The first step is identifying the problem, so be sure to prompt kids to state the problem to start the discussion.

Throughout the lesson, help students identify the problem that the various issues are causing people. Talk about what people might have to do given the circumstances on each page where this applies.  For example, if there is a flood, help students identify the problem and  what problems that would cause all involved, and what they might have to do…..Everything is wet, some things would get ruined, some things float away, etc. engage students in a conversation about this.   Another example, could be talking about the tree that has fallen on a car during a hurricane. What problem does the class see now? “You are  right… now that car won’t work. Oh no.  There is glass everywhere. What should they do if they see glass on the ground? You are right… people need to be careful so they don’t get cut. How will the owners of that car get places with no car? Etc.

As suggestions are made, help the students see if the idea is viable by walking through what their suggestion would entail to see if it’s practical and would work. This type of instruction guides students through the problem-solving process. Over time, using this strategy when you look at the current events slides you will notice improvements in critical thinking.

Page 2:  “Uh oh….I see a problem that the fire has caused…Class, what is the problem that we can see on this page?” Yes, the problem is fire burning down houses. Someone needs to call 911. They need firemen to help put out the fire.  Wildfires are scary. They burn down forests and sometimes they burn down houses. There were A LOT of houses that caught on fire in Northern California. There were 11,000!  Oh my!!!  That is crazy!!! AND……About half of the houses that caught on fire completely burned down. That means their house is all burned down to the ground. Nothing is left of it. What will these poor people need to do class? What happens if your house burns down? (coach until they say ‘nowhere to live’ and then talk about where they might be able to go until they get a new house-check for feasibility)

Page 4: Let’s look at the picture. What do you see?  Yes, there is a fireman carrying a girl away from the fire. Let’s read what this page says. It says “Some people got sick from the smoke. Some people died. Oh, that is sad, isn’t it? One thing about fires that is so dangerous is the smoke. Who here has seen smoke from a fire? What happens if you breathe smoke? Do you cough? (mimic coughing) Class, I want everyone to cough. Yes, that is what happens if you breathe in a bunch of smoke. When there is a big wildfire there is a lot of smoke. There is so much smoke that people can’t breathe. That is scary. The firemen needed to help those people. Some of the people were breathing  the smoke too long and they died. That is sad. They couldn’t get away from the smoke because the fire was all over. It was a huge fire.

Cultural literacy is the information that most people have within a given culture. For example, most people know that the Bahamas is a group of islands and that a lot of tourists like to vacation there and visit the beaches, etc. Most, if not all, people with intellectual disabilities are lacking this sort of knowledge that we take for granted. When you lack this sort of information, a lot of things don’t make sense and following along with movies, conversations, etc. is further impaired.  By using our products on a regular basis, you will develop student’s cultural literacy. The better developed this is, the more understandable everything is.

No problem. There will be such an interesting, engaging conversation along with photographs on each page of the e-book to engage and aid comprehension of the news story. The notes provided for the educator ensure that students are engaged in rich conversation throughout the lesson.

Each publication comes with a current event article in a newspaper-like format, the same article is also broken down and made into an E-book that incorporates pictures to aid comprehension, a printable version of the E- book (color or black and white), 7 printable activities (3 levels of summary, 3 levels of WH questions, and a map activity), and teaching notes. ( how to talk about each page of the book)

Exceptional News is a great platform for speech therapists to use to target and improve speech and language skills. The article, worksheets, and e-book  presentation all focus on a variety of listening and speaking skills that can be directly targeted through speech and language therapy by a speech and language pathologist (SLP). Specific Individualized Education Plan (IEP) goals such as articulation, vocabulary, auditory comprehension, expression, social skills, and augmentative and alternative communication are easily worked on through this curriculum

The one year begins from the day you purchase your subscription.

Yes. There won’t be any articles for two weeks in December as well as in June or July.

If you’re not 100% completely satisfied after 30 days of using our materials, you can contact our support team for a full refund – no questions asked.

It’s impossible to write all of them, but here is a list of topics that will align to standards in every state. The following topics are addressed in our current events curriculum on a regular basis:

• Summarizing
• WH Questions
• Reading strategies
• Building vocabulary
• Weather (hurricanes, tornadoes, blizzards, hail, rain, etc.)
• Disasters (earthquakes, floods, volcanoes, etc.)
• Geography (maps, continents, countries, capitol cities, oceans, lakes, rivers, mountains, valleys, plateaus, etc.)
• animals (habitat, what they eat, body parts, characteristics)
• Important People (government officials, royal families, musicians, actors, etc.)
• Global awareness (where they live compared to other locations around the world)

Most importantly, this provides interesting content to discuss. It’s engaging.

This curriculum provides news in a simplified format,and introduces new vocabulary and develops background knowledge while learning to speak English more fluently.