1. It's News You Can Use If You Choose to Use News

Dr. Seuss was born at this time of year.

His popularity is still very clear.

You remember the book "The Cat in the Hat"?

And "Green Eggs and Ham"--he also wrote that.

So put on your thinking caps, go on and try

To write a short poem like this talented guy.

Take a story you find from the news of the day

And retell it for others in a Seuss kind of way.

No pressure, be creative, be sure to have fun,

Then give yourself A for effort when done!

Learning Standard: Writing fluently for multiple purposes to produce compositions, such as personal narratives, persuasive essays, lab reports and poetry.

2. Graduation Prize

President Obama has said one of his top goals is to improve America's schools so that students will be able to succeed and get good jobs as adults. In the new Race to the Top Program, the president is challenging school leaders to show ways they are changing what they do to earn part of $4.35 billion in new school funds. Now the President has given public high schools a new reason to make changes to increase the number of students graduating from college. A competition has just been announced that will reward a high school making positive changes with an appearance by the president at its graduation ceremony this spring. With a partner, find a story about schools or education in the newspaper. Read it together and write down what you think are the three most important things in the story. Then draw a comic strip explaining one of these things and why it is important.

Learning Standards: Acquiring information from multiple sources; posing social science questions; comprehending the past; using the craft of the illustrator to express ideas artistically.

3.Good News for Rhinos

The Sumatran rhinoceros is one of the rarest animals in the world. Just 200 live in the wild in Southeast Asia, and just 10 live in zoos. Now rhino watchers are celebrating the news that a pair of Sumatran rhinos are expecting a baby rhino in May at a sanctuary in the Southeast Asian country of Indonesia. A male named "Andalas," which ordinarily lives at Ohio's Cincinnati Zoo in the United States, and a female named "Ratu" are the first Sumatran rhinos to breed in captivity in all of Southeast Asia. The Cincinnati Zoo is the only place in the world today to successfully breed the endangered rhinos, which get their name from the Indonesian island of Sumatra, where they live. Zoo breeding programs are one way that humans work to help the survival of endangered species. Talk about other ways as a class. Then find an endangered species in the newspaper -- don't forget the names of sports teams -- and design a poster showing how humans could help this animal.

Learning Standards: Describing positive and negative effects of humans on nature and wildlife; reading and writing fluently, speaking confidently, listening and interacting appropriately, viewing critically and representing creatively.

4. A Boy and His Dog

Animals can be trained to do amazing things to help people. Especially helpful are service dogs, which can be trained to provide help to children and adults with physical disabilities or special needs. A 13-year-old boy from Orion Township, Michigan, soon will be getting help from a service dog, thanks to a dog training program called Canine Assistants. Craig Henderson, who has physical problems that affect his ability to move around on his own, will be getting a dog later this year to help him pick up dropped items, turn on lights and gain independence. Craig's mom said she thinks Craig will gain confidence and freedom by having the assistance dog, which was made possible by contributions from Kroger supermarkets and the Milk-Bone dog biscuit company. As a class, talk about ways that kids your age gain confidence doing things. In the newspaper, find an example of a teen or elementary student doing something successfully. Make a list of ways this student gained the confidence needed to be successful.

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

5. Superman Comic

Comic books have been popular with kids and adults for more than 100 years. And one of the most popular characters is Superman. How popular? A rare copy of the first comic book that showed Superman has been sold to a collector for $1 million! The 1938 comic shows Superman lifting a car on its cover and originally sold for 10 cents. The sale broke the world record for a comic book sale by nearly $700,000. That record, which was set last year, also was for a Superman comic book bought by a collector. What would you collect if you could collect anything you wanted? Go through the newspaper and find things you would like to collect. Pick one and write a paragraph explaining why you would like a collection of this type of thing.

Learning Standards: Developing and applying critical standards for individual use; responding to a variety of texts by making connections to students' personal lives and the lives of others; writing fluently for multiple purposes.