1. ROSES ON THE OUTS

For a long time, roses have been the most popular flower people give each other on Valentine’s Day. But now, tulips are becoming a new favorite. Tulips are colorful, come in lots of shapes, and are usually cheaper than roses. They are also better for the environment because they don’t need as much heat and energy to grow. Some people like tulips because they don’t just mean “love” like roses. Different colors can mean friendship, caring, or happiness. You can give tulips to friends, family, or even pets—not just someone you like romantically. Florists (people who arrange flowers) say tulips are fun because they keep growing and moving even after you put them in a vase. Some people think they look like art. Flower farms, especially in the Netherlands, are sending more tulips to the U.S. every year because more people want them for holidays like Valentine’s Day. Choose a flower you like and look up or discuss as a class what meanings are associated with it. Write a fictional story about someone giving another that flower and why they chose that one specifically, using the meaning you learned or creating your own!

2. SILLY HAT DAY

Every year during a special holiday, people who work in fancy fashion houses in Paris wear funny, colorful hats to celebrate something called St. Catherine’s Day. A long time ago, this was a day for single women who made dresses to show off their hats and let everyone know they were looking for a husband. The hats were bright green and yellow, and sometimes they showed what the person liked or the brand they worked for. Now, the hat festival is less about getting married and more about celebrating the people who sew and design clothes. Men get to join too, and everyone has fun showing off their silly hats. Some hats look like shoes, some have feathers, and one person even put a wooden stake on their hat because they liked Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Fashion brands like Dior, Balenciaga, and Hermès use the event to let their workers be creative and show off their hat designs. It’s a day for having fun in an industry that usually takes itself very seriously. Design your own silly hat that shows off your favorite hobby or dream job! Describe what it would look like, what materials you would make it from, and what hobby or job your design is based on. Draw a picture to go along with your description!

3. WHALE ENCOUNTER

A man named Adrián Simancas was paddling on a small inflatable boat with his dad in the ocean near Chile when something huge happened—a humpback whale accidentally scooped him up in its mouth! The whale was swimming up to eat fish when it accidentally grabbed Adrián. He was in the whale’s mouth for just a second before it let him go and swam away. His dad filmed the whole thing! Adrián wasn’t hurt, but it was super scary. Scientists say whales don’t try to eat people—they eat tiny fish and krill. Sometimes, if a person is in the wrong place at the wrong time, they might get caught by accident. Whale experts say it’s really rare for this to happen, but people should stay far away from whales to keep both the animals and humans safe. Using resources in your classroom, look up humpback whales. What and how do they eat? Write a paragraph of 3 to 5 sentences that summarizes what you learned about these whales.

4. GHOST PARTICLE SPOTTED

Scientists found a super-powerful, tiny space particle called a neutrino deep under the Mediterranean Sea. It’s the most powerful one ever seen! Neutrinos are called ghost particles because they zoom through space, stars, planets—even people—without stopping or being seen. This neutrino had so much energy that it was like splitting a billion uranium atoms (something used in nuclear power). It probably came from far beyond our galaxy, maybe from something like a black hole or a giant space explosion. Scientists saw this neutrino because it lit up a bluish light when it hit water deep in the ocean. They’re using a special underwater telescope called KM3NeT, which is still being built, to catch more neutrinos and learn about where they come from. This can help us understand the universe better! Summarize this story in your own words. Try to answer the questions “why are neutrinos called ghost particles?” and “How do scientists ‘see’ neutrinos in the ocean?”

5. MYSTERY ON THE BEACH

Sticky black clumps called tar balls showed up on beaches in South Florida. These tar balls are made of oil and can stick to your feet if you step on them. Sometimes, tar balls come from oil spills, but other times, they come from oil naturally leaking out from under the ocean floor. The U.S. Coast Guard flew planes and used boats to look for where the tar balls came from, but they couldn’t find the source. The beaches that were closed have opened again, and the tar balls will probably go away on their own. Tar balls have shown up in other places before, like Texas, California, and even from an old shipwreck in Canada. They can travel a long way in the ocean. Touching a little bit of oil usually won’t hurt you, but it can cause a rash for some people. Using resources in your classroom, look at a map of the United States or specifically the southeastern region of the U.S. Locate Florida on the map and examine the bodies of water around it. Write your own theory about where the tar balls could’ve come from and how they got to the beaches of South Florida.