1. PEACE AND CHANGE

María Corina Machado is a Venezuelan leader who speaks out for democracy and fairness. She helped organize peaceful protests and a big campaign that many people believe won the country’s presidential election. However, the government did not accept those results, and Ms. Machado has been living in hiding because it is not safe for her to be seen. The Nobel Committee gave her the Nobel Peace Prize for bravely standing up for people’s rights and trying to bring peaceful change to her country. Even though she couldn’t celebrate in public, her supporters are hopeful that her award will shine a light on the desire for freedom and peace in Venezuela. Think about what the word “peace” means to you. On a piece of paper, draw a picture showing how people can stand up for fairness and kindness without fighting. Underneath your drawing, write one or two sentences describing why it is important for leaders to listen to their citizens and hold fair elections.

2. THE POWER OF SLOW SCIENCE

Some of this year’s Nobel Prizes showed that amazing discoveries sometimes take a very long time. In medicine, three scientists spent decades figuring out why the body’s immune system doesn’t attack itself; their work began in the 1980s and is now helping doctors develop new treatments for cancer and autoimmune diseases. In physics, three researchers performed experiments in 1984 and 1985 that proved strange “quantum” behaviors could happen in circuits you can hold in your hand. In chemistry, another team started working in 1989 to build tiny structures called metal organic frameworks that can trap gases and water. These stories teach us that curiosity, careful experiments and patience can lead to important discoveries—even if it takes many years. Think about something you’ve learned that didn’t happen overnight, like reading a book, riding a bike or learning a new game. On a piece of paper, make a “patience timeline” with three or four boxes. In each box, write or draw what you practiced and how you improved over time. Underneath, write two sentences about why taking your time and asking questions—like the Nobel Prize scientists did—is important when you are learning or investigating something new.

3. (GIANT) PUMPKIN SEASON

With Halloween just weeks away, pumpkins are a common sight across the United States. Tony Scott from upstate New York spent months caring for a pumpkin that ended up weighing nearly as much as a small car. He fed it fertilizer, watered it and even tucked it under a blanket at night to keep it cozy. Growers like Scott choose special seeds—often the Atlantic Giant variety—and give the plant lots of water and nutrients so all the energy goes into one pumpkin. These pumpkins can drink hundreds of gallons a day and may gain 40–50 pounds in just one day! Because of gravity, giant pumpkins grow wide and flat like lumpy pancakes, and farmers sometimes cover them with tarps to keep the skin from hardening in the sun. Pretend you are a gardener growing your own giant pumpkin. Write a short step-by-step plan explaining what you would do from planting the seed to showing off your huge pumpkin at a fall festival. Include at least three steps (such as choosing a seed, watering and protecting it), and draw a picture of your pumpkin as it grows bigger and bigger.

4. A FAVORITE ART FORM OF ASIA

At the de Young Museum in San Francisco, there is a special exhibit all about manga, which are Japanese comic books and graphic novels. “The Art of Manga” features over 600 drawings and sketches from famous series. The exhibit helps visitors who have never read manga before by showing them how to read right-to-left and teaching common manga words. There’s even a reading room where you can sit down and enjoy the comics just like you would at home. Manga has been around since at least the 18th century and the word means “pictures run riot.” The first modern manga began in the 1890s, and today stories like One Piece have sold hundreds of millions of copies worldwide. This exhibit shows that manga isn’t just fun to read—it’s also a form of art that has inspired movies, games and TV shows around the world. Create your own mini manga strip. Draw two or three panels on a sheet of paper. In your first panel, introduce a character and write the words from right to left, just like in Japanese manga. In the next panels, show your character on an adventure and use speech bubbles and motion lines to make the action exciting. After you finish, share your story with a classmate and explain what you learned about how manga artists tell stories.

5. A SURPRISE OUTSIDE

In New Orleans, a couple clearing vines in their backyard stumbled upon a heavy marble slab with strange writing on it. They sent a photo to experts at Tulane University, who discovered that it was a 2,000-year-old Roman gravestone for a sailor named Sextus Congenius Verus. The marker had originally come from a cemetery near Rome and was thought to have been lost when a museum there was damaged during World War II. Historians believe the slab might have been brought to the United States by a soldier after the war; a woman later said her grandfather had kept it and placed it in the yard decades ago. The gravestone will eventually be returned to Italy so it can be properly displayed and help teach people about life in ancient times. Imagine you’re an archaeologist who just found a mysterious object buried in your backyard. Write a short story describing what the object looks like, who you think might have owned it and how you would figure out its history. Then draw a picture of your discovery. Finally, share one sentence about why it’s important to return historic treasures to the places they came from, just like the Roman gravestone being sent back to Italy.