Washburn School
Social Studies 2nd-6th
Ms. M. Becker
Instructions for the Social Studies Current Events Assignment
Students will need to find an article (either online, in a newspaper, or in a magazine) that is no more than one month old about a current event happening in the area specified. Make sure the article chosen is about a country within the region you are assigned (if applicable). Students will print out or cut out the article and then write up a one or two paragraph summary about the article. The student must also include their personal response (opinion) about the contents of the article.
The summary must answer the 5 “W’s”. Who, what, when, where, and why. These articles will be a grade. Each current events is worth 25 points. The articles will be due on days specified in the weekly schedule. This will continue for the duration of the year. Below you will find the rubric I will use to evaluate the current events assignment.
Current Events Assignment Rubric
Category / 5 / 3 / 1 / 0Summary
Content / Information from credible source is clearly summarized. Includes strong supporting details address the who, what, where, when, why or how questions. / Information from credible source is clearly summarized. Includes supporting details address the who, what, where, when, why, or how questions. / Summary may be unclear or incomplete. There is a need for more supporting details. Summary is on a few sentences. / Too much information was copied from the article or important details are left out. Details or summary may be confusing.
Conventions / Writer makes little or no errors in grammar or spelling that distracts the reader from the content.
Every paragraph contains sentences that are well-constructed. There are varied beginnings and rich and appropriate vocabulary. / Writer makes very few errors in grammar or spelling that distracts the reader from the content. Most sentences are well-constructed with varied beginnings and vocabulary. / Writer makes some major errors in grammar or spelling. Some sentences may not be well-constructed. Similar words are used too often. / Writer makes many errors in grammar or spelling. Sentences lack structure and appear incomplete or are confusing.
Personal Response / Insightfully gives their personal response with extremely strong thoughts and ideas. Writer uses prompts to push thinking and transitions. / Tells what their thoughts of the article are, with detail and description. Attempts to push thinking with some prompts. / Attempts to tell thoughts about the article. Lacks thoughtful ideas that relate to the article. / Response is inappropriate to the content of the article.
Article / Article is from relevant website or news source (ie magazine or paper). All the required information is cited clearly in document. / Article is from relevant web source. Most of the required information is complete. / Article may not be from relevant web source. The title, source, or one other piece of information may be missing. / Article may be missing and other important information about the article is missing.
Student participation / Listens while others give their presentations. Participates in class discussion of the articles. / Participates in class discussion of articles. / Listens while others present but does not participate in class discussion of articles. / Interrupts classmates, does not listen to others presentations, and doesn’t participate in class discussion of articles.
Student Name:______Grade:_____ Topic: ______Score:______/25