Inquiring Minds: News and Philanthropy
What is the role of philanthropy in my communities?
Photo Credit: The End of Another by Dennis S. Hurd is licensed under CC by 2.0
Students learn about the structure of the newspaper and identify acts of philanthropy and kindness in the news. They rewrite events from literature into news stories about acts of kindness. They look to their own communities for examples of philanthropy and write a newsletter that teaches others about philanthropy.
Students are introduced to the concept of current events. Current events are placed on a timeline and become a part of their daily routine. This builds a sense of time, chronological order and news events over the course of the school year. Students also become familiar with the purpose of news and the contents of a newspaper in particular looking for articles based on Acts of Philanthropy. Parents are encouraged to share news stories with their children.
Students analyze the format and structure of newspaper articles. Then, they rewrite events from literature into news stories about acts of kindness.
Students have been looking for acts of philanthropy in the newspaper and in literature. In this lesson, they focus on finding (and performing) acts of philanthropy in the school and local community. They write newspaper-style articles about the acts of philanthropy that they observe or perform. They compile a newsletter that highlights good things going on in the community and when distributed to the entire school, teaching others about philanthropy.