1. Now That’s a Funny Film!

For years and years, Hollywood brushed animated movies aside when it came to giving out Academy Award Oscar statues. They were just considered longer cartoons than those on television. But now, with amazing computer animation technology and funny scripts, animated feature movies are getting attention even for Best Picture Oscars. This year, movies like “Brave,” “Wreck-It-Ralph,” “Rise of the Guardians,” “Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax,” “Frankenweenie,” “Ice Age Continental Drift” and “ParaNorman” are among the 21 animated movies competing for Oscar attention. Search your newspaper and the Internet for a funny story that could be turned into an animated film. Draw three characters from the story and create a script for the opening scene for your film. Be sure to include the setting, character names and what would happen in the film overall.

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

2. Read, Read, Read!

This week is National Young Readers Week. It’s a chance to celebrate wonderful storytellers and reading. Most people have two or three authors they really enjoy reading. They also may like the main character in a series of stories. Or they may like a genre of writing such as mystery, biographies, science fiction or historical nonfiction. Search your newspaper or the Internet for stories about children’s book authors. Find an author you have never read and check out one of his or her books from the library. Write a book report, making sure you talk about the characters, the setting, the beginning, the middle (problem) and the ending (solution).

Common Core/National Standard: Describing in depth a character, setting or event in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., a character’s thoughts, words or actions).

3. Listen Up, People!

Speeches bring people together. They touch hearts and inspire listeners. Last week, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama made two very different speeches on election night. Romney gave what is called a concession speech. That means he said he knew he didn’t win the election and acknowledged that Obama had been re-elected. In his speech, Romney thanked his supporters, told them the country was at a “critical point” and said we need to look to the people of the nation to provide jobs and a better education for children. He also said it was important for Republicans and Democrats in Congress to work together. Obama, on the other hand, gave what is called a victory speech. He also thanked his supporters, his family and his election workers. He called on people to work together to make the country better and talked about the history of the nation and presidential elections. In the newspaper, find stories about how the candidates did in the election. Then write your own victory speech for something you have done.

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. They Won by How Much?

Many people love to watch professional football, but for others it’s the college games that are the most exciting. The team rankings go up and down from week to week, and you never know who will be in the Top 25. The fans scream wildly for their schools, and sometimes the scores can be very high. For instance, a couple of weeks ago, the University of Oregon played the University of Southern California, and Oregon won by a score of 62-51. The sports pages of newspapers and Internet sites always provide the scores from each week’s games and the rankings. This month, the Top 10 teams include Alabama, Kansas State, Oregon, Notre Dame, Georgia, Florida, Louisiana State, South Carolina, Louisville and Florida State. Look in your newspaper and on the Internet for scores from the latest games for the Top 10 teams. Use your subtraction skills to find the difference between each team’s point total and the point total of its opponent. Chart which teams had the biggest difference in points with their opponents.

Common Core/National Standard: Representing and solving problems involving addition and subtraction.

5. Don’t Let Them Smell Your Fear

Dogs are the kings of sniffers with 220 million smell receptors (compared to just 5 million for humans). But a recent study showed that humans can actually smell the emotions of fear and disgust! A team of scientists collected sweat from the armpits of 10 men while they watched scary or disgusting scenes from movies. Next the researchers tested 36 women while they unknowingly inhaled the scents of the sweat. When they smelled men’s “fear” sweat, their eyes opened wide in a scared expression. When they smelled sweat from gross scenes, they scrunched their faces into a disgusted grimace. Sometimes what we read can scare or disgust us. With your teacher, search the newspaper or the Internet for stories that could scare or disgust people. Pick one and write a short essay about how it makes you feel.

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