Common Core State Standard L.CCS.1/2/3/4 Grades 6-12: Video of a current news event is presented for discussion to encourage student participation, but also inspire the use of evidence to support logical claims using the main ideas of the video. Students must analyze background information provided about a current event, draw out the main ideas and key details, and review different opinions on the issue. Then, students should present their own claims using facts and analysis for support.
08/31/2026
Hundreds dead and thousands missing in Himalayan flooding
Millions of tons of ice and rock broke off a Himalayan glacier last week and plunged more than a mile into a river near the border of Nepal and Tibet, setting off flash flooding that killed at least 800 people. Rescue crews are racing against time to find any survivors out of the more than 3,000 people believed to be missing. The U.S. Geological Survey reported that the glacial collapse set off a magnitude 5.2 landslide. Nepal has lost more than a third of its glacial ice since the 1990s, according to a UN study.
■Class discussion: Do you think the world’s warming climate may have played a part in the devastating flood in the Himalayan Mountains? Where else in the world are glaciers melting at increasingly rapid rates? How could melting glaciers threaten the future of people thousands of miles away? Where does all the water from the melting ice end up? Will any part of the world be unchanged as the oceans and atmosphere continue to heat up? Is a changing climate already driving desperate people to find new places to live?
