Marybeth O’Brien’ Blog

I think it is truly important to expose students to the happenings in the world around them.  A great way to inform students of current events is through the use of CNN Student News, http://www.cnn.com/studentnews/  This is a free tool that teachers may sign-up for.  Each night, an e-mail is sent in that you may preview the content.  For the most part, the content is appropriate for my fourth grade students.  About three times a week, we watch the 10 minute segment and then discuss the content.  The reals focused on the Presidential Election have proven to be a great resource.  This past week we focused on the tragedy of the cyclone that hit Myanmar.  My students have been motivated to write their own news stories to inform their fellow school mates about the tragedy.  Discovery Atlas has provided to be a great resource as well.  We used Atlas to locate Myanmar and learn about the people, government, customs, and history using the short video segments.  I used the Writing Prompts Teacher Tool to create the News Story Assignment.  Our class wrote great news stories to demonstrate their understanding of the event and share their feelings about the tragedy.  I am impressed with the caliber of work produced by these fourth graders.  Their enthusiasm and motivation was enhanced through the use of the technology and tools provided by Discovery Streaming!