Mr. Austin & Co./Social Studies 7
CURRENT EVENTS ASSIGNMENT: 1st TRIMESTER
DO NOT LOSE THIS ASSIGNMENT! Keep it in your Binder.
Your mission:
To read about and then report on events occurring around the world in order to become
an informed global citizen.
Overview:
- Check due dates listed that are specific to your class period. Record these in your
Agenda Book. Do NOT wait until the last minute to complete your work.
- Possible topics include culture, technology, business, politics, science, law, weather
events, health, world leaders, and sports (not game-specific articles).
Requirements:
- You need to find a current news article for each Current Events assignment. You must
print the article out if you find it online, or cut it out if you find it in a newspaper or
magazine (get permission before cutting up someone else's reading material, please).
Make sure you have the entire article. (We will discuss how and where to locate articles
in class.)
- Read the article thoroughly. Look up any vocabulary you don't understand.
- Highlight the information in the article that you think you will need for a summary of
your article. We will discuss how to do this in class.
- Do the research needed to include the required elements for the assignment. Details on
the next page.
- Construct a paragraph-long summary of the article. This can be hand written in INK or
you may word process your work. Be sure your work has the assigned heading.
- Staple your article to the summary. Make sure you have the entire article.
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Format:
Follow this format for your submission.
Your heading:
Everything goes on the left margin, starting at the top of the page. Hit Ctrl and 2 to
double-space your document.
Type your full name
Type the due date (or the date you’re turning it in if it’s coming in early)
Type the assignment title: Current Event #1 (for example)
Type your period letter
You will receive a sample to look at to follow as a model.
After the heading, include the following in this order:
Date and source of article, underlined or italicized. Example: The Philadelphia Inquirer,
September 15, 2009.
Title of the article, in quotes. Ex.: "At 100, he sees those he saved"
Where did the event take place? Ex.: London, England.
What are the surrounding states or countries? Ex.: Scotland, Wales, Ireland.
On what continent did the event take place? Ex.: Europe.
What are the coordinates of latitude and longitude for this location? Ex.: Latitude
51.50, Longitude 0.12. (You can find this by using an atlas in class or by using an online
source.)
What themes of geography and elements of culture can you detect in this story?
Write a paragraph-long summary of the article using a minimum of six complete,
grammatically-correct sentences. Your summary should contain the most important
information in your article, based on your highlighting. After reading it, any reader
should have a clear understanding of the general thrust of the piece.
Use this format as a model to follow.
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We may be adding to/changing this format as the year progresses.
First trimester story topics should be related to the area of the world that we’re
studying at the time of the assignment (this will be specified for you with each
assignment).
There will be THREE Current Events assigned during the first trimester, so you should
always be on the lookout for potential articles!
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