1. Seeing Red

Thursday is Valentine's Day. In honor of the holiday, find pictures of red objects and designs in today's newspaper and cut them out. Paste the pictures into an art collage until you've completely covered a sheet of paper. After the paste dries, follow your teacher's instructions and cut your collage into the shape of a heart. As a class, hang up your hearts to create a colorful classroom display. Write a haiku poem to describe how your heart collage makes you feel. A haiku has five syllables in the first line, seven syllables in the second line and five syllables in the third line.

Common Core/National Standards: Producing clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization and style are appropriate to the task, purpose and audience; using drawings or visual displays when appropriate to enhance the development of main ideas or points; classifying common objects and substances according to their color, size, shape, smell, texture, toughness, flexibility, length or weight.

2. What’s in a Name?

It’s hard to believe, but some countries actually have rules about what a baby can be named. Iceland is one of them, and one family had to go to court so their daughter could keep the name her parents gave her 15 years ago. Over the years, official communications had referred to Blaer Bjarkardottir as “Girl,” because the government had determined that “Blaer,” which means “light breeze,” was not a proper feminine name. But the Reykjavik District Court has overturned that decision, ruling that it’s OK for Blaer to call herself Blaer. Use your newspaper, to make a list of unusual names of people in the news. Discuss them as a class, and pick ones you find most interesting. Invite classmates who have unusual names to explain them to the rest of the class. Pick one name you like and write why you like it and what it would be like to have that name.

Common Core/National Standards: Engaging effectively in a range of collaborative discussions; producing clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization and style are appropriate to the task, purpose and audience.

3. The Cat’s Hat, and Others

The Cat in the Hat wears one, but so do Sam I Am, the mooing Mr. Brown and a very fat fish in “One Fish, Two Fish.” Their creator, Dr. Seuss, was a hat lover. In fact, Dr. Seuss (whose full name was Theodor Seuss Geisel) collected hundreds of hats and kept them in a closet in his home in San Diego, California. He used hats in his paintings, his advertising work and almost all of his books. Now, the Random House book company and Dr. Seuss Enterprises have put together a traveling exhibit, displaying some of the hats in his collection. The show will travel to 15 cities after opening in New York on, appropriately, the 75th anniversary of his book, “The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins.” In the newspaper, find a photo or a story involving a hat. Study the hat and write a silly Seuss-like poem or story based on it. Share your poem or story with the class.

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

4. First-Person Gorilla

Every year, the John Newbery Medal is given out to honor the best children’s book that has been published. This year, it has gone to a tale told by a gorilla. The book is Katherine Applegate’s “The One and Only Ivan,” which was inspired by the real-life story of a silverback gorilla. After 27 years alone in a cage in a Tacoma, Washington, mall, Ivan was placed with a large group of gorillas at the Atlanta Zoo in the state of Georgia. Since then, he has been making paintings, which he signs with a thumbprint. Published by Harper Collins, the book moves beyond the facts to imagine Ivan’s thoughts in that solitary cage and then in Atlanta, where he learns about life with his peers. The award was announced by the American Library Association, along with its Randolph Caldecott Medal for the best children’s picture book, won this year by Jon Klassen’s “This Is Not My Hat.” In teams or pairs, use the newspaper to find a real-life story or person that would make a good subject for a children’s book. Give your book a title and write a summary of what it would be about. Draw a cover for your book.

Common Core/National Standards: Producing clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization and style are appropriate to the task, purpose and audience; using drawings or visual displays when appropriate to enhance the development of main ideas or points.

5. Life Under the Ice?

Hundreds of lakes lie buried under the ice of Antarctica near the Earth’s south pole. Now scientists want to reach them to get water samples to test for the presence of life. Drilling through about a half-mile of ice, an American research team has gotten to the surface of only the second such lake ever reached (the first was reached about a year ago by a Russian team). The researchers hope to explore the lake with a remotely operated submarine, take samples of mud and sediment from the bottom and look for microscopic life. This could yield clues to past climate conditions on Earth, water flow and ice movement, as well as the kind of life that might exist on other planets in space. As a class, talk about ways that water is important to humans, wildlife and habitats on Earth. Then draw a comic strip for the newspaper that shows the importance of water.

Common Core/National Standards: Engaging effectively in a range of collaborative discussions; using drawings or visual displays when appropriate to enhance the development of main ideas or points.