My students need 38 subscriptions to Science World magazine to adjust to the requirements of Common Core. Gathering factual information from relevant material is a skill they need to practice often.
Many of my students come from homes where magazines are a luxury they do not receive. Sometimes textbooks are overwhelming for them but they will read articles from magazines. These current articles are a great way to practice gathering facts from written materials.
My students are a diverse group from a suburban area in California.
Many families here have been hit hard by the recession and families are often living with grandparents or even a second family to afford housing in this region. We also have a high proportion of students living in foster care and having special education needs. These students have not been exposed to informational reading outside of a textbook in school. Exposing them to shorter, easy to comprehend articles such as Science World will allow them to practice reading skills in a less threatening, interesting manner.
My Project
Science World magazines are an amazing set of articles that are interesting, with colorful pictures and cool subject areas. The titles alone will intrigue the students. The articles often reflect timely subjects such as the physics of pitching right before the World series began, or zombie parasites near Halloween. They are written in a way that the facts are easy to pull out and make the students feel successful in their reading capabilities. The last article is always about something "gross," which is perfect for middle school students! For me, they also come with Common Core support sheets written for different levels of learners so I do not have to completely generate my own paperwork.
My students need to learn how to pick fact from opinion.
I want them to become scientifically literate adults. In their world, much of what they see comes from social media or television. I am looking for materials to broaden their understanding of not only science, but the types of places that are out there in the world for someone who wants to learn more about a subject. Many of them have never read a magazine or newspaper. I want them to see that learning about new things can be fun.
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