1. Eight Nights

Hanukkah, the Jewish Festival of Lights, begins at sunset on Saturday, December 8. It is a holiday that lasts eight days. During this time, people remember an amazing event that happened in Jewish history. As a class, discuss this holiday. After your discussion, write out three things you would like to know about this holiday in the form of questions. Then use this week's newspapers and other resources to learn the story behind Hanukkah.

Common Core/National Standard: Acquiring information from books, maps, newspapers, data sets and other sources, organizing and presenting the information, and interpreting the meaning and significance of the information.

2. Leave Us Alone!

President James Monroe told the United States Congress on December 2, 1823, that he was introducing a new foreign policy that would forbid European interference in the American hemisphere of the world and at the same time make the United States a neutral country when it came to European conflicts. It took almost 100 years and a brutal war in Europe for the U.S. to become involved in a conflict across the Atlantic Ocean. Since America became involved in World War I, however, it has become a world power. Search your newspaper for stories about U.S. involvement in wars elsewhere in the world today. As a class, discuss whether the U.S. should continue to be involved.

Common Core/National Standard: Engaging effectively in a range of collaborative discussions

3. Got the Travel Bug?

People who visit the United Nations building in New York City find themselves surrounded by the cultures and people of 193 countries. Graham Hughes of the European nation of Great Britain, however, decided he would rather visit all of the United Nations’ 193 member states in person — plus Taiwan, Vatican City, Palestine, Kosovo, Western Sahara and the four countries that make up the United Kingdom. He also decided to do it without ever flying in an airplane. Hughes, according to the Guinness Book of World Records, is the first person to visit all the countries in the world traveling only by foot, bus, boat, taxis and trains. He filmed his adventures for a documentary movie and to raise money for a charity called WaterAid, a non-profit group that brings clean drinking water to people in developing third-world countries. Search the newspaper for stories about traveling to foreign countries. Choose a country you would like to visit and research it on the Internet or in the library. Write a short essay about the country and why you would want to visit.

Common Core/National Standard: Producing clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization and style are appropriate to the task, purpose and audience.

4. Wheee! It’s a Wii!

In case you’re wondering what kids like you want for the holidays this year, Nintendo will be happy to tell you that Wii U is topping the list. In just one week, the video game giant sold more than 400,000 of its new game consoles in the United States alone. According to an Associated Press story, it is the first major game console introduced in the last six years. This new controller has a touch screen that offers different people in the same room a different experience, depending on the controller used, the article said. The sales of the new console are almost the same as the sales of the original Wii. Search the newspaper and the Internet for stories about new games or toys kids want as presents this year. Draw a picture of a video game you would design for the new Wii U. Write a complete sentence describing it.

Common Core/National Standard: Using drawings or visual displays when appropriate to enhance the development of main ideas or points.

5. Set Sail, Snoopy

Snoopy is hitting the high seas this week as he attempts to sail across the Atlantic Ocean. OK, it’s not a living Snoopy, but a Snoopy doll carried by the Snoopy Sloop, an unmanned boat built by Robin Lovelock of the European country of Great Britain. Lovelock put the small vessel together using parts he purchased online for about $720. It measures four-feet long and weighs just 30 pounds, is wind powered and has a solar-powered GPS and computer system on board so that it can stay on course. Lovelock, who works as a scientist, is hoping to be the first person to successfully navigate an unmanned toy boat 6,000 miles across the Atlantic from Great Britain to America. As a class, search your newspaper and the Internet for stories about the Snoopy Sloop’s progress. Write a fictional “journal” from Snoopy’s point of view about the adventure of this trip.

Common Core/National Standard: Writing narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events.