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 25

2018: Sen. John McCain, a veteran who was a POW for more than five years in Hanoi during the Vietnam War, died after battling brain cancer.

1916: President Woodrow Wilson signed an Act of Congress creating the National Park Service (NPS) to manage the growing network of national parks in the United States, a model that has been followed around the world.

1819: Library of Congress: Allan Pinkerton, founder of Pinkerton's National Detective Agency, was born in Glasgow, Scotland. Pinkerton emigrated to the United States in 1842 and eventually established a barrel-making shop in a small town outside of Chicago. He was an ardent abolitionist, and his shop functioned as a "station" for escaped slaves traveling the Underground Railroad to freedom in the North. Pinkerton's career as a detective began by chance when he discovered a gang of counterfeiters operating in an area where he was gathering wood. His assistance - first in arresting these men and then another counterfeiter, led to his appointment as deputy sheriff of Kane County, Illinois, and, later, as Chicago's first full-time detective. Pinkerton left his job with the Chicago police force to start his own detective agency. In 1861, while investigating a railway case, Pinkerton uncovered an apparent assassination plot against Abraham Lincoln. It was believed that conspirators intended to kill Lincoln in Baltimore during a stop along the way to his inauguration. Pinkerton warned Lincoln of the threat, and the president-elect's itinerary was changed so that he passed through the city secretly at night.

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.