Literature, Literacy and Current Events

March 1941: Rosie begins riveting

March 12, 2025 - In 1941 when 25 women completed training at a Vultee airplane factory, their first day of work was scheduled for April 1.

Word of the Day

: Find it in blue in today's top story!

Writing Practice

Practice your writing skills with the story above!

Complete this Writing Practice. Then print or email your document, or if available, save it to Google Drive.

Writing Progress

Track your progress all year. For your Student Summary Report Form:
Click Here (pdf)

Weekly VOCAB

Today In History

August 11

1934: Library of Congress: A group of federal prisoners arrived at Alcatraz Island, a twenty-two-acre rock outcropping one-and-one-half miles offshore in San Francisco Bay. The Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary was conceived of as a high-security, escape-proof fortress for federal prisoners considered either particularly dangerous, infamous, "incorrigible,â€ or presenting the greatest risk of flight. For the next twenty-nine years, the prison held a series of notorious inmates including Chicago mobster Al Capone, George "Machine Gun" Kelly, and Robert Stroud, memorialized in the 1962 film Birdman of Alcatraz. Alcatraz was an uninhabited seabird haven at the time of Juan Manuel de Ayala's 1775 exploration. He named it Isla de los Alcatraces (Isle of the Pelicans). The United States government acquired the island in 1849 and after 1861, Alcatraz was used to house military prisoners. Today Alcatraz Island is part of Golden Gate National Recreation Area administered by the National Park Service.

1921: Alex Haley, African American author of "Roots," was born in Tennessee. He died in Seattle, Washington on Feb. 13, 1992.

Featured Unit

Chemical Elements "Off the Wall"

Studio glass art is a recent development but creating functional glass from silica sand is thousands of years old. Through this Student News Net video, tour the Chihuly Garden and Glass in Seattle, Washington to marvel at the beauty of glass and the chemical elements! Student News Net was there in 2017.

Read More: Seattle sights are simply stupendous

Pink diamonds are rare

Over 90 percent of the world's pink diamonds come from The Argyle Diamond Mine in Western Australia. Pink Diamonds are very rare and very expensive, but all diamonds are tetrahedrons of carbon atoms.

A rush for gold ended quickly

The story of the short-lived Klondike Gold Rush (1896-1899) is told at the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park in downtown Seattle.

Glass: a hot and cool combo of art and science

Glassblowing is a red hot, totally cool combination of art and science.

Independent Practice and Activities for Printing

IP: Pink diamonds are rare
IP: Rush for gold ended quickly
Quiz: Rush for gold ended quickly
IP: Glass a hot and cool combo of art and science

In The News

View Student News Net articles with less than 800 words.

View Student News Net articles with less than 1000 words.


	Practice your writing skills by summarizing the information contained in the story at the left. What is the main point of the story? What are the key findings? Why is the story an important one? What are its implications? When finished, you can print or email your document or save it Google Drive.