Tag: grade 8

News

“Idle No More” A Growing Movement

For nearly a month Theresa Spence, Chief of the community of Attawapiskat, has been protesting the way First Nations people are treated in northern Ontario.

Spence has not eaten any solid food for about 30 days. This type of protest is called a “hunger strike.”

During a hunger strike, people stop eating in order to make a peaceful protest about something they believe in. Spence is consuming only liquids, like water and broth.

Spence said she will not end her hunger strike until Prime Minister Stephen Harper meets with her to discuss First Nations rights.

Last week, Harper said he will meet with First Nations leaders on Jan. 11.

News

Part II Of TKN’s 2012 News Quiz. How Many Of These Stories Do You Remember?

Yesterday we posted a quiz featuring questions from events in the news in the first half of 2012. Let’s see how much you remember from the past six months as you tackle these 2012 news questions.

17) What huge sporting event took place in Summer 2012? Bonus point if you know what city it took place in.

18) The man who famously said, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind” passed away in August 2012. What was his name, and why was he famous?

19) Name the mayor of Toronto. Name one thing he did that was newsworthy in 2012.

20) “Replacement refs” filled in during an NFL labour dispute. What did they do that irritated many fans?

21) What did the Pope’s butler do in 2012 that made headlines?

22) Who won the World Series in 2012?

23) Why is nine-year-old Caine Monroy famous?

News

Top Stories From 2012 – Take Our Fun Quiz!

Now that it’s 2013, it’s a good time to look back on some of the biggest news stories of the year.

Take our quiz and see how much you remember about these stories from the past year. The link beside each question will take you to the TKN article that will give you the answer.

1) A famous scientist turned 70 on Jan. 8, 2012. Name him. (Article.)

2) Something happened to the Costa Concordia in January. What? (Article.)

3) Where did two teens send a “Legonaut”? (Article.)

4) Why did some Canadian Little Leaguers travel to Africa for a baseball game? Who did they play? (Article.)

5) Who won the 2012 Super Bowl? (Article.)

6) Name the northern Ontario city that declared a “state of emergency” in February. Bonus points if you can spell it correctly. (Article.)

Painting by Canadian artist Rocky Green, Redneck Arts.
Arts

Happy Holidays, From Your Team At TKN

Happy holidays!

Thank you for reading Teaching Kids News and using it in your home or classroom.

During the winter break, please enjoy our archives. There are more than 400 great articles on lots of topics.

Type a key word into our Search box or click on a topic in the “tag cloud” on our home page.

There are lots of articles kids will enjoy in categories like sports, animals, science, space, England, United States, Canada and yes, even politics.

Please also look at our new “In-Class Ideas” section (tab in the upper menu on the home page). There are some terrific ideas for in-class and homeschooling work based on articles from TKN. These are projects that other classes have done successfully with their students. Fun!

Have a great holiday season, and we’ll see you in the new year.

This beautiful, snowy image is by Canadian artist Rocky Green. (Copyright Rocky L. Green.)

Sports

Christine Sinclair Is Canada’s Outstanding Athlete For 2012

Women’s soccer superstar Christine Sinclair has won the 2012 Lou Marsh Award.

The award is given out each year to Canada’s outstanding athlete. She is the first soccer player to win the award.

Sinclair, 29, is from Burnaby, British Columbia; she is captain of Canada’s women’s soccer team.

She led Canada to a bronze medal at the 2012 London Olympics.

She played a spectacular tournament, scoring an Olympic-record-setting six goals.

Lighter

What’s In A Meme? Ikea Monkey Goes Viral

Who knows why something “catches on” through the Internet?

Somehow it sparks the collective imagination and before you know it, it’s gone “viral.”

That’s what happened last week with the “Ikea monkey.”

Bronwyn Page was in an Ikea (furniture store) parking lot in North York, Ont. on Dec. 9 when she saw something unusual.

A little brown monkey wearing a diaper and a tiny, expensive-looking coat.

News Politics

New Egyptian Leader Backs Off On Strict Controls

In 2011, during what was called Arab Spring, protests in the Middle East showed that many people were fed up with their dictator leaders.

One of the largest countries in which people opposed their leader was Egypt. 

The protests ended when President Hosni Mubarak was driven out of office and put on trial.

Last June, Egypt’s first freely elected president took office.

But instead of trying to get everyone to agree on how to run the country, President Mohammed Morsi decided to give himself complete power over all laws and all the people.

He said this was the only way to get things done.

Again the protests started as people streamed into the streets because their rights had been removed.

Their message got to Morsi and he cancelled his plans for complete power.

Kids Sports

Banning Bodychecking Makes Hockey Safer For Kids

Changing the rules of hockey to reduce aggressive behaviour like bodychecking is the best way to keep kids safer on the ice, according to a group of Canadian researchers.

In hockey, body checking is when one player charges into another player.

The researchers looked at the different ways people have tried to reduce injuries among young hockey players.

They found that the most effective method is to introduce a “no bodychecking” rule, or at least raise the age when players can begin to bodycheck.

The number of young hockey players suffering brain and spinal cord injuries has increased in the past 15 years.

On some teams, as many as one-quarter of the players will suffer a concussion during a season.

These injuries are often caused by bodychecking.

News Sports

The “Voice Of The Blue Jays” Wins Prestigious Award

Grown men have been known to tear up upon hearing the famous words: “Touch ’em all, Joe!”

They were spoken by Blue Jays’ baseball radio broadcaster Tom Cheek back in 1993.

Recently, the Baseball Hall of Fame announced that the “voice of the Blue Jays” would receive the prestigious Ford C. Frick award for broadcasting excellence.

Many fans consider the award long overdue.

Cheek was part of the first Blue Jays radio broadcast. He continued to be the voice of the Blue Jays for 27 years.

From his first game to his last, he never missed a game. He worked 4,306 games in a row–from April 1977 until June 2004.

Cheek also broadcast 41 playoff games.

Cheek experienced struggles in his early years.

He was also witness to back-to-back World Series championships for the Blue Jays in 1992 and 1993.

But topping it all was the call he made in 1993.

Blue Jays outfielder Joe Carter had just hit a huge home run to win the World Series.

Animals News

Lonesome George May Not Have Been The Last Of His Kind

When the giant tortoise known as Lonesome George died last summer, people thought he was the last of his kind.

Lonesome George lived on Pinta Island, one of a group of islands called the Galapagos, in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of South America.

He belonged to a species called Chelonoidis abingdoni, which was native to that island and not found anywhere else in the world.

When he died, scientists believed the species became extinct.

Now a group of researchers has found giant tortoises, who may be related to Lonesome George, living on another Galapagos island.

These scientists studied the DNA of a group of giant tortoises living on Isabella Island, about 60 kilometres away from Lonesome George’s home.

They found 17 tortoises that had some DNA from the same Pinta Island species as Lonesome George.

These tortoises also had DNA from a different species, which means they had ancestors from both species.