Explore the Wildfires unit during Fire Prevention Month | View in browser   Sign up to receive your own updates    Teaching with TrueFlix Fire prevention week began as a way to commemorate Chicago's Great Fire of 1871 and today serves to educate students on fire safety habits. With wildfires raging across many parts of the country this time of year—and fire prevention week being celebrated October 4th through the 10th—students may have many questions they wish to explore on the subject. The TrueFlix unit on Wildfires offers students an opportunity to discover how wildfires start, the many ways firefighters combat the burning blazes, where the expression “fight fire with fire” comes from and so much more. A Multitude of Media The Smokey Bear Website, found in the Explore the Web section, provides students with various child-friendly activities and information. Students can complete custom coloring sheets by choosing their own design and frame, play a Mad Lib-type game, learn about campfire safety, track current wildfires with a real-time map and take a personal pledge to help prevent forest fires. There are also teacher resources that include project ideas and handouts, a teaching guide aligned to National Standards, videos, and more. Project Idea The Explore More section within TrueFlix provides a variety of text types including fiction, primary sources, current events, maps, charts and tables. These resources are printable, and can be used together to help children broaden their understanding of a topic, as well as become comfortable with maps, charts, and tables. For this particular unit, the map shows the various types of forests found in the United States, while the chart provides a list of devastating forest fires. Have students work together to identify the American wildfires, and then plot their location on the map. See if students can identify patterns of location, and also time. Melissa's Tip of the Month Pairing nonfiction and fiction texts is an excellent way to provide students with a well-rounded view of a particular topic. Lauren Tarshis' I Survived: Great Chicago Fire, 1871 is a great fiction companion to include in your Wildfire unit with students. Read the piece aloud with your class to start an interesting comparative discussion on the differences between fiction and nonfiction as it relates to the Great Chicago Fire. - Melissa Iamonico - School Librarian and TrueFlix Ambassador UPCOMING WEBINAR DATES Learn more about getting the most out of TrueFlix by attending one of our monthly online training sessions. Thursday, October 8, 2015 4:30 to 5:30 pm EST Register for this session Tuesday, November 10, 2015 4:00 to 5:00 pm EST Register for this session Thursday, December 10, 2015 4:30 to 5:30 pm EST Register for this session We'd Love to Hear From You! We'd love to hear what you think of the TrueFlix newsletter! Please email us your thoughts or ideas on how we can make it even better! Visit Scholastic.com For Librarians | For Teachers | For Parents | For Kids Please add librarypub@emailer.scholastic.com to your address book. We hope you enjoyed receiving this message from Scholastic Library Publishing. Your email address is: <%= recipient.email %>. If you would rather not receive emails from Scholastic, please follow this link. Email Marketing, Scholastic Inc., 557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012 | 1-800-SCHOLASTIC Privacy Policy | Scholastic Inc. | Terms of Use ©1996-2015 Scholastic Inc.