad and What You Can Do About Global Warming was produced by KRP and distributed by the NIE Institute.
Download the tab by clicking here
Note: if you are going to print this pdf, you will need to adjust your print setting to fit on page. The pdf is bigger than 8.5 x 11 (normal print size.)
April lesson plans using the newspaper
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
Spring Holidays
From KRP’s The Ultimate Holiday Activity Guide. Here are some holidays that are observed in March and sometimes in April.
The Christian observances of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter, and the Jewish Passover are important religious holidays that fall in March or April. The Eastern Orthodox Easter, called Pascha, also falls into this time period.
Spring holy days provide many opportunities for you to discuss such concepts as tolerance and respect for each other’s beliefs. Begin a discussion of tolerance by explaining to students that tolerance means to put up with practices and beliefs that are different from your own. Then ask them to find five items in the newspaper: stories, photos and comics that are examples of tolerance or intolerance. Conclude by asking them to describe the effects of the acts of tolerance or intolerance in each example.
Instruct students to find a newspaper photo that shows diversity among a group of people. Ask: What differences do you see between the people pictured? Have students discuss the level of tolerance or intolerance portrayed in the photo.
Special guests from Angle Inlet School
Monday afternoon we had visitors at the Grand Forks Herald all the way from Angle Inlet School in Minnesota. Located on the Canadian border, in Minnesota’s Northwest Angle, the Angle Inlet School is the only surviving one room school in the state. Although sixty-five miles from Warroad, Minnesota the school is part of the Warroad School District #690.
http://www.yahooey.com/angleschool/
The Angle is accessible from the rest of Minnesota by one of two ways:
- The Angle can be reached without crossing the international border by crossing the Lake of the Woods by boat when the lake is free of ice, by ice road in the winter or by flying over it in a plane. No automobile ferries currently operate on the lake, so vehicles coming from the rest of Minnesota can reach the Angle without crossing the border only in winter. While the ice is forming in late autumn and breaking up in the spring, the lake’s surface cannot be crossed safely – at these times domestic access to the Angle is possible only by air.
- To reach the Angle by land, travelers take Minnesota State Highway 313N (Warroad, Minnesota to Sprague, Manitoba) across the border into Manitoba, Canada, connecting to Provincial Road 12 in Manitoba at the border, then to Provincial Road 308 Manitoba, to Provincial Road 525, then finally crossing back into the United States in the Northwest Angle south of rural Angle Inlet, Minnesota (Angle Inlet Township). The distance from Warroad or Roseau to the Angle proper is approximately 63 miles through Minnesota and Manitoba back to the Angle’s U.S. border. It is approximately 10 miles from the actual border (intersection of Manitoba #525 and NWA Road Dawson) to the rural developments of the Northwest Angle.
Reporting booth at Jim’s Corner. Upon entering the Northwest Angle by road, the traveler must enter the booth and report to U.S. Customs via videophone. Before leaving the Northwest Angle by road, one must report to Canadian customs from the same booth.
The border crossing is unstaffed. Travelers using the single gravel road in and out of the Angle are expected to use a telephone at Jim’s Corner, Youngs Bay Marina or Carlsons Landing to contact Canadian or U.S. Customs and make their declarations. -Wikipedia.org
Angle Inlet School Photo by Linda Kastl
Teacher Linda Kastl, her students and grandmother of some of the students traveled to Grand Forks on Sunday. Monday the group toured WDAZ TV in the morning and the Grand Forks Herald in the afternoon. They are pictured below in the lobby of the Grand Forks Herald. Thanks for making the trip to see us. We enjoyed your visit!
Photo by Sue Lindlauf
