1. Women's History Month

March is Women's History Month, a time when the nation celebrates the achievements of women. As a class, talk about the most important women in your life. What makes them important to you? What makes them important to other people? Pair off and search the newspaper for women who are finding success in different careers. On a sheet of paper, write the names of three who are successful in different careers. For each, write a complete sentence describing what she has done to become a success.

Learning Standard: Responding to a variety of written, visual and electronic texts by making connections to students' personal lives and the lives of others.

2. Doggy Shoes

In the European country of Germany, police dogs will no longer go "barefoot" in the western city of Duesseldorf. Twenty police dogs in the city are being fitted with blue plastic shoes to protect their feet from cuts and injuries. The doggie shoes became necessary when police dogs started getting a lot of cut feet from broken glass in the oldest part of the city. Police dogs are animals trained to help humans. Search the photos, stories and ads in the newspaper for other animals that help humans (don't forget the animal names of sports teams!). Pick one animal and draw a comic strip for the newspaper showing how the animal helps humans.

Learning Standards: Generating questions about issues that affect students or topics about which they are curious; using the craft of the illustrator to formulate and express ideas artistically.

3. Write About Nature

Studying nature is a great way to learn about the Earth. Studying nature is also a great way to build writing skills. This April, the Highlights for Children magazine will hold a nature workshop in the state of Pennsylvania to teach people how to write about nature for children. But children can become better writers themselves if they study nature, watch wild animals and write down what they learn. Or they can build writing skills by keeping nature journals of things they see. Practice writing about nature by finding a photo of an outdoor scene in the newspaper. Study the photo. Then write down what you notice as if you were keeping a nature journal. You can write in note form or in complete sentences, as your teacher wishes. Share what you see with the class.

Learning Standards: Responding to visual texts; writing fluently for multiple purposes to produce compositions, personal narratives, persuasive essays, journals or poetry.

4. Alphabet Sports

One of the first things you learn in school is the alphabet. And putting things in alphabetical order is a skill that will help you all through life. Turn to the sports section in the newspaper and find the standings of your favorite sports league. Put the names of the teams into alphabetical order. Then pick your favorite letter and find 10 words that begin with that letter. Put those words into alphabetical order, too. Write a sentence describing which was harder to do.

Learning Standard: Acquiring information from multiple sources and then evaluating and organizing it.

5. Newspaper Learning

This week is Newspapers In Education Week. At this time students and teachers explore and use the newspaper as a source of information. Form teams and hunt through the pages of the newspaper for the things below. Which team can find all the answers most quickly?

Learning Standards: Identifying and using various informational genres; acquiring information from multiple sources, including newspapers.

Page ______ has a picture of a woman on it.

Page ______ has a story about the Detroit Tigers on it.

Page ______ has a picture of a child on it.

Page ______ has the name of a country in a headline.

Page ______ has comic strips on it.

Page ______ has an ad for a movie on it.

Page ______ has the time for a TV program on it.

Page ______ has a number larger than 1,000 on it.

Page ______ has the price of a food on it.

Page ______ has a Classified Ad for a pet on it.