For Grades K-4 , week of Nov. 29, 2021

1. Social Media Use

Do you use social media apps? According to a new nationwide study, about one-third of children ages 7 to 9 do — and fully half of students 10 to 12. In a national survey of parents of younger children, researchers from the University of Michigan found that most parents said they do some sort of monitoring of their children’s social media involvement on phones and tablets, but 1 in 6 parents were found to be using no parental controls, the Washington Post newspaper reported. The most common controls for apps and sites such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter were blocking inappropriate materials, requiring parental approval for new contacts or setting time limits for use. The researchers noted a variety of risks for the use of social media by young people, including kids sharing information that should be kept private, being exposed to inappropriate content, getting exposed to dangerous people online and not being able to tell whether information is true or false. The researchers recommended that parents work with younger children to understand the social media world, and urged young children to seek advice from their parents when choosing what apps to follow. Social media sites are growing in popularity in the United States and around the world. In the newspaper or online, find and closely read stories about the most popular apps or social media sites. Pick one and use what you read to write a list of benefits and risks of using that site for children your age. Discuss with family, friends and classmates.

Common Core State Standards: Citing textual or visual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions; responding thoughtfully to diverse perspectives, summarizing points of agreement and disagreement.

2. Crawling Sea of Red

When it comes to wildlife migrations, one of the world’s most colorful occurs on Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean north of the nation of Australia. The location is a perfect fit for the migration, which features millions of red crabs crawling out of the green jungles and making their way to the island’s beaches. There they mate, and the females lay eggs to produce the next generation of red crabs. The yearly migration attracts tourists, scientists and nature lovers from around the world to see the crabs cover every surface of the island’s towns, roads and fields. Local residents and park officials close off roads to allow the crabs to cross safely and reach the ocean, and some towns have even built bridges over really busy roads. According to the Australian government, some 50-million red crabs live on the island — the only place in the world where they can be found. Christmas Island red crabs are large land crabs whose shell can grow nearly 5 inches wide, and they only migrate during the rainy season because they need to keep their shells wet to survive. The migration of red crabs is one of the world’s great nature stories. In the newspaper or online, find and closely read a story about another migration by wildlife. Use what you read to write a creative adventure story about what the migration would be like for a member of the species.

Common Core State Standards: Writing narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events; reading closely what written and visual texts say and to making logical inferences from them.

3. Peppa Pig, Business Leader

To millions of children around the world Peppa Pig is a funny, lovable cartoon character who brings joy to kids. To the leader of her home nation of England, however, she is a model for success for businesses in England and elsewhere. Speaking at a gathering of business leaders, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the children’s show demonstrates “the power of … creativity” and how that can lead to good fortune, the Guardian newspaper reported. Johnson noted that the show that started in England has brought $8-billion to his nation through sales of TV rights in 118 countries, plus theme parks in nations ranging from the United States to the Asian nation of China. The story of Peppa has been on TV for 17 years in England and has been translated into dozens of languages around the world. Creators of the show say its popularity is based on its playfulness, its focus on family, its female lead character and the way it helps kids work through problems. Cartoon characters can often teach valuable lessons as well as entertain. In the newspaper or online, find and closely read a story about a topic kids your age should know about. Create a cartoon character that could teach about this subject. Give your character a name and write a paragraph telling how it would teach important things about the topic.

Common Core State Standards: Producing clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization and style are appropriate to the task; reading closely what written and visual texts say and to making logical inferences from them.

4. Money on the Highway

In a scene that seemed right out of a movie, some drivers in the state of California thought they had hit the jackpot when an armored truck spilled money all over a freeway north of the city of San Diego. A number of drivers jumped out of their cars to scoop up the bills covering the road — but they won’t be able to keep them. Under California law, people may not keep valuables unintentionally lost by the rightful owners — and the California Highway Patrol is going high-tech to make sure the money is returned. People filmed the scene of drivers scooping up wads of cash and posted videos to social media, and police plan to use the videos to identify people involved and track them through their license plate numbers. California Highway Patrol Sgt. Curtis Martin told reporters that the truck had been headed from San Diego to an office of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. “If you found money on the freeway, it is not your money,” Martin told local news station KCRA. “It belongs to the FDIC and this armored truck and the bank. It needs to be returned.” People often have to make choices about how to act when facing unusual situations. In the newspaper or online, find and closely read a story about such a situation. Write a paragraph telling how the people reacted and whether they made a good or bad decision. If you think they made a bad decision, write how they could have made a better one.

Common Core State Standards: Writing informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly; reading closely what written and visual texts say and to making logical inferences from them.

5. Hello, Woolly Rhino

Permafrost is a frozen layer of soil found at or near the Earth’s surface in the coldest regions of the world. Sometimes it has remained frozen for thousands of years, but now it is melting due to global warming. That is bad news for the environment, but good news for people who study wildlife from ancient times. The melting permafrost can reveal frozen bodies of animals that lived long ago and show scientists exactly what they looked like. This year, one of the most interesting discoveries came in the Russian region of Siberia near the U.S. state of Alaska. There, melting permafrost revealed an exceptionally well preserved woolly rhino, an extinct ancestor of today’s rhinoceros species. Scientists said the woolly rhino was probably a “teenager” between three and four years old, measured 7.5 feet long and lived 20,000 to 50,000 years ago. The frozen body includes thick, hazel-colored fur, a horn, teeth, part of the intestines, lumps of fat and a complete brain, the Siberian Times newspaper reported this month. Most interestingly, study of the body revealed this rhino was still feeding on milk from its mother along with grass and other plants. “The back side of its horn was noticeably worn out,” one scientist said. “We believe the horn was getting rubbed against its mother’s tummy each time it knelt down to suckle” milk and feed. Global warming is having great effects on environments in Siberia and around the world. In the newspaper or online, find and closely read a story about one effect. Use what you read to write a letter to the editor, outlining how the change is affecting people, wildlife and the environment and what could be done to reduce the impact.

Common Core State Standards: Producing clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization and style are appropriate to the task; reading closely what written and visual texts say and to making logical inferences from them.