In response to the police shooting of Mike Brown and the numerous protests and civil unrest that followed the shooting and grand jury decision, students were eager to learn about what was going on in St. Louis and Ferguson. Students saw boarded up windows walking to class. Some were afraid and not sure of their safety. They were encouraged to talk to staff about their fears and general personal safety lessons were also reviewed. The following is a story based on what was in the news. Suggested activities include: showing videos and news pictures from the web. Circle key words. Alphabetize key words. Ask students “What’s number 3?, 5?” Etc. Students can also do this in pairs. Worksheet of questions about the story. Students can also read these in pairs when completed. True false worksheet. Cloze of part of the story. Multi-level dictation of the story. Matching pictures to key words. Discussion about civil rights history, racism, police, safety.

Ferguson Missouri is in the news. This is a story based on a true story. 1. Mike and his friend are walking to his grandmother’s home. They are unarmed (no gun). 2. The police shoot him six times. Mike dies. 3. Witnesses say Mike had his hands up in a don’t shoot position. 4. The police don’t cover Mike’s body. People from the apartment building and neighborhood are upset. 5. They are angry at the police. Some people loot and start fires. The Quick Trip burns 6. They make signs, they use Facebook and Twitter. 7. More people come to protest. They want the Policeman arrested. They say: “Hands up! Don’t shoot” 8. Police come from all over Missouri. 9. News reporters come too. Some of them are tear gassed and arrested. The police say “Oops, mistake”. 10. The police shoot tear gas at the protesters. 11. They dress up in military gear that the government gave them. 12. The governor calls the National Guard. 13. President Obama sends the Attorney General to Ferguson. 14. There are many days of protests. People want their constitutional rights. 15. There are marches for Justice. People travel from other states to show solidarity against police brutality and for civil rights. 13. Now people everywhere are talking about civil rights, police brutality, racism, and the need for more jobs. Are you talking about it too? 14 Any day, we are going to know if there will be a trial or no trial for the Police officer who shot Michael.

1. Who is walking to grandmother’s home? _____________________________________________________________ 2. Does Mike have a gun? ________________________________________________ 3. How many times is mike shot? ______________________________________________________________ 4. The police don’t do something after Mike is shot. What is it? _____________________________________________________________________________ 5. What do the protesters say? “ ________________________________________” 6. What do the angry and upset protesters do? __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ 7. What burns? _____________________________________________________________________________ 8. What do the police shoot at protesters? _____________________________________________________________________________ 9. How do the police dress? ______________________________________________________________________________ 10. What does Governor Nixon do? _____________________________________________________________________________ 11. What does President Obama do? _______________________________________________________________________________ 12. What do protesters want? __________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ 13. What are people everywhere talking about ? __________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________

True or False 1. Mike has a gun. ____ 2. The police shoot Mike 2 times. ____ 3. Obama sends the Governor. _______ 4. The McDonalds burns. __________ 5. Protesters and news reporters are arrested. ____ 6. The police don’t cover Mike’s body. ________ for 4 hours 7. The police dress up like the military. ________ 8. Mike shoots tear gas. _______ 9. The protesters want their constitutional rights. ________ EXTRA. There are also protests for the police officer. ______ Mike’s funeral was Monday. ________ Four hundred people went. _____ Mike’s story is a big part of history now. ____

Fix the word order 1. gas shoot police tear The. __________________________________________________________________ 2. fires start and loot people Some. __________________________________________________________________ 3. times Mike police The shoot six. ___________________________________________________________________ 4. calls Guard National the The governor. ___________________________________________________________________ 5. protest More people come to. ___________________________________________________________________ 6. Missouri come from all over police. ___________________________________________________________________ 7. police are angry the at People. ___________________________________________________________________ 8. too. The news TV channels come and ________________________________________________________________

Matching 1.Outside the funeral ____ 2.Funeral car_____ 3.Youth lead a march in Ferguson_______ 4.President Obama________ 5.Teachers marching______ 6.Governor calls the National Guard______ 7.Looting___ 8.Protester and Police_____ A B C D EF G H

Youth lead a march in Ferguson

Funeral car

Outside the funeral

Have students google images.