1. Stock Watcher

The stock market has been in the news a lot this year. Learn more about the stock market by doing the activity below with the newspaper.

Learning Standards: Acquiring information from books, maps, newspapers, data sets and other sources; organizing and presenting the information; interpreting the meaning and significance of the information; using addition, subtraction, multiplication and division to solve problems.

A. Count the number of letters in your last name.
B. Multiply that number by the number of kids who live on your block (including you).
C. Divide that number by the number of doors, windows and outlets you can see in your bedroom.
D. If the number you get is 26 or lower, go to Step E. If it is greater than 26, divide it by 26.
E. Round your number to the closest whole number greater than zero.
F. Convert your number into a letter using the A=1, B=2 ... Z=26 method.
G. Find the stock market results in today's newspaper.
H. Pick a company code name that starts with your letter from Step F.
I. Use the newspaper or another resource to find out the full name of the company you have chosen.
J. Track the closing price of the company's stock for the next five business days. Also, track the Dow Jones closing points for each of those days.
K. Create a graph that compares the closing prices and the closing points.

2. Interesting Ice

A record-setting hailstone the size of a cantaloupe fell on a small farm town in central South Dakota on July 25 this year. The chunk of ice weighed 1 pound, 15 ounces, and measured eight inches in diameter with a circumference of 18.625 inches. The National Weather Service announced that it is the largest hailstone ever found in the United States. Scientists in a federal lab in Colorado will study its growth rings and other traits. Search today's newspaper or the archives to find an article about severe weather in the U.S. or around the world. Pretend you are a meteorologist and write a weather advisory, warning people about what to expect.

Learning Standards: Investigating and describing what makes up weather and how it changes from day to day, from season to season and over long periods of time; explaining what causes different kinds of weather; and analyzing the relationships between human activities and the atmosphere.

3. Young Victims

Federal statistics show that there were nearly one million homeless students in U.S. public schools during the 2008-2009 school year. That's a 41 percent increase over the two previous years. The statistics were released recently by groups trying to get more federal aid for families hit hard by the recession. The reasons more kids are without permanent housing include increasing bankruptcies, home foreclosures and unemployment. Groups trying to help struggling families want the U.S. Congress to provide at least $140 million for homeless students next year to help with medical care, school supplies and transportation. Read the newspaper to find a person or group in the nation who is struggling in today's economy. Write a letter to the editor about the problem and ways you believe the government could help.

Learning Standards: Using case studies to assess the role of government in the economy; using the persuasive power of text as an instrument of change in the community.

4. Saving Lives

New research has found that CPR chest compressions can save lives without mouth-to-mouth breathing assistance, if the compressions are done quickly and correctly. CPR stands for cardiopulmonary resuscitation and has been used for around 50 years to force blood and oxygen to the brain and other vital organs after someone collapses and stops breathing. New research shows that more people are willing to try to give CPR if an emergency 911 operator gives them clear instructions and if they can just press on the chest rather than do mouth-to-mouth. Hands-only CPR has been promoted by the American Heart Association for two years. Cardiac arrest, which is also called a heart attack, causes around 310,000 Americans to die each year outside hospitals or in emergency rooms. Search the newspaper for an example of someone who needed help and/or someone who helped another person. Write a journal or blog entry responding to this article and offering your opinion about human responsibility.

Learning Standards: Considering the effects of an individual's actions on other people, how one acts in accordance with the rule of law, and how one acts in a virtuous and ethically responsible way as a member of society; writing fluently for multiple purposes.

5. Gift of Knowledge

The Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., was created on August 10, 1846, when U.S. President James K. Polk signed the Smithsonian Institution Act into law. Many years before, in 1829, English scientist James Smithson died in Italy. In his will, he had declared that if his only nephew died without any heirs, the entire estate would go to "the United States of America, to found at Washington, under the name of the Smithsonian Institution, an Establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge." Today, the Smithsonian is the world's largest museum complex and research organization, with 19 museums, nine research centers and the National Zoo. Search the newspaper archives to find a recent U.S. event that you think students will learn about in school generations from now. Design a plan for a museum exhibit about this event. Give your exhibit a creative name and share your ideas with family or friends.

Learning Standards: 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.