1. Tell Some Stories

November is National Family Stories Month. Stories that get told and retold within a family are an important source of personal history. Think of a funny or interesting story about an event that happened to someone in your own family. Then, using today's newspaper as a guide, write the story in third-person journalistic style. See if you can still retain the appropriate mood of the story, while using this "voice" to convey your tale.

Common Core/National Standard: Writing fluently for multiple purposes to produce compositions, such as stories, poetry and personal narratives.

2. Election 2012: Cast Your Ballot

Election Day is Tuesday, and across the nation voters will cast their ballots for the candidates of their choice. But where did the word "ballot" come from? The experts at Merriam-Webster's College Dictionary say the earliest use of the word in English goes all the way back to 1549. It's based on the Germanic word "ball." Not that voting is a game, but small balls, with special markings or colors, have been used to cast secret votes since ancient times. Italians began referring to the little balls as "ballottas" and that became our word “ballot.” Look through the newspaper for information about this week’s voting. Have a mock election in your class, and use marbles, candy balls or other small, round objects to cast your votes. Then write a short news story reporting on your class vote.

Common Core/National Standard: Describing how citizens participate in election campaigns.

3. His Final Vote

Before Frank Tanabe died in Honolulu, Hawaii, he made sure he voted. At age 93, suffering from end-stage cancer, he filled out an absentee ballot and voted from his home in America’s 50th state. Tanabe had a special part in American history: He was one of the Japanese Americans interned by the United States government after the Pearl Harbor attack by Japan at the start of World War II. He then volunteered to join the U.S. Army, and served in a Military Intelligence Unit during the war. So, although citizen Frank Tanabe is no longer here, he lives on — at least through Election Day — thanks to having exercised his basic right as an American. As a class, talk about the roundup of Japanese Americans early in World War II, which is now generally viewed to have been a violation of their rights. Then find a story involving human rights in the newspaper or online. Write a summary of it in a few paragraphs.

Common Core/National Standard: 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.

4. Nowheresville? Not Really

Ryan McDonough can’t play hockey in New York, so he’s had to settle for Astana. Where? The New York Ranger — locked out in the labor dispute that’s shut down the National Hockey League — is playing in the capital of the central Asian nation of Kazakhstan. And he loves it! McDonough is one of 140 NHL players who have joined leagues overseas during the U.S. lockout. He didn’t expect to find modern life in Kazakhstan, and has been surprised to find “some very cool buildings, and everything you want to have in your home city — lots of malls, movie theaters, grocery stores.” Read in the newspaper or online about the NHL lockout, the issues between the owners and players and the chances it will be settled soon. Write a short opinion essay outlining what you think should be 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.

5. ‘Backscatters’ Scattered

The government’s Transportation Security Administration is removing full-body x-ray scanners from seven major U.S. airports and replacing them with a machine that produces a cartoonlike outline, instead of the naked images that some people have compared to a virtual strip search. The change has nothing to do with passengers’ privacy concerns, the TSA says, but is designed to speed up lines at crowded airports. The old machines, called “backscatters,” are not being scrapped; they’re just being moved to smaller airports. Civil liberties groups have hailed the change to the less intrusive scanners, hoping it’s the beginning of the end for the x-ray machines, which the American Civil Liberties Union’s Jay Stanley calls “privacy intrusive … surrounded by health questions.” Follow this controversy in the newspaper or online. Then write a short newspaper editorial outlining how the TSA should work to balance the right to privacy and the need for security at airports.

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