There is a lot happening in the world right now, and some of it happening very close to home! Our next unit in Social Studies is Current Events. In this unit we will be looking at a different current event each week. We will be reading articles and watching news clips to help us understand what is happening, and why it is happening. Our Big Questions in Social Studies right now are:
What is happening in the world right now?
So what? Why is it important for us to know about?
Now what? What might be the effects of these events? What will happen next??
As we discuss these events we are connecting our learning to many other areas. This week we discussed the floods in BC, and connected to our knowledge of landforms in Science. We are also learning about media awareness, and how to determine if a news source is reliable or not. Each current event we discuss will lead us to new learning.
How can you help? I know that watching the news can be scary for some kids. We are going to use CBC Kids News as our main news source. It is age appropriate, and a suitable reading level for Gr. 4/5. Watching news clips, talking about current events in your home, or reading about them together will be really helpful to your child’s learning. Asking your child the three Big Questions (What? So what? Now what?) will help them to summarize what they know, and healthy discussion about different topics will help them to formulate their own points of view on the world around them.