1. Newspaper Wildlife

To celebrate spring, go through the newspaper this week and cut or print out pictures of living things. Then sort them into piles based on whether or not each living thing is bigger than you, smaller than you or about the same size as you. Next dream up new categories of your own and re-sort the living things into those categories. Paste each group on a separate piece of brightly colored paper and label the categories. Decorate your classroom with your different categories.

Core/National Standard: Comparing and classifying familiar organisms on the basis of observable physical characteristics.

2. The World of Pictures

You can learn a lot about the world by reading the newspaper. To see how, split the class into six groups, one each for the continents of North America, South America, Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia/Oceania. In your groups throughout the week, cut or print out pictures and words from the newspaper about your continent. Then create an art collage of the weeks' news in the shape of your continent. Hang up your artwork, alongside those of the other groups, so that a world map is created.

Core/National Standards: Using drawings when appropriate to enhance the development of main ideas or points; describing and comparing characteristics of ecosystems, states, regions, countries, major world regions and patterns and explaining the processes that created them.

3. You Go, Girl!

Roald Amundsen reached the South Pole first. Neil Armstrong walked on the moon first. Christopher Columbus discovered the Americas first among European explorers. These are all great men who took big risks to venture out into the unknown. But there have been many women who have been the first of their gender to accomplish great things. Yahoo! News, for example, recently wrote about eight unsung women explorers. Alison Hargreaves climbed Mount Everest without the help of extra oxygen or a Sherpa guide. Amy Johnson was the first woman to fly solo from Britain to Australia. Harriet Chalmers Adams followed the paths of Columbus and the Spanish conquistador explorers. Then there is Helen Thayer who completed a solo expedition to the North Pole. Search your newspaper for women who are exploring the world or making a difference. Choose one woman, and write a summary of why she is making news.

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

4. It Costs How Much?

Why is it that video games for consoles such as the Xbox, PlayStation and Wii cost so much? And how much longer can video game makers keep charging that much money? A Yahoo! article recently said “not much longer” due to all the competition out there. One reason some video games cost so much is the price tag to develop and market the game. For some of the most popular games, that price tag runs into the millions of dollars so the cost to the buyer for each game is higher. But many people don’t want to spend $60 for a game when they can download Angry Birds for $1 in less than a minute. As a class, find a story about video games in the newspaper or online. Together, discuss what you think would be a fair way to price games. Then brainstorm an idea for a new video game alone or with a partner. Give your game a name and share your idea with the class.

Core/National Standard: Engaging in a range of collaborative discussions.

5. Wow! That’s Luxury!

Luxury items cost a lot and are enjoyed most by people who don’t have to worry about money. The Titanic was a luxury ocean liner built by the White Star Line and declared to be “unsinkable.” The Titanic did not come to a good end, however, striking an iceberg and sinking 100 years ago this spring. Now an Australian billionaire plans to build Titanic II, an ultra-modern luxury version of the first ship. Clive Palmer commissioned the ship to be built in the Asian nation of China with the exact dimensions of the original, according to a Yahoo! News story. If all goes well, it will sail from the European country of Great Britain to New York in 2016. As a class, discuss what you consider to be luxury items. Then use the newspaper to find a luxury item and draw a comic strip showing someone having fun with this item.

Core/National Standards: Engaging in a range of collaborative discussions; knowing the different visual characteristics and purposes of art to convey ideas.