1. Amazing Creature

The octopus is one of the most unusual creatures in the ocean. Octopuses have three hearts, blue blood and eight arms. Now, scientists in the European country of England have found an octopus that only has six arms. That would make it a "hexapus" since the prefix "hexa" means "six" and "octo" means "eight." In the photos, stories and ads in the newspaper, find another interesting or unusual animal. Give the animal a new nickname and write a short poem or rap about it. Perform or read your poems for the class.

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

2. Daylight Saving Tips

On Sunday, March 9, the nation shifted back to Daylight Saving Time. With the time change, families turned the clock ahead one hour - and everyone lost an hour of sleep (at least for the first night). Getting used to the change can be a problem, according to sleep expert Dr. Michael J. Breus and the Web site www.SleepBetter.org. Losing just one hour of sleep can disrupt the body's life rhythms, affect daily activities and cause slower thinking and reaction time. Breus says changing bedtimes a little at a time and getting lots of exercise will help kids adjust to the new schedule. With a partner go through the newspaper and find three jobs that could be affected if people didn't get enough sleep. For each write a complete sentence describing what could happen. Then write a complete sentence describing how you act if you don't get enough sleep.

Learning Standards: Generating questions about issues that affect students or topics about which they are curious.

3. Women's History Month

March is Women's History Month, and every day women are doing things worth celebrating in movies, music and television. As a class, talk about your favorite female performers in music, movies and TV. Then search the newspaper for stories, ads and photos of women who are doing new things in these fields. Finish by designing a newspaper public service ad honoring your favorite women in movies, music and TV. For each woman, write a paragraph explaining what she is doing that is new or outstanding. Display ads in your classroom and talk about your choices.

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

4. Call Me

The telephone was invented on March 10, 1876. Much has changed since that year. Read an article in today's newspaper that interests you. With a partner make a list of all the technologies, inventions and devices mentioned in the article that wouldn't have been possible in the year 1876. Rank the three you think are the most important to modern life.

Learning Standard: Discussing the historical development of key scientific concepts and principles.

5. Bye, Brett

After a 17-year career in the National Football League, Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre has announced that he will retire and no longer play in the league. In his career the 38-year-old Favre completed 5,377 passes for 61,655 yards and 442 touchdowns. He also was the NFL's Most Valuable Player three times. As a class, talk about the qualities it takes to be successful at something year after year. Then find a person in the newspaper who has been successful a long time. Write a paragraph explaining why this person has been successful for so long. Finish by dividing into teams and using a calculator to do these math problems.

Learning Standard: Using addition, subtraction, multiplication and division to solve problems; writing fluently for multiple purposes.

A. If a football field is 100 yards long, how many times would you have to run the length of the field to cover the 61,655 yards Favre passed for in his career?

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B. If a mile equals 1,760 yards, how many miles did Favre pass for in his career? ____________________________________________

C. If Favre completed 5,377 passes, what percentage of his complete passes were for touchdowns? ____________________________________________