1. The Lake’s in Trouble

Back in the 1960s, dumping of sewage and industrial pollutants earned Lake Erie the nickname “North America’s Dead Sea.” Thanks to a multibillion-dollar cleanup by Canada and the United States, the lake that is east of Detroit, Michigan, recovered. But now it’s in trouble again. A thick and growing coat of toxic algae that appears every summer has contributed to an expanding dead zone on the lake’s bottom, reducing the fish populations, fouling beaches and crippling the tourism industry. The algae blooms are bigger than ever, and a predicted wetter-than-usual spring is expected to make the crisis worse. Adding to the problem is the zebra mussel, a foreign invader that feeds on algae that is good for the lake, damaging the food chain that supports Erie’s fish. Every community has environmental concerns and issues. Find a photo in the newspaper showing an outdoor scene in nature. Write a paragraph describing things that could pose risks to the environment in the scene.

Common Core/National Standard: Integrating information presented in different media or formats to develop a coherent understanding of a topic or issue.

2. Good Choices

As a class, read a story in today’s newspaper about an issue or problem that has been going on for a while. Discuss what decisions and choices were made along the way that have brought things to where they are right now. Do you think the present situation is a good one? Would you have made the same decisions? If not, why not? If so, why? Discuss your ideas and then summarize them in a few sentences.

Common Core/National Standards: Producing clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization and style are appropriate to the task, purpose and audience; selecting decisions made to solve past problems and evaluating those decisions in terms of ethical considerations, the interests of those affected by the decisions, and the short- and long-term consequences in those decisions.

3. Fish Make a Comeback

Years and years of overfishing have endangered commercial fishing for food in the United States, but the situation has been reversing, thanks to a 1996 law. A new study of federal fishing statistics has found that limiting catches until fish populations rebound has been successful. Of 44 species studied by the private Natural Resources Defense Council, 21 have met rebuilding targets and seven others have made significant progress. Sixteen have made no progress — 10 of them species off the New England coast in the northeast corner of the country. There, species like cod and flounder have increased their populations but are still being overfished. Fish play an important role in the ecosystems of oceans. As a class, discuss how a drop in the population of one species of fish could affect an overall ecosystem. Then draw a comic strip for the newspaper showing people doing something to help protect fish populations — and why.

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.

4. Life on Mars

The planet Mars was once awash with water, scientists for America’s NASA space agency say, and that means it might have supported life. The U.S. Mars rover Curiosity has drilled into rock there and sent back to Earth convincing evidence of water, plus elements that are key ingredients of life, and minerals that could have fed primitive microbe life forms. Consequently, the scientists conclude that the so-called Red Planet was “a habitable environment” for tiny microbes to have lived several billion years ago, although no evidence has been found that they actually did. This is the latest finding of probable past life on Mars, which is the planet next out from Earth in the solar system. Find a story about space exploration in the newspaper or on the NASA website, www.nasa.gov. Write a summary of one effort, and what has been discovered.

Common Core/National Standards: Integrating information presented in different media or formats to develop a coherent understanding of a topic or issue.

5. Sick Mummies

The disease called hardening of the arteries is something we tend to associate with modern diet and lifestyle, but researchers performing scans on mummies and other remains of ancient people have found evidence that the condition was widespread more than 1,500 years ago. Signs of the disease found in mummies from ancient Egypt were attributed to the fact that Egyptians who were mummified were from higher rungs of society, ate a richer diet and got less exercise. But when researchers looked at mummies who were from other regions and were both rich and poor, there was no difference. Mummies from a range of social classes in the South American region of Peru, Alaska and the southwestern United States also had hardening of the arteries. Reporting in the medical journal called Lancet, one researcher said that for some people the condition may just be a part of growing older. Health issues make news every day. Find a story about health in the newspaper or online. Write a paragraph summarizing the health issue. Design a poster explaining the issue.

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.