Subjects
Grades
Grades 2-up
News Content
Kids in some schools are paying for lunches with their fingerprints.
Anticipation Guide
Before sharing this week's New for Kids article, learn about students' familiarity with some common uses of scanner technology. Do cashiers in the grocery stores in your area use scanners to scan items that are purchased? If so, ask students to explain how that scanner technology works. Chances are their descriptions will be fairly accurate: A product is passed over the scanner, which reads the UPC bar code on the package. That bar code contains information about the product and its price. The scanner translates the code into the product price.
You might share the How UPC Bar Codes Work from the How Stuff Works Web.
After talking about the bar code scanners, ask students to identify any other places where they have encountered scanner technology. Then introduce this week's News for Kids story about some new uses for scanner technology in schools.
News Words
Introduce the words in the News Word box on the students' printable page. Ask students to use one of the words to complete each statement below.
Read the News
Click for a printable version of this week's news story Kids Buy Lunch With Finger Scans.
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More Facts to Share
You might share these additional facts with students after they have read this week's news story.
Comprehension Check
Think About the News
Follow-up the reading of this week's News for Kids article by asking students to consider these questions:
Discuss the Think About the News question that appears on the students' news page. You might use the think-pair-share strategy to discuss this question with students. If you use this strategy
Follow-Up Activities
Root words (base words). Ask students to circle each of these words on a copy of this week's News for Kids article:
colleges | deducts | faster | losing | lunches |
passes | places | punched | remembers | scanners |
Then have students write down the list of words. Then challenge them to write the root word (or base word) next to each word. Root words appear here in italic type: colleges (college), deducts (deduct), faster (fast), losing (lose), lunches (lunch), passes (pass), places (place), punched (punch), remembers (remember), and scanners (scan).
Acronyms. Introduce the concept of acronyms. Point out this sentence from this week's News for Kids article:
Before the scanners were put into place, students punched a secret PIN number into a machine.
Ask students if they know what a PIN number is. In this sentence, PIN is an abbreviation, or acronym, for Personal Identification Number. Write the following acronyms on a board or chart and ask students if they are familiar with and can identify what they letters stand for in any of them.
AC (Air Conditioning), AOL (America Online), ASAP (As Soon As Possible), ATM (Automated Teller Machine), B&B (Bed and Breakfast), BLT (Bacon, Lettuce, Tomato), EMT (Emergency Medical Technician), EST (Eastern Standard Time), ET (Extra Terrestrial), FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation), HBO (Home Box Office), HP (Hewlett Packard), IOU (I Owe You), KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken), LOL (Laughing Out Loud), MPG (Miles Per Gallon), NASCAR (National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing), NFL (National Football League), NYC (New York City), PBJ (Peanut Butter and Jelly), PR (Public Relations), Q&A (Question and Answer), RN (Registered Nurse), RV (Recreational Vehicle), TD (Touchdown), UPS (United Parcel Service), VW (Volkswagen), and WWF (World Wildlife Fund or World Wrestling Federation).
If your students are more advanced, they might know some of the acronyms that follow. You might even pair up students and give them the list; see how many they can correctly identify.
4WD (Four-Wheel Drive), A&E (Arts and Entertainment), AAA (American Automobile Association), ABC (American Broadcasting Corporation), ABS (Anti-Lock Braking System), ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder), AKA (Also Known As), APR (Annual Percentage Rate), ATV (All Terrain Vehicle), B2B (Business to Business), CD (Certificate of Deposit), CEO (Chief Executive Officer), CIA (Central Intelligence Agency), CK (Calvin Klein), CNN (Cable News Network), CPR (Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation), CSI (Crime Scene Investigation), DC (District of Columbia), DSL (Digital Subscriber Line), DWI (Driving While Intoxicated), EPA (Environmental Protection Agency), ESPN (Entertainment and Sports Programming Network), FCC (Federal Communications Commission), FDA (Food and Drug Administration), FDR (Franklin Delano Roosevelt), FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency), FYI (For Your Information), GM (General Manager, General Motors, or General Mills), GNP (Gross National Product), GOP (Grand Old Party [Republican Party]), GPA (Grade Point Average), GPS (Global Positioning System), GQ (Gentleman's Quarterly), HMO (Health Maintenance Organization), HTML (Hyper Text Mark-up Language), IBM (International Business Machines Corporation), ICU (Intensive Care Unit), ISP (Internet Service Provider), JFK (John Fitzgerald Kennedy), LA (Los Angeles), NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration), NBA (National Basketball Association), NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association), NOW (National Organization for Women), PC (Politically Correct), PS (Post Script), PSI (Pounds Per Square Inch), PTA (Parent-Teacher Association), R&R (Rest and Relaxation), RAM (Random Access Memory), RBI (Runs Batted In [baseball]), RIP (Rest in Peace), SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test), SCUBA (Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus), SKU (Stock Keeping Unit), SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics), TGIF (Thank God It's Friday), WWW (World Wide Web).
Assessment
Have students work on their own (in their journals) or in their small groups to respond to the Think About the News questions on the news story page or in the Comprehension Check section.
Lesson Plan Source
Education WorldNational Standards
LANGUAGE ARTS: English
GRADES K - 12
NL-ENG.K-12.2 Reading for Understanding
NL-ENG.K-12.12 Applying Language Skills
SCIENCE
GRADES K - 4
NS.K-4.5 Science and Technology
GRADES 5 - 8
NS.5-8.5 Science and Technology
GRADES 9 - 12
NS.9-12.5 Science and Technology
TECHNOLOGY
GRADES K - 12
NT.K-12.2 Social, Ethical, and Human Issues
See recent news stories in Education World's News Story of the Week Archive.
Article by Gary Hopkins
Education World®
Copyright © 2006 Education World
09/27/2006