Author:		Judy Mousel
Posted:		7/25/08; 3:06:30 PM
Topic:		DISCOVERY CHALLENGE
Msg #:		791 (top msg in thread)
Prev/Next:		790/792
Reads:		668

DISCOVERY CHALLENGE & CURRENT EVENTS Discovery Challenge is an oral research activity-of-the-week that allows students to learn public speaking skills and independent research skills.  Students should prepare to participate once a month.  Each student is assigned a student number at the beginning of the year.  Each student number corresponds with the order in which they will present each month.  The schedule may need modification according to holidays and other school events. The following is a general guideline:   First Week of the month - Student Numbers 1-7 Second Week of the month - Student Numbers 8-14 Third Week of the month - Student Numbers 15- 21 Fourth Week of the month - Student Numbers 22-27 Below is a calendar of "challenges" or research topics for each month.  Students are asked to choose a topic or activity from the monthly calendar and  be ready to give a short oral presentation on the challenge they chose. Students can also use books, magazines, reference books, family member interviews, or other research tools besides the Internet to learn more about the topic.  Parents are encouraged to help their child gather important and interesting information.  If a student would like to give a presentation on a Current Event instead of a Discovery Challenge, students may us a newspaper or the Internet to research an event that is currently happening in our world.     Students must present to the class in order to receive a Speaking Score.  Acceptable participation means that they DO NOT read their information, but they TELL us what they have learned.  Students may use note cards, bring pictures, posters they've made, or visual aid items.  Students may invite a guest to speak, bring a video clip (no full movies, please) or other creative way sto share their learning with the class.   This activity should be a fun way to study something that is interesting to the student.  Students should look at each monthly calendar of Discovery Challenges and select the most interesting topic to study.  If the topics are not of interest, students can present on a Current Event topic.

AUGUST                     National Catfish Month Catfish MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY 1 Current Events 4   5 First man on the mooN. Read about Armstrong and the moon 6 Garfield the Cat's friend. About Garfield Odie's Birthday   7 Author Betsy Byars 8 11 12     13Annie  Oakley Born in 1860. 14 15                        18 19  Bill Clinton Born in Hope, Arkansas in 1946.     20  21  Hawaii became a state, 1959 Read a page on Hawaii 22   25 26       27 Mother Teresa Born in 1910. 28 29 SEPTEMBER 2008National Honey Month                                                                                            Honey MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY 1  Current Events Asteroid 3, Juno, discovered, 1804 Read about asteroids Labor Day Labor Day History 2   Frogs 3   Viking 2 landed on Mars, 1976 Read about Mars 4  Henry Hudson discovered the island of Manhattan, 1609 Henry Hudson Manhattan Island 5  Butterflies 8International Literacy Day Read a book and write a report about it. 9  California  became a state, 1850 Read a page on California     10 American  Black Bear Black Bears 11 Everglades Florida 12 Mae Jemison became the first African-American woman in space, 1992 Do a cloze activity on Jemison. 15  National Peanut Day (Sept. 13th) Read about the peanut plant, then do a cloze activity on George Washington Carver. 16  The Mayflower departed from England, 1620 The Pilgrims of Plymouth Mayflower 17 If you love horses, you might want to choose this topic! Horses 18 19   22 23       24 Jim Henson (muppeteer) born, 1936 Jim Henson 25 26 Johnny Appleseed born, 1774 Read about Johnny Appleseed 29 New Moon Read about the phases of the moon. 30   OCTOBER 2008October is Dinosaur Month MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY 1 Chinese National Day   China Current Event 2 Mohandas Gandhi born, 1869 Read about Gandhi and Label a map of India. 3 Southwest Region 6 The Ulysses spacecraft, designed to study the poles of the sun, was launched via the space shuttle Discovery, 1990 Read about the Sun 7 Far Side of the Moon First Observed by Luna 3, 1959 Read about the moon 8 R. L. Stine (Goosebumps writer) born, 1943 R. L. Stine !!! 9 Earth Science Hurricanes 10  Sharks 13   Columbus Day Columbus Day Christopher Columbus 14  Volcano 15  Oceans 16 Horned Lizard 17 Margaret Thatcher (first female Prime Minister of the U.K.) born, 1925 Margaret Thatcher 20 21 22 23 24 27   International School Library Day (4th Monday) Write a report on a book you've read recently. 28 29 30 31   November 2008American Indian Heritage Month MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY 3 Sputnik 2 launched with a dog (Laika) as passenger Read about dogs in space North Dakota became a state, 1889 Read a page on North Dakota Current Events 4 United States Voting Day First Tuesday after the first Monday Read about US elections King Tut's Tomb Discovered (1922) South Dakota became a state, 1889 Read a page on South Dakota 5 6 Abraham Lincoln was elected president of the United States, 1860 Read about Lincoln 7 Montana became a state, 1889 Read a page on Montana 10 Anniversary of Sesame Street The first giant panda was collected alive in China, 1927 Read about pandas Great Wall of China opened to the world for tourism, 1970 Read about the Great Wall 11 Learn about World War II Veteran's Day 12 13 14 Learn about  recycling                   America Recycles Day Herman Melville's "Moby Dick" was published, 1851 Learn about whales/ 17 18 19 20 21 24 25 Marc Brown's birthday Marc Brown Studios Marc Brown 26 Charles Schulz's birthday The Official Peanuts Website  Charles M. Schulz 27 The First Thanksgiving 28 The Beatles released 'I Want to Hold Your Hand,' 1963 Who were The Beatles? The Beatles Hannukah begins at sundown What is Hanukkah?   December 2008 MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY 1 Current Events 2 3 4 5 8 9 10 11 12 15 16 17 18 19 22 23 24 25 26 29 30 31     January 2009 MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY 1 Current Events 2 5 6 7 8 9 12 13 14 15 16 19 20 21 22 23 26 27 28 29 30   February 2009 MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY 2 Current Events 3 4 5 6 9 10 11 12 13 16 17 18 19 20 23 24 25 26 27   March 2007 MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY 2 Current Events 3 4 5 6 9 10 11 12 13 16 17 18 19 20 23 24 25 26 27 30 31   April 2007 MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY 1 Current Events 2 3 6 7 8 9 10 13 14 15 16 17 20 21 22 23 24 27 28 29 30   May 2007 MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY 1 Current Events 4 5 6 7 8 11 12 13 14 15 18 19 20 21 22 25 26 27 28 29