Meeting Objectives with Highlights Regular Features
The stories and articles in Highlights for Children magazine are presented as ways to improve students' reading abilities and increase their comprehension levels.
Using the Options and Objective Chart
In the PDF chart you will see curriculum areas listed on the left, followed by objectives that you need to meet in those areas. The titles of Highlights regular features are shown along the top. The check marks indicate the Highlights regular features that could help you meet given objectives.
For example, look at the first entry: Language Arts -- Reading: Use visual clues. What Highlights feature could you use? The chart indicates several. These are all features where the artwork provides a strong clue as to what the feature is about. On the chart on the next page, look, for example, at Across the Curriculum -- Science: Establish and test hypotheses. The chart indicates that you should check out "BrainPlay," "Science Corner," "Thinking," "Dinosaur Days," "Nature Watch," and "Science Letters." The chances are very high that in several of those features (even if not in every single one of those features in every single issue), you will find a suitable question for your particular class to work with as they develop and test hypotheses.
Looking at the chart on the third page, you will see that Thinking Skills are well represented, since it has always been our belief at Highlights that children enjoy using their heads. There is a similar range of potential for Social Skills, since another Highlights belief is that how a child learns is often crucial to success.
As you think of your own objectives, you will see that activities to meet your objectives often virtually suggest themselves. Others may require a little more development from you. But either way, the breadth and depth of the magazine will help you foster meaningful learning in which your students' families can play a significant role.
Throughout the site you will find some sample lesson plans showing how objectives can be met with regular features from any issue. You will also find some student activity cards, which relate to the chart in a slightly different way. You start by choosing the particular regular feature you want to work with rather than with the objective you want to teach.