Scott Foresman Reading Street

NEW LITERACIES

Internet Inquiry Activity

EXPLORE NATURAL DISASTER PREDICTORS

Use the following 5-day plan to help students conduct this week's Internet inquiry
activity on natural disaster predictors. Remind students to follow classroom rules
when using the Internet.

Identify Questions Discuss the lesson focus question: How can people use
scientific facts to protect themselves from natural disasters? Brainstorm ideas
for specific inquiry questions about predicting natural disasters. For example,
students might want to find out what technology is available to help scientists
identify when disasters may occur or how scientists warn people about
impending natural disasters. Have students work individually, in pairs, or in small
groups to write an inquiry question they want to answer.

Navigate/Search Remind students how to begin a simple Internet search using
a student-friendly search engine. Have students determine keywords related to their
inquiry questions. Tell students to try to spell keywords correctly. Misspelling
keywords may not provide the best search results. Students can read descriptions of
sites to determine if they will help students answer their inquiry questions.

Analyze Encourage students to explore the Web sites they identified on Day 2.
Tell them to scan each site for information that may help them answer their
inquiry questions. Have students analyze information for credibility, reliability,
and usefulness. Take notes or print out valuable information.

Synthesize Have students synthesize information from Day 3. Remind them that
when they synthesize, they combine relevant information and ideas from several sources to find answers to their inquiry questions.

Communicate Have students share their inquiry results. They can use a word
processing program to create a short newspaper article about natural disaster
predictors.

RESEARCH/STUDY SKILLS

Newspaper/Newsletter

TEACH

Ask students what source they would use to find out what is going on in your region
or around the country. Show students a newspaper as you define terms and present
these ideas.

Newspapers tell what is currently happening in a local area, around the
country, and all over the world.
Newspapers have sections that focus on different subjects, such as sports,
entertainment, and business. The location of each section is listed, like a table
of contents, usually near the front of the newspaper.
Newspapers can contain articles, advertisements, and announcements.
The beginning of an article usually has a title, author, and often a location. The
first few paragraphs often tell who, what, when, where, why, and how about the
subject.
Newspapers usually have many photographs and captions to go with the
articles. Some sections might have graphs, tables, and charts.

Have students work in pairs to write a brief newspaper article about a recent event in
your school or town. The article should have a title, author, and location. Before
students begin the activity, distribute newspapers and discuss these questions.

In what section would your article appear? (local news)
What kind of information would you expect to see in the entertainment
section? (Possible response: movie listings, concerts, plays)

Section		Section
A	Local News	D	Entertainment
B	World News	E	Business
C	Sports	F	Classified

ASSESS

Check that students' articles include answers to who, what, when, where, why, and
how questions. Titles should be brief, descriptive, and accurate.

For more practice or to assess students, use Practice Book 3.1, p. 150.