1. Libraries

The Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., was founded on April 24, 1800. It is now one of the largest libraries in the world. It's home to millions of books, plus collections of maps, photos, documents and videos that have been assembled so that current and future generations can learn from them. Read the newspaper this week and pick one article that you would put in a time capsule for future generations to see. Write a paragraph or two explaining why you picked that article.

Learning Standards: Acquiring information from multiple sources; writing fluently for multiple purposes to produce compositions, such as personal narratives, persuasive essays, lab reports, and poetry.

2. Earth Day

April 22 is Earth Day, a day that reminds us to pay attention to how we treat our planet. But since it's only one day, it's up to us to remind ourselves the rest of the year. Read about activities and events people are organizing for Earth Day in the newspaper and online. In groups, create a poster showing five things kids can do to help the environment. Hang your posters up to remind everyone to take care of the Earth even after Earth Day is over.

Learning Standards: Explaining ecosystem concepts and processes; describing positive and negative effects of humans on wildlife and the environment; representing creatively.

3. Helen Keller

A new exhibit that is about to open at the New York City headquarters of the American Foundation for the Blind will tell visitors all about the life and accomplishments of Helen Keller. Keller lost her vision and hearing when she was a baby, but she still learned how to speak and write. She frequently wrote to politicians to request better programs and technologies for disabled people and was instrumental in changing the way disabled people are treated. She even received the Presidential Medal of Freedom for her work.

Look through the newspaper and pick an issue or problem you'd like to see addressed. Write a letter to your mayor or U.S. congressperson asking him or her to do something about it.

Learning Standard: Composing essays expressing decisions on national and international policy issues; responding to a variety of written, visual and electronic texts.

4. Garden for Children

Educator Friedrich Froebel was born April 21, 1782. Froebel, a German, is credited with setting up the first kindergarten. Many of his theories of how kids learn and grow are still fundamental to kindergarten programs today. In groups, pick a news article and come up with a creative way to teach the information in the article to young children. Teach your lesson to the class and ask for feedback. Did your group present the information in a way little kids could understand?

Learning Standard: Focusing on meaning and communication while listening, speaking, viewing, reading and writing in personal, social, occupational and civic contexts.

5. Speed Limit

A driving instructor in the European country of France was driving -- with students in the car -- when he was stopped for speeding. He taught the students a good lesson about the consequences of speeding: his license was suspended for four months. Look up the definition of "irony." Find an example in the newspaper this week of something you think is ironic. Share what you found with the class.

Learning Standard: Employing multiple strategies to construct meaning, such as generating questions, studying vocabulary, analyzing mood and tone, recognizing how authors use information, generalizing ideas, matching form to content and developing reference skills.