New feature for the 2020-2021 school year
To honor the 75th anniversary of Victory in Europe (V-E) Day on May 8, 2020, Student News Net has developed a featured unit on the WWII Home Front. Anchored by literature and primary source interviews, the unit follows a blended learning model. In development for one year, the unit quickly adapted to the COVID-19 pandemic. Included are current event articles on private industry stepping up as companies did in the time period known as the “Arsenal of Democracy” during World War II and a graphic novel explaining the importance of hand-washing. One article recently developed features a distillery that quickly added a production line to make hand sanitizer. Another article features the story of the Smith family from New Castle, Indiana who sent five sons off to war that is linked to the Student News Net series of articles on the Sullivan brothers from Waterloo and the Sullivan Brothers Iowa Veterans Museum. The unit also includes interviews with original "Rosies" and a visit to the Dennison Railroad Depot Museum, a National Historic Landmark as the most historically significant remaining WWII canteen. Women volunteers and The Salvation Army kept the canteen open 24/7 for four years from 1942-1946 serving 1.2 million soldiers who briefly stopped at the Dennison depot, a hub for the Pennsylvania Railroad. One anchor book in the multidisciplinary unit is The Mold in Dr. Florey’s Coat by Eric Lax that explores the discovery and mass production of penicillin during WWII. This unit contains six comprehensive lesson plans, with assessments and related multimedia, that will be posted on Student News Net in early July 2020.
Other featured units to debut in July include a unit on the civil rights movement, the Holocaust, COVID-19, birds and birding, and weather.
Finally, for the 2020-2021 school year, a feature to support student voice will be available on Student News Net to more deeply engage students in content and their community.
For more information, contact Judy S. Miller at jmiller@studentnewsnet.com. Discounts are available through AEA Purchasing on a variety of subscription models.
