current events assignment sheet

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Teach Current Events With These Free Worksheets From The Week Junior

Article summary worksheets and news accuracy tips for grades 3-8! 🗞️

The Week Junior magazine is a kid-friendly, unbiased current events news source. It’s a safe and trusted partner to help you explain to kids what’s happening in the world while providing fun reading content including puzzles, recipes, crafts, and more. 

The benefits of using current events in the classroom are practically endless. News stories help students better understand their communities, new perspectives, and real-world events. Introducing current events in the classroom can promote critical thinking, empathy, reading skills, global awareness, and so much more. Whether you’re assigning weekly current events summaries or conducting a single lesson, our free current events worksheets for grades 3-8 are the perfect companion.

Inside, you’ll find two options for current event summaries. In addition, our savvy news reader tips and activity will guide students through determining if an article is trustworthy. In a world of so many media outlets, news literacy is a crucial skill!

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Current Events Summary Worksheets

WeAreTeachers

• When giving current events assignments, give students the option to use one of two article summary worksheets to get started.
• Choose from a graphic organizer–style worksheet or a traditional fill-in worksheet to evaluate an article.

News Accuracy Worksheets

• Begin a lesson on news literacy. Use the list tips to educate students on determining a news article’s accuracy and credibility.
• Then, have students complete the corresponding worksheet to practice what they learned and evaluate a news article on their own.

The Week Junior , an Unbiased Classroom Current Events Resource

The Week Junior magazine is an awesome way to expose 3rd through 8th grade readers to current events through a kid-friendly, unbiased magazine. There’s something for every student, with sections on sports, culture, movies, crafts, recipes, and so much more! Get a free issue of The Week Junior , and watch kids dive into this interactive reading resource.

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Free Current Events Worksheets and Printables

Published: March 18, 2015

Contributor: Carrie

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning if you decide to make a purchase via my links, I may earn a commission at no additional cost to you. See my disclosure for more info.

Are you learning about current events with your middle school and high school kids? Grab these free current events worksheets and printables to help your students answer questions about the news around the world today.

Why is teaching current events important?

The main idea of studying current events is to help your students understand just how significant people are in the community around us and how what people do is completely impactful. Children also comprehend how events and issues in the news affect others. Current events also intrigue students about the world around them, as they take their eyes off of themselves and towards others.

Discussing Current Events as a Family

One of my favorite parts of the day is sitting together at dinner and discussing current events as a family. We’ve been truly surprised discovering how much our children are interested in the world around them. We absolutely know that if we do not share current events with them from a Biblical perspective , the world will teach them from a worldly perspective . This has become extremely important to us.

Our children grow and it is crucial that they rest in God’s truth no matter what is going on in the world. It is also beneficial for them to think of the context of world news and local events firstly with a Biblical view.

Where can I find current events for students?

Of course, the internet is FULL of information. It is important that we can guide our kids to search for sources that are appropriate and as unbiased as possible. That is my focus. The news was once just reporting the facts and somehow has shifted some.

Most sources are extremely biased and in my opinion, slightly dangerous because of it. So, here are some news sources that may help with sharing news with kids in a less swayed environment – well in as much as possible anyway.

Free Current Events News Sources for Kids

DOGOnews – This site is an academic kids news source of current events. The articles can be searched by interest level from Grade K-1 all the way to Grade 11-12. The articles can be sorted by grade level or category.

Teen Kids News (TKN) – All of TKN’s reporters are teenagers. The source is geared towards 6th to 12th grade. If your students enjoy visual arts they will really enjoy this teen-focused and eye-catching site. And yes, some kids act as a news reporter for this site.

PBS Newshour – This site offers news articles and videos on various current event topics for 7th to 12th graders. Sort which content they need by subject area or check out lesson plans related to current events and media literacy to spread throughout your academic year.

Youngzine – This is an online news magazine bringing current events to children in a simple AND unbiased way . It has appropriate context and the articles can be sorted by category for students from the 3rd to 12th grade.

BBC’s Newsround – This BBC source provides news articles and programs of course of British, but also international news useful for our students. And here is a WIN, it includes games and quizzes from 2nd grade to 12th grade.

News-O-Matic: Reading for Kids Free App – This is a Daily Newspaper app for kids of the ages 6–14. You will find 100+ news articles each month in varying topics.

Christian Biblical View News Sources

World Kids – This site helps your children (grades 1st to 5th) to read current events in the news critically from the United States and around the globe. They learn to sift through the articles for truth, knowledge and relate it to everyday issues.

The Briefing by Albert Mohler –Albert Mohler has The Briefing , a 20-minute podcast of several news events and with comments from a biblical perspective. It will help your young learners to develop their Christian worldview. This is good for older teens before they become young adults.

God’s World News – This is a subscription magazine, but it is super cool. There are three different publications. For reading level ages 3 – 6 there is God’s Big World, for ages 7 -10 is World Kids Explore, and for ages 11 – 14 is World Teen Discern.

Kids Go Global – This site helps kids explore, act, inspire, and embrace the news in varying subjects like animal rights, food, nations, going green, culture, and more. This is for students in the grade levels elementary, junior, and high school to explore global impacts and issues.

How to Teach Current Events

Now we know where we can find some credible sources, now what? Children can read articles all day, but how do we get the most out of what they are reading. It isn’t enough to give our kids reading assignments of current events.

There are several ways we can get the most out of our current events lessons in homeschool. Check out these different ways to teach current events:

• Compare information for news sources. Students can compare articles to analyze which items in news sources are fact and which are opinion, what is similar, and where they differ.
• After reading news articles, you can task your students to create possible impacts, after effects, conclusions, or resolutions to the news topic.
• Graphing news story data. Have your students explore articles that lend themselves well to graphing information. This provides graphing practice and helps them visualize the information provided.
• Think About the Five Ws. The great questions of who, what, where, why, and what of a news article help students highlight the important parts of the news article.
• Opinion responses. Task your students to choose an article then write responses from two or more different perspectives. This is a great way for students to focus on their own opinions and put them down on paper.
• Charting and reporting the weather. Check out the weather section in your news source and have your student graph weather over a period of time. They then can write an article about the weather during that period, maybe even in different regions.
• Task your students to read news articles as part of their daily routine and then summarize the gist of the article. Students can provide a brief summary in 5 sentences or less. Summarizing news articles as daily writing prompts are actually meaningful assignments.
• Use article current event locations for a brief geography lesson. Have your students check out the global news and learn more about the area of the article. What country is this city located in, what is the culture there, what are the coordinates, etc.

Any one of these ideas can help you expound on your current event lessons at home as additional resources for learning. Grab the resources below to help as well to improve your students’ personal writing standards with current events.

Middle School and High School Current Events Worksheet – This worksheet contains questions that can accompany any current events news article. Students select their own article helps students identify the main issues of a news article, the moral question of the article (if present), and to consider any possible bias in the writing of the article.

Current Events Unit Study – Help your students with creating a unit study based on current events. The topics include hygiene, physical, mental, and/or emotional health viruses, effects a crisis has on an economy, and more!

Tough Topics with Kids – Help your children talk to your kids about the news. Grab these ten questions to start conversing about tough topics in the news with your students.

Free Printable Current Events Worksheets – The Curriculum Corner has developed these current events resource worksheets to help go alongside your lessons plans. If your child is in an age group ready for learning about world events or current related issues.

Resources to Teach Events – The internet is filled with free access to digital media with different perspectives. However, these are more educational free online news sources for the young people in your homeschool.

Printable for Researching Current Events – News articles or digital current events articles are plentiful. Now how can our children learn to get the most out of them? Grab this free printable to use when they are trying to research current events.

Our Favorite Current Events Resources:

God’s World News with Free Current Events Journal Page – God’s World News is a resource we use often in our homeschool. In our home, we want to stick to and adhere to a Christian Worldview. Therefore, providing our kids with a news source they can review, read, do research from with our worldview is extremely important. OH! And don’t forget to grab your free journal page in various content areas.

Top Christian Worldview Current Events Resources – We have to keep our young students abreast of real world current events. However, it can be really difficult, especially when we want them to view the happenings of the world from a Christian perspective. Check out these awesome sites that explore topics around the world but still impact our faith and our culture.

Free Current Events Notebook

Instant Download from WriteBonnieRose:   Free Current Events Notebook – Help your high school students think through what they see or hear on the news, dig deeper, and form their own conclusions with this Current Events Notebook. Choose from several current event templates to help your student record everything from basic info to information from multiple sources. 

Current Events Can Be Overwhelming

Remember that all these news stories CAN be information overload. Whether it be a failure in women’s rights, natural disasters, military action / inaction, political unrest, or other newsworthy happenstances, they can weigh heavy even on adults.

Unplugging from Stressful Current Events

It’s important to show your students how to wind down. Use some time to teach your kids about “unplugging.” Understanding that though they may hear so much information via news sources and social media, it is equally as important – if not more- to make sure to put the source aside.

Children can learn early on that although the happenings of the world may be seen overwhelming, they also have to power to turn it all off and just enjoy the current events happening in their own life right at that moment.

Remember to remind your kids about this verse as they see the current events presenting themselves around the world.

“The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it.” – Psalm 24:1

Carrie Fernandez is the founder of Homeschool Giveaways and owner of  Daily Skill Building . She has been homeschooling for over 18 years, has two girls and works side by side at home with her awesome husband. She has been saved by grace, fails daily, but continues to strive toward the prize of the high calling of being a daughter of the Most High God.

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Current Events Templates

Customize current events templates.

If you're assigning this to your students, copy the worksheet to your account and save. When creating an assignment, just select it as a template!

Engaging Students with Current Events Worksheets: Fostering Critical Thinking and Global Awareness

Real world current events serve as a powerful educational tool, as students learn tangible examples and relatable context to explore societal topics and understand their relevance in the broader world. Studying a current event and completing a current events assignment keeps students informed and is essential for their development as engaged and informed citizens. One effective tool for achieving this goal is the use of free current events worksheets. These worksheets provide a structured approach to help children learn and stay updated on the latest news, while also promoting critical thinking and global awareness.

When students engage with these handouts, they not only learn about what is happening in the world, but also develop essential analytical skills and learn about possible bias and what's going on in their city, country, and the world in the present day. By examining news articles and answering questions related to the content, children are encouraged to think critically about the information presented. They learn different ways to assess the credibility and reliability of news sources, ensuring they become discerning consumers of information. Through these activities, students gain media literacy skills and become better equipped to navigate the vast amount of news available to them.

What is a Current Events Worksheet?

It serves as a valuable resource for teachers and students alike. It offers a structured format that includes essential components such as a summary of the news article, questions to assess comprehension, and opportunities for reflection. Teachers can provide a blank sheet for kids to fill in with information from news articles they find, or they can use pre-selected articles and provide a sheet with answers. By using these worksheets, teachers can guide the class in analyzing news articles effectively and guide classroom discussions on important topics.

Implementing current events lessons in the classroom provides an interactive and engaging way for kids to learn about the world around them. By discussing current events and sharing their perspectives, they develop a deeper understanding of real-world issues and their impact on society. With these and other resources, teachers can facilitate classroom debates, encourage collaborative activities, and encourage students to express their opinions on the news articles they explore together.

To make these more effective, it's important to choose a variety of news articles that cover diverse topics and perspectives. This ensures children are exposed to different viewpoints and fosters empathy and understanding in preparation for life as they get older. Educators can also integrate multimedia elements such as videos, infographics, links, and newspaper clips to enhance the learning experience and cater to different learning styles. Another great idea it to let kids choose their own article relating to a current event in the world today.

Components of Effective Current Events Worksheets

To maximize the benefits of a current event handout, be sure to include components that provide a structured format for learners to engage with news articles. This can include sections for recording the title and date of the news article, allowing students to keep track of the articles they have explored. Additionally, including a section for students to write a summary of the article helps them condense information and identify the main points. To promote critical thinking, the handout can also include questions to answer that encourage students to analyze the main idea, supporting details, and different perspectives presented in the article.

Implementing Current Events Worksheets in the Classroom

These lessons offer a valuable opportunity for kids to delve into real-world issues, fostering critical thinking, empathy, and a deeper understanding of the interconnectedness between their lives and the events shaping the world. A current events activity provides a dynamic and hands-on approach to learning, as students actively explore and analyze real-world issues through engaging exercises and interactive tasks. Teachers can provide a selection of templates with different topics and difficulty levels, allowing students to choose worksheets that align with their interests and grade level. It's important to provide resources and materials such as a variety of news articles, websites, and other relevant sources to support students in completing the worksheets. To illustrate the relevance of current events in the classroom, educators can provide students with a compelling example of current events news articles during their discussion.

Examples of Current Events Worksheets and Activities

A current events report sheet serves as a valuable tool for all grades to structure their research, gather relevant information, and craft a well-organized report on the news article they have analyzed, fostering effective communication and critical thinking skills.

Engaging in classroom discussions allows the class to exchange perspectives, broaden their understanding, and develop critical thinking skills by critically analyzing and debating various aspects of the news articles. By discussing recent events, students not only gain a deeper understanding of the world around them but also sharpen their communication skills as they articulate their thoughts, listen to others' viewpoints, and engage in respectful debates on pressing global issues.

To make these worksheets engaging and interactive, use activities like comparing articles from different sources, creating presentations or podcasts, and conducting in-depth research. These activities promote analysis, communication skills, critical thinking, and a deeper understanding of global issues.

Worksheet Making Tips

• Find a News Article: Look for a relevant and age-appropriate news article from a reliable news source or consider allowing students to choose their own articles within certain guidelines.
• Determine the Focus: Decide on the main issues or themes you want to explore through the assignment.
• Provide Resources: Gather additional resources such as articles, videos, or websites that can supplement the students' understanding of the topic.
• Create a Template: Design a format that includes sections for reading the article, answering questions, summarizing key points, and reflecting on the moral or ethical questions it raises.
• Prepare the Worksheet: Write clear and concise questions that prompt critical thinking and analysis of the news article. Answer questions as they arise.
• Engage Class in Reading and Research: Encourage students to read the news article carefully and use additional resources to gain a broader understanding of the topic.
• Complete the Worksheet: Have kids fill out the worksheet, answering the questions and summarizing the main points of the article in their own words.
• Make Use of Available Resources: Explore the curriculum corner or utilize educational websites on the internet, newspapers, or community resources to find additional articles and materials for future current events worksheets.

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How to Make a Current Events Worksheet

Choose one of the premade templates.

We have lots of templates to choose from. Take a look at our example for inspiration!

Click on “Copy Template”

Once you do this, you will be directed to the storyboard creator.

Give Your Worksheet a Name!

Be sure to call it something related to the topic so that you can easily find it in the future.

Edit Your Worksheet

This is where you will include directions, specific images, and make any aesthetic changes that you would like. The options are endless!

Click "Save and Exit"

When you are finished, click this button in the lower right hand corner to exit your storyboard.

From here you can print, download as a PDF, attach it to an assignment and use it digitally, and more!

Happy Creating!

Frequently Asked Questions About Current Events

Why is it important to keep students informed about current events.

Keeping kids informed about current events helps them understand the world they live in, fosters critical thinking, and encourages active citizenship. It promotes global awareness, empathy, and the ability to make informed decisions. Teachers can provide engaging and age-appropriate current events for kids worksheets to spark children's curiosity about the world and encourage their active involvement in understanding global issues.

How do current events worksheets promote critical thinking?

They require learners to analyze news articles, identify bias, evaluate sources, and discern between facts and opinions. These activities challenge students to think critically, consider multiple perspectives, and develop their own informed opinions. Students can assess their understanding and compare their interpretations by discussing the current events worksheet answers during classroom conversations.

How can current events worksheets enhance media literacy skills?

They play a crucial role in enhancing media literacy skills by providing students with opportunities to evaluate news sources, analyze media elements, fact-check information, recognize bias, and critically analyze news articles. By engaging with real-world current events through these worksheets, children can bridge the gap between classroom learning and the complexities of the world.

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Current Events Worksheets

Download these free printable current events worksheets to help children record their learning in the classroom.

This is another free resource for teachers and homeschool families from The Curriculum Corner.

This collection of free printable current events worksheets is just what you need to begin your current event focus in the classroom.

Studying current events can be an important part of helping students learn about the world around them.

It can also be a way to give students real-life reading practice along the way.

Studying informational text is important as children become better readers.

There is so much for students to learn from studying current events.

Because not all children learn in the same way, this collection contains an assortment of current event worksheets.

You can choose the current event printable that fits your current focus. Or, provide students with choices. They can choose the page that fits the current event they are studying.

These printable current events worksheets

This PDF download contains twelve pages.

Within the pages, students will be looking to identify the following:

• Reason the event is important
• Details of what happened
• Picture of event
• Details about event
• Connections (students can be encouraged to think about text to text, text to world or text to self)
• Fact & opinion
• Summary writing

Some of the pages include spaces for words and pictures. In these spaces encourage children to simply share their thoughts. These pages might resemble sketch notes pages where words and pictures are randomly scattered around the page.

These pages will be meaningful because they encourage children to respond in different ways. Not only will they be reading and processing what they read, they will also be writing and drawing about their reading.

You can download this free collection of current events pages here:

Worksheet Download

Looking for other resources for your classroom? You might like these freebies we have created:

As with all of our resources, The Curriculum Corner creates these for free classroom use. Our products may not be sold. You may print and copy for your personal classroom use. These are also great for home school families!

You may not modify and resell in any form. Please let us know if you have any questions.

Current Events Recording Forms

Monday 31st of July 2017

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Teaching About Current Events

Introduction

Studying current events helps students better understand their global community and the different cultures across the world. It is very easy to get caught up in our own lives and problems, and learning about current events can both ground and remind students of the world that exists beyond their communities. By teaching students about current events, educators are not only helping students stay informed about world news and social problems but also giving them the chance to build important life skills. The resources below can help educators implement current events into their curriculum. 

There are various online resources available for teaching students about current events. With students constantly receiving floods of false information via social media and the like, this topic may serve as a good opportunity for them to learn about using reliable sources and keeping up with world events.

Lesson Plans

• Academy 4SC : Find videos related to current events at Academy 4SC, like United States Postal Service: Neither Rain Nor Snow , Epidemics vs. Pandemics: Defining Global Diseases , and Legal vs. Moral: Written vs. Right , among others. Teachers have access to resources like worksheets, activity ideas, discussion questions, and more included in each topic’s lesson plan. Explore Academy 4SC’s full library of applicable content under the tag Current Events .   Academy also has a Connections blog post series, which applies classroom material to what’s currently happening in the news.
• Teaching with Current Events in Your Classroom : Facing History and Ourselves has put together resources on COVID-19 and current events to help students “understand the complexity of the ongoing pandemic and its connection to history and current events.” They also feature collections on other topics that may appeal to educators, such as global immigration, democracy and civic engagement, and violence and injustice. In addition, the site is planning to release new teaching ideas and current event resources in mid-August, tailored for this upcoming school year!
• Teaching with Current Events : The Bill of Rights Institute provides many current events resources that fall into various categories, including gun rights, federalism, criminal procedure & due process, citizen juries, freedom of speech, individual liberties, separation of powers, student rights, etc. Using this resource, students can access dozens of articles on current issues related to politics and the American government.
• 50 Ways to Teach With Current Events : The New York Times’ The Learning Network offers fifty ideas for bringing current events into the classroom, grouped into a handful of categories: reading and writing, speaking and listening, games and quizzes, and more. Each of these ideas is accompanied by an explanation of the activity or project along with links which will guide educators on their journey to teaching about current events.
• Teaching Current Events in the Age of Social Media : Edutopia has published an article about teaching current events in the age of social media. The article recommends differentiating informational reading levels. The hope is that students can recognize the difference between true and false stories, as well as the importance of taking “breaks” from technology! This resource can give educators a better sense of direction on how to begin teaching students about current events.
• 8 Smart Ways to Teach Current Events in the Classroom in 2017 : WeAreTeachers provides a list of eight ways to bring current events to the classroom, specifically for educators who teach younger students. The author recommends things such as analyzing data with websites like Flocabulary , reading picture books, gamifying current events, creating podcasts, and more. Educators can take a lot away from this resource, and these tips will help them make learning about current events more exciting for students!
• The Best Way to Teach Current Events? Let Students Lead : The organization KQED advises educators on a specific way of teaching current events, namely to let the students lead. The author, an educator herself, describes how she spoke with her own students about teaching current events and how to make it more meaningful. If students are able to choose the current event or issue they want to research, they are more likely to take something away from the assignment. This would be an ideal resource for high school educators who are looking for their students to take initiative. 

Informational Sites

There are numerous news outlets, national and international, and other organizations that report current news on topics such as history, science, travel, culture, weather, politics, technology, health, and world events. Depending on the grade levels educators are teaching and which topics they want students to focus on, the websites below may come in handy:

• StudentNewsDaily
• Smithsonian Magazine
• National Geographic
• The New York Times
• The Washington Post

Teaching students about current events isn’t an easy task, especially since the majority of the stories in the news are unfortunately negative. When discussing current events in the classroom, it is important to also provide students with the necessary resources to cope with these negative stories. Because the news can be tough to talk about, educators should do their best to be honest about events but focus on the positive aspects. If a terrible accident occurred, was there anything positive that stemmed from it? Did the community band together to honor those who passed or create a new foundation in their memory? It may seem that the world pays more attention to the negative than the positive, but this is a chance for educators to change that narrative.

Additional Resources

• Current Events Lesson Plans & Activities : Share My Lesson provides an abundance of current events lesson plans and activities for elementary, middle, and high school students. Various resources of different topics are available, including activities, assessments, presentations, videos, and worksheets. 
• Twenty-Five Great Ideas for Teaching Current Events : Education World offers twenty-five great ideas for teaching current events in the classroom. For educators looking for general ideas to start with, this resource does a good job of providing unique activities and outlining the activity’s directions. Take a look!
• Engaging Ways to Relate to Current Events – News, Historians and Zombies : Resilient Educator presents four ways for educators to connect current events to social studies, including the PBS NewsHour Extra , a DIY NewsHour, Reading Like a Historian (which asks students to examine primary source documents as if they were historians), and Zombie-Based Learning (which was created by a social studies educator who used zombies to teach his students about geography, economics, and the patterns of human behavior). 

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Middle School Current Event Assignments: Art Projects, Worksheets, News, And Discussions

March 9, 2024 //  by  Michelle Mandel

The world has turned upside down and middle schoolers’ brains have been invaded by false news, Instagram, and social media mayhem. Fragments of news about unemployment, war, or pandemics can cause anxiety. Parents, family, and educators have to put the news and current events into perspective. Here are some great current event activities to get started.

1. Time Magazine for Tweens 

Time magazine has current issues for kids and articles to dive into. Great for reading comprehension skills, how to look for information, fact check, and write in a journalistic way.

Learn More: Time for Kids

2.  Study Current Events to impress your teachers 

News surrounds kids 24/7, but they don’t know how to study it or learn about it. Kids can read articles and summarize what they have read, do PowerPoint presentations, and interview others about what is happening in the world.

Learn More: Social Studies for Kids

3. Current Event Worksheet Guideline

This worksheet will help middle schoolers organize their facts about news stories. You can use it with any source and it is great to do in class or give as homework. Also, a fun twist is to get them to find “Fake News “and see if they can write it well so it’s believable.

Learn More: SVSD 10

4. Newspapers are not for “Grown ups”

Teachers shy away from current events curriculum, they prefer not to touch “hot topics”. There are expert strategies for teaching and we have to look at the how-to’s so that it’s not boring and we capture their attention. Exploiting the entire newspaper is possible and fun!

Learn More: Make My Newspaper

5.  Which class journalist is going to win the article of the week?

Competition and competitive activities are necessary for middle school children and this is a great way to have them work in teams and compete for the article of the week. Teachers can make this a part of their weekly routine and change the theme.  Teams will get together to be placed in a 1-4th place on the board.

Learn More: Musings from the Middle School

6. Crime in the news 

Unfortunately, part of current events is crime and violence. This is something in the daily news every day. We must expose children to crime in the news so they will be more aware of what is going on in the future.  In this crime scene activity, they can collect information and answer comprehension questions to solve the case.

Learn More: Busy Teacher

7. Prove that history repeats itself

Riots, discrimination, political corruption, and more.  What goes around comes around and history does repeat itself over and over again.  In this current events assignment, the students will find 2 news articles but demonstrating the past and the present. Excellent resources for middle school.

Learn More: Tuttle Schools

8.  Current News Lesson Plans

This site is packed with 10 Current event news lessons for middle school. so children can read them and learn how to tell the class about what’s happening in their state or country. Middle schoolers can read about presidential decisions, democracy, education and teachers, environmental issues, and much more.

Learn More: Share My Lesson

9.  Did you catch all the details?

One of the biggest issues with tweens and teens is attention and listening skills. This activity is great. Read the news article from the daily paper to your students and depending on the age and level of students, the length and difficulty will vary.

Learn More: CNN 10

10.  Who, Where, What, When, Why & How 

When teaching children reading comprehension, we must take into consideration the 5W’s. They have to be able to answer these questions to really report back the information like a news chronicle.

Learn More: News Moor

11. The News Rap

Music and Chants are something that allows us to have rhythm and flow with Flocabulary and the interactive resources.  Listen to the songs, the chants, and the raps. It’s all about the news and facts. Keep up with the beat and you can try to sing along but the message of the raps is really strong. Don’t be a fool and try to play it cool, if you learn from music, it’s one of the best ways to learn about current events and you’ll have success.

Learn More: Flocabulary by Nearpod

12.  Bigotry & hatred is a current event topic

Well, taboo issues have been talked about and pushed under the rug or behind closed doors when it comes to discussion in the classroom. Now that the whole world has been hit with COVID 10 and the war, abortion issues, and more, we have to address them in a special way but not beat around the bush either.

Learn More: Facing History

13. “Get your news!” “Daily News is here!”

Keep your kiddos in the loop by having them engage with interesting current events. Invite them to browse a bunch of articles from trusted sites before challenging them to read through an article of their choice and then summarize it into a printable current events journal.

Learn More: Homeschool Helper Online

14.  Where in the World is Wally?

Wally is going to be our journalist traveling around the world. To learn more about current events you have to know where you live, local, national, and world geography to understand the location of places and the site has additional activities too.

Learn More: Geography Education

15.  Arts teachers, art is news too!

Sometimes art seems to take second place in the world of current events, but it’s important to teach your budding Picassos that art can make the front page too! So why not task them with exploring art through media by having them research unconventional tools that can be used to produce art?

Learn More: Davis Art

16.  Money makes the world go round

Inflation, taxes, rise in costs, wages, stock market, world bank..all this unknown vocabulary children and teens hear weekly but it goes in one ear and out the other. They don’t really understand how money works, only if they want to buy something and they are told “No. Let’s challenge students to be savvy about cash in a fun way through the news.

Learn More: The Curious Economist

17.  Creatures in the news 

We all love animals big and small and we hear stories locally about crocodiles in the swimming pool or snakes being found in your toilet. Animal welfare is important and they have rights too and their “voice ” needs to be heard. What better way than animal news to read and write reports on?

Learn More: NBC News

18.  What’s your source?

When we teach kids about the news, we need to teach them about the different sources and where the info came from. You can’t believe everything you read. This activity is to teach them about primary sources and secondary sources.  Before we write learn about the facts.

Learn More: The Library Collection

19.  Civics Education 101

Global Issues, Economy, Government, and much more. All of these topics should not be “taboo” for kids. This site is filled with lots of material and info to get children into reading and studying current events.

Learn More: Academy 4SC

20.  Legality versus Mora

What happens when you read that your favorite sports star has been arrested for bringing into the country a vape pipe not knowing that it was illegal they end up going to jail for 3 years in a foreign country. Is this legally right or should we think about morals and true intention? This happens a lot in current events and news.

21.  Jeopardy Time 

Newsbrain is “teacher’s best friend” and it will help you create some fun exciting jeopardy-style games using any content of your choice and in this case current events. Fun and fast pace the kids will beg to play.

Learn More: Newz Brain

22. Segregation in the Society

Unfortunately, segregation still exists, even in clubs, schools, and the community. Kids need to hear current news and events about racism and discrimination that we see daily and find ways how to stop it.

Learn More: The New York Times

23.  Tween Tribune

This site has a good focus on issues that can be used for classroom activities. It has different activities per grade from 7th-12th. Lots of great material for middle school students and it’s a great online learning resource.

Learn More: Smithsonian Tween Tribune

24.  Why should we care about plastic?

Sea smart Sustainable News is trendy, and we hear about plastic. We know we have to reduce using it, but our sea creatures are eating it and dying every day. Not to mention the fish you eat has traces of plastic in it. Read about these topics and learn about habits and change.

Learn More: Sea Smart

25.  100 things to talk about in current events

Sometimes kids get bored when you bring up issues like global warming, traffic, pandemics, or unemployment.  These are issues that they have heard over and over again and they are tired. So let’s give them new topics that they can research and investigate.

Learn More: Owlcation

26.  Sports in the News

It’s not just about the scores and the champions. There are other news sports related such as tax evasion, fraud, money laundering, illegal betting, and more. So if we invest in scandals that come up in the news, we will be one step ahead of the game.

27.  I Dare you!

Middle schoolers are influenced by everything and in the news we hear about vaping, smoking, drinking, and the legalization of marijuana. So why wouldn’t these kids be tempted to do something dangerous? This site will help educators teach about current events with drugs, alcohol, and violence.

Learn More: Dare

28. TikTok News 

Many tweens and teens are Tik Tok crazy and it’s growing and trendy. TikTok is now a pastime, occupation, and even a way to learn new things. Let’s check out the Tik Tok news to keep up with the latest trends.

Learn More: TikTok

Current Events Templates | Worksheets | Assignments | Activities

• Google Apps™
• Easel Activity

What educators are saying

Description.

Add diversity to your current event assignments with these 5 standards-aligned templates. Each current event worksheet focuses on a different reading comprehension skill (Main Idea & Details, Text Connections, Vocabulary in Context, Fact vs. Opinion, and Summarizing).

This resource can be completed on paper or online with laptops, Chromebooks, tablets, or any device that supports Google Slides. The included Teacher's Guide includes access to the link that will allow you to make your own copy of the resource for use in Google Classroom/Google Drive.

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WHAT TEACHERS ARE SAYING ABOUT THIS PRODUCT:

♥ This was perfect for my class and I love the different options.

♥ Perfect for our current events articles! Saved me time!

♥ Great for my multi-level resource class.

♥ I use these once a week with my students! They work very well! Thank you!

CURRENT EVENT TEMPLATE TYPES:

• Main Ideas and Supporting Details: In order to reinforce the ability to locate the central idea and particular details when reading informational text, students record the main idea and supporting details presented in the news article.

• Text Connections: Students demonstrate their ability to integrate information by establishing three different types of connections with the text. Connecting the article to the self, other texts, and the world will reinforce student understanding of the information.

• Vocabulary in Context: Students begin by locating three new words in the text. For each new word, students include the definition, a picture, and an original sentence in the matrix provided. Next, students show their understanding of the text by inserting a picture to represent the main idea.

• Fact vs. Opinion: Students distinguish between the facts and opinions presented in the text. Beginning with the concrete evidence, students record five different facts. In order to show their understanding of opinion, students record their personal opinion of the article in the space provided.

• Summarizing: First, students record the 5Ws (who, what, when, where, and why) presented in the text. Next, students use the information obtained from the 5Ws to write a concise summary of the news article.

ADDITIONAL LITERACY IN FOCUS RESOURCES:

Novel Pre-Reading Stations- Get your students up, moving, and interested in your next class novel!

Reading Response Logs with Sentence Starters (Printable and Digital)

Reading Literature Task Cards- Works With Any Text!

Nonfiction Task Cards- Analyze Nonfiction With Task Cards!

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