1. Chilean Miners

The world has been fascinated with the plight of 33 Chilean miners who have survived underground, almost completely cut off from the rest of the world for more a month after an accident in the South American country. Read more about the situation, the men and the difficulties they face in this week's newspapers. Then imagine what it might be like for them. Write a fictional short story, movie scene or a poem inspired by the events.

Learning Standards: Exploring and reflecting on universal themes and substantive issues from oral, visual and written texts. Examples include coming of age, rights and responsibilities, group and individual roles, conflict and cooperation, creativity and resourcefulness.

2. Good Night, Sleep Tight

After almost 50 years of lying low, bedbugs are back! Growing infestations of the nasty little bloodsuckers are making homeowners and apartment dwellers itch across the country. The bugs have been found in expensive homes, movie theaters, hotels and stores. They hitch rides on people's bags, luggage and clothes and infest new places. And they are hard to get rid of. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency warned this month against the indoor use of chemicals meant for the outside to kill them. The agency also warned about pest control companies and others making "unrealistic promises of effectiveness or low cost." Use the newspaper to learn some of the concerns the government, scientists and home-dwellers have about bedbugs or getting rid of the bugs safely. Write a paragraph or two describing the situation in your own words.

Learning Standard: Communicating information accurately and effectively and demonstrating expressive abilities by creating oral, written and visual texts that enlighten and engage an audience; acquiring information from multiple sources.

3. Watch Your Head

School-age athletes are heading to the hospital emergency room for concussions much more often than they used to. Trips to the ER for kids 14 to 19 in organized youth sports more than tripled in just 10 years, from about 7,000 in 1997 to nearly 22,000 in 2007. Among younger kids, ages 8 to 13, visits doubled from 3,800 to almost 8,000. A concussion is a brain injury due to an impact on the head. Use the newspaper and the Internet to create a brief oral report on concussions or another health issue in the news. Be sure to including information about prevention, causes, symptoms and treatment.

Learning Standards: Responding to a variety of visual, written and electronic texts by making connections to students' personal lives and the lives of others; determining the meaning of specialized vocabulary and concepts in oral, visual and written texts by using a variety of resources, such as context, research, reference materials, and electronic sources.

4. News Coverage

People in search of the news look to different sources for different types of information. Watch a TV news program on a broadcast network. With a clock or a stopwatch, figure out the total percentage of time during the show devoted to local news, national news, international news, government news, culture/entertainment/celebrity news, sports news, weather, business news, technology news, commentary, ads and credits. There will be some overlap. On the next day, use a ruler and your geometry skills to figure what percentage of the paper is devoted to each of those topics in the newspaper. Create two graphs showing the results. What conclusions can you make about the difference in the two forms of news media?

Learning Standards: Acquiring information from multiple purposes; organizing data using tables, charts, graphs, spreadsheets and data bases.

5. September 11, 2001

On September 11, 2001, terrorists attacked the United States using hijacked civilian planes. As a class, do some research and find out who committed the attacks, who was killed, what was hit and how the U.S. reacted as a nation and a people on that day and in the following weeks. With classmates, come up with a list of at least 10 questions to get a first-person account by interviewing someone who was over 18 on that day. Share your recorded or written interview with the class and watch/read or listen to the interviews to get a clearer picture of what it was like to be an adult on that day.

Learning Standard: Reading and writing fluently, speaking confidently, listening and interacting appropriately, viewing critically and representing creatively. Examples include reporting formally to an audience, debating issues and interviewing members of the public.