These words appear in this week's issue of react: portrayal, deleted, episode, anthology, inducing, provocative, devotees, oppression, turbulent, accessorize , gruesome, publicist, stalking, guidance, addictive, stunt.
Have your students find the words in react and define them either by using the context of the sentence or a dictionary. Challenge them to use as many as possible in a short story or to write a creative sentence for each. It may be fun to give students a time limit, say 10 minutes, to skim the entire issue to find and circle all of these words.
The question is, "Is it ever OK to tell a lie?" Before students vote in the poll, it may be interesting to discuss this in class and/or stage a debate on this controversial issue. See if students can brainstorm for examples of situations when lying is necessary. Can they find examples in the newspaper of a situation calling for telling a lie?
Both the react poll and the results deal with issues of honesty. Offer your students other situations to debate. For example, if a teacher graded your test incorrectly--giving you an A, when your points only added up to a B-- would you tell? Is it OK to steal food if you have no money and you need to feed your family? If you were a parent without enough money to buy the expensive medicine your sick child needed, would you steal the medicine? If your best friend looks at your paper during a test and tells you one of your answers is wrong--and then gives you the right answer--would you change your answer? Invite students to create their own situations for others to talk about. Finally, ask the class to find stories in the newspaper that deal with similar issues.
Two sisters, ages 17 and 20, successfully run their own $100,000-per-month nail polish business, which they began just two years ago!
Sure there are lots of nail polishes on the market, but Sarah and Anna figured the world needed even more when strangers kept asking the girls where they got their unusual nail enamels. Explain to your students that this is how some businesses begin--by finding a need and fulfilling it. Then have them skim the newspaper to find a "need" people have for something and to create a fantasy business to meet that need. They can work in small groups to write business plans stating the need and how their company will answer it. Direct them to describe how the company will be structured, how much money they think they will need to get started and how they will market their ideas.
One section of Germany has lowered the voting age for local elections to 16.
Ask your students if they think 16 year olds in this country would vote if given the opportunity. Discuss why so many Americans did not go to the polls during our recent presidential election. Can your students find issues in the newspaper important enough to young people to bring them out to vote? Have them find and summarize any issues they think would motivate their friends to vote and write an explanation of why they chose those stories.
Straight Edge is the name of the new movement for many teens. It promotes a without drugs, alcohol or meat, seeking to respect all living things in a poison-free environment.
Have your students heard of this movement? What do they think? What about the extremists described in the story? After discussing such extreme views, have them focus on the hangout described in the story, the bar/club named Hungry Charleys that serves fruit juice and vegan ( veggie ) burgers. Do your students think a place like this would succeed in your community? Have them check the newspaper to see how display ads are designed. Then have them design a display ad for Hungry Charleys that would intrigue teens.
Hungry Charleys provides kids in Syracuse with a good, safe place to spend time where they don't have to deal with drugs or alcohol. Talk with your students about where they spend time outside of school. If they think there is no great place to go, they may want to write letters to the editor of your local newspaper explaining what kind of place they want and why it's needed.
Here are some suggestions for musical gifts students can get for their parents this holiday season.
There is also a feature on gift ideas on page 5. Since some of your students probably live to shop, they may enjoy this shopping-spree activity. Give students a hypothetical $1,000 to buy gifts for four people of their choice. Tell them they can purchase anything they find in the newspaper, as long as they don't spend more than their allotment. Have them keep a log of their purchases, how much they spend on each and their total. If you want to make this even more challenging, tell them to buy as many items as they can, with the goal of buying the most items of anyone in the class. Of course, you'll want to talk about the benefit of buying items on sale (25 percent off!) or with any possible discounts detailed in ads (buy a computer, get a printer free). Finally, have them find the average cost per item.
Kirsten Dunst is a vivacious young star living a life rich with fun and excitement. She has appeared in films and on television with Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt and George Clooney .
Kirsten's career brings her the opportunity to meet many famous people. Your students will enjoy reading about her friends and may even like to imagine themselves living her life. Ask your students which famous people they would want to meet. Can they find someone in today's paper they would want to have dinner with? Ask them to choose one person from the newspaper that they would want to sit with at a dinner party and then to design an invitation for that person.
At 6 months old, Parks Bonifay made the Guinness Book of World Records when he water-skied 100 feet by himself! Now he's 15, and he is the number one wakeboarder in the world. Wakeboarding is a cross between water-skiing and surfing and no one does it better than Parks.
After reading about Parks, have students determine what qualities it takes to be a champion of this hot new sport. Using the help wanted ads in the newspaper, have each student find a job that would require similar attributes. Ask them to write a paragraph explaining their choice. Finally, have them identify which of those attributes they already demonstrate themselves.
react receives mail, e-mail, phone calls and faxes from around the United States-- and the world--which are featured in ask anything (page 3) and our voices (page 14). Likewise, teens from various places are featured in stories throughout the issue.
Have your students list all of the cities, states and countries noted in this week's issue of react and plot them on maps. Direct students to the newspaper's weather map, and have them list the temperatures for each place. Then challenge them to determine the percentage difference between the lowest and highest temperatures. For U.S. references, have your students identify the city/state farthest from yours and plan a road trip, calculating miles, determining the best route, listing what to pack for the weather they might experience, etc.