1. Cartoon News

Newspapers provide many ways to learn. As a class, read a short article in today's newspaper. Then draw a picture that shows an event in the story. Include dialogue bubbles showing what people are saying like the ones in comics, so that someone looking at the picture may have a better understanding of the event.

Learning Standard: Identifying and using the craft of the speaker, writer and illustrator to formulate and express ideas artistically.

2. I Have a Question

In a small group, read an article in today's newspaper. Come up with five "quiz" questions about the article. Write the questions on one sheet of paper. Then write the answers on the other. Exchange questions with another group. Read the other group's article and answer the questions they came up with.

Learning Standards: Acquiring information from multiple sources; demonstrating the ability to write clear and grammatically correct sentences, paragraphs and compositions.

3. A Benefit from Butts

People who smoke cigarettes put their health at risk. They also create a trash problem with the cigarette butts they leave behind. Now scientists in the Asian country of China have found a use for cigarette butts that may keep a lot of them out of trash or smoking containers. The scientists have discovered that the chemicals left behind by smokers in cigarette butts and filters can be used to protect steel pipes. The Chinese scientists said that nine chemicals they recovered from cigarette butts helped prevent steel pipes from rusting. About 4.5 trillion cigarette butts find their way into the environment each year, the Chinese scientists said, and recycling them to protect metals could reduce that number. As a class, talk about ways people recycle or find new uses for things. With a partner, find something that could be recycled in the newspaper. Design a poster showing how this item could be recycled and what it could be used for.

Learning Standard: Showing how common themes of science, mathematics and technology apply in real world contexts; showing how science concepts can be interpreted through creative expression such as language arts and fine arts.

4. Great Old Water System

In ancient times aqueducts were raised bridges built to carry water into cities for use by the people living there. Some go back more than 2,000 years, and a discovery in the Middle East country of Israel is showing what they looked like. Workers repairing a water system in the city of Jerusalem have uncovered several sections of an arched aqueduct (AH-kweh-dukt) that is nearly 700 years old. The 9-foot-tall aqueduct is in very good condition and is giving scientists and historians their first clear look at how the ancient water systems in the area were built. It is located on the route of an aqueduct that was built to bring water to Jerusalem from Bethlehem, the town made famous in the Bible as the birthplace of Jesus. As a class, talk about public buildings, roads, bridges or other structures that were built to provided services to your community. Then find an example in the newspaper. Write a paragraph describing how life would be different if this structure did not exist.

Learning Standards: Responding to a variety of oral, visual, written and electronic texts by making connections to students' personal lives and the lives of others; writing fluently for multiple purposes.

5. A Dino Head-Banger

The great thing about dinosaurs is that scientists are always discovering new things about them. Consider the experience of fossil hunter Darren Tanke, who was poking around a bone bed of horned dinosaurs in Texas while on a "working vacation." He looked down and found the top of the skull of a new species of dinosaur. But not just any species. This dog-sized dinosaur had a rounded "dome" of bone on the top of its head that it used to ram into other dinosaurs. Two pieces of the dome have been found since the first discovery in 2008, and scientists are now working to find a complete skull of the new species, which lived more than 70 million years ago. As a class, talk about what scientists can learn from fossils. Then find an animal in the newspaper that lives in your community or state. Think like a future fossil hunter and write what its bones could tell scientists about the way it lived.

Learning Standards: Engaging peers in constructive conversation about topics of interest or importance; explaining how fossils provide evidence about the nature of ancient life; explaining how scientists decide what constitutes scientific knowledge.