Current Events is set-up like a real life news team. We will use our reading table as our anchor station. Each scheduled participant will be sitting at the table playing a role on the 3-BA News Team. Students are encouraged to "play the part." A student may dress up, bring in props and engage his/her audience, however, he or she must remember he/she is giving presentation for a grade- not too much silliness. The students really enjoy this assignment. It’s a great way to learn about the news and have some fun along the way. The roles they will play are as follows:

Anchor Person - The anchor person needs to tell the class of a current news story. The news story can came from a number of different sources; the newspaper, a magazine, television, etc. You may report a story that is global, national, state or local. I have included some Current Events sites for kids at the bottom of this page to help them find a current appropriate news story. FYI - the weather is not an anchor story UNLESS there is some news worthy weather to report such as a natural disaster, wild fires, etc.

Book Critic – This student gets to tell us about a book that he/she has read. Give us the details about the characters and events. Try not to tell the ending, but encourage kids to read an amazing book! Tell us your thoughts on a piece of literature and tell us whether or not your classmates should read the book.

Commercial – This one is lots of fun and a great opportunity for creativity. The student can create a product or advertise a current product on the market. Create a commercial for the product and try to sell it to the class. Once an original idea is used, students may not copy the idea. Use your imagination and come up with your own idea.

Food Critic- The food critic tells about a favorite restaurant giving descriptive details about the food and atmosphere. The student can also tell about a favorite home cooked recipe as well. Just give all the mouth- watering details.

Movie Critic - The child should pick a "G' or "PG" rated, school appropriate movie to review. This movie can be a television movie, video, or DVD as long as the content is appropriate and has parent approval. Tell us about the characters, basic plot (DON’T GIVE AWAY THE ENDING) and then rate the movie on your own scale. (Ex. I give this movie 5 out of 5 stars).

Sports Reporter- This person can write about any world, national, or local sport event from ping pong, to NASCAR. Students can also write about a sport that they are participating in or have attended.

Reporter's Choice - This is a new category this year. When a student is assigned reporter's choice, he or she can choose a topic he or she would like to report on that is different from the other assigned topics. For instance a student could report on the weather, fashion, gardening, pets, animals, music, art, video games or vacation spots. This is the student's opportunity to report on something of personal interest.

*Students will report approximately once a month and have a chance to be each type of reporter throughout the year.

** Students should try and keep track of what books, restaurants, movies, etc. students have already given reports on so there are no repetitions.

Grading Expectations

1. Each student is a part of a news team for Current Events. If a student forgets his/ her assignment, the news team is missing a teammate and the whole news cast suffers. Students will learn about responsibility and teamwork.

2. Each reporter needs to turn in a “script” or written report that is at east 5 sentences long. (5 sentences is the bare minimum) The report should be long enough to cover the topic and provide details.

3. The written reports need to include proper sentence structure and demonstrate good penmanship. Scraps of paper and tiny notepad paper are unacceptable. The report may be typed or in the form of note cards, but it must be the student's ideas. No plagiarism! Students should read use their own words to present the information he/she found on a topic.

4. Technology is encouraged! Students may create a PowerPoint, Google presentation or video. Students that create a visual presentation do not need to provide an additional written script. Students may bring in flash drives, send a youtube link or bring in a tablet to display the multimedia item.

5. No student will not be allowed to report information off the top of his/her head. If a student does not have a prepared presentation, he/she will not be allowed to participate in the news team that day.

6. Students may turn in late reports, but points will be deducted.

7. Missing a Current Events report without a make-up report will result in a "0".

Current Events Reporters Schedule Through the end of 2016