Lesson Plan - Out of Poverty

Build Background Knowledge

Before reading the article, have students take the five-question Prereading Quiz at junior.scholastic.com. The interactive quiz is self-scoring and will provide an explanation after students answer each question. Then provide these questions for students to think about as they watch the video “No Poverty by 2030”: What is extreme poverty? What are some of the causes and effects of extreme poverty? Watch the video and then discuss students’ responses.

Preview Vocabulary

Use the Skill Builder Words to Know to preteach the domain-specific terms economy, initiative, invest, livestock, and profit. Have students refer to the Skill Builder as they read.

Read the Article

Read the article aloud or have students read it independently or in pairs. As students read, direct them to underline or highlight ways that countries are working to end extreme poverty.

Answer Close-Reading Questions

Have students write their responses, or use the Close-Reading Questions to guide a discussion.

• How does Doaa Mohammed Bakr Turky’s story help introduce the article and its central ideas? (Central Ideas)
The authors use Doaa’s story to show how one person climbed out of extreme poverty. Thanks to a $200 grant from the U.S. Agency for International Development, she was able to start a duck farming business. Now Doaa’s family has plenty of food, and all her siblings are in school. She is one of more than a billion people who have escaped extreme poverty between 1990 and 2017.

• Summarize the section “Improving Daily Life.” (Summarizing)
For most of human history, people often lived short lives filled with challenges. In modern times, health care and technology helped improve lives, but many people have still struggled to find economic opportunities and afford basic necessities. In the past 30 years, several countries have invested in initiatives to try to reduce poverty. For example, Mexico and Brazil have given money to some of their poorest citizens on the condition that their children go to school and get regular health care. In Indonesia, the government lowered the price of rice for poor households, which helped cut the number of people living in poverty by nearly half.

• How does the map “Extreme Poverty Around the World” support the article? (Text Features)
The map shows the current level of extreme poverty by country and how many nations are better off today than they were several years ago. Many countries are shaded green to show that less than 10 percent of their people live in extreme poverty. The map also highlights successes in reducing poverty in Haiti, Brazil, India, and Indonesia.

• How has China practically eliminated poverty within its borders? (Key Details)
Beginning in 1978, China’s leaders encouraged its people to start private businesses. The country also began providing free elementary school education for all children and invested in projects to bring electricity and clean water to its residents. Currently, China is trying to improve lives in rural areas by lending people money and giving them free farming equipment and animals. For example, Jia Huanwen is one of more than 50 million farmers who have escaped extreme poverty since 2015. The government gave him a cow that he was able to later sell so he could afford food and medicine for his family. Today, less than 1 percent of people in China live in extreme poverty—down from 61 percent in 1990.

• How has the Covid-19 pandemic affected rates of extreme poverty? (Cause and Effect)
The pandemic has pushed 97 million people into extreme poverty since 2020. It forced many factories to close, which left people like Shahida Khatun in Bangladesh suddenly unemployed and unable to make ends meet. Some of the poorest countries are still waiting for vaccines.

Interpret Visual Data

Guide students to complete the Skill Spotlight activity at the end of the article. Help them analyze the infographics and cite specific details in their responses.

Gather and Analyze Data

Explain the concepts of per capita gross domestic product, literacy rates, and life expectancy. (See page 3 of this year’s Atlas & Almanac issue.) Then assign the Get the Stats Skill Builder to have students gather information about three countries mentioned in the article from junior.scholastic.com/almanac.

Assess Comprehension

Assign the 10-question Know the News quiz, available in PDF and interactive forms. You can also use Quiz Wizard to assess comprehension of this article and three others from the issue.