1. Here Comes the Sun

Summer's here and everyone is looking forward to sunny days. Yet even in summer, we sometimes take the sun for granted. However, every photo taken outside during the daytime shows the sun's effect on the world. Where the sun can't reach, there are shadows. Cut out five daytime, outside pictures from today's newspaper. Paste them on larger pieces of paper. Using a flashlight to represent the sun, experiment and figure out where the sun must be in each of the pictures. Draw the sun where you decide it is on each of the larger sheets.

Learning Standard: Explaining how shadows are made.

2. Awful Surprise

A woman in the Middle Eastern country of Israel wanted to do something nice for her elderly mother. So she bought her a new mattress and threw out the old bed the woman had been sleeping on for years. The daughter's plan backfired in a big way. More accurately, it backfired in almost a million ways. What the daughter didn't know was that her mother had hidden her life savings of nearly $1 million inside the beat-up mattress. And when no one could find the mattress at city dumps, her mother was left penniless. Every day, the news is full of surprises. With family or friends, find a surprise reported in a story or photo. Write a paragraph describing whether the surprise was a good surprise or a bad surprise, and why.

Learning Standards: Responding to a variety of oral, visual, written and electronic texts by making connections to students' personal lives and the lives of others; engaging peers in constructive conversation about topics of interest or importance.

3. Close Call from Space

Meteorites are pieces of space rock and metal that get pulled into the Earth's atmosphere by gravity. Usually they burn up as "shooting stars" from heat generated as they speed through the atmosphere. But not always. In the European country of Germany recently, a 14-year old boy was hit in the hand by a meteorite the size of a pea and was sent flying. He also got a small scar from the meteorite, which bounced off the boy and buried itself in the ground. With family or friends, look for stories about space in the newspaper. Pick one and talk about it. Then draw a comic strip for the newspaper that connects with the story.

Learning Standard: Identifying and using aspects of the craft of the speaker, writer and illustrator to formulate and express ideas artistically.

4. High Flying Pres

Former President George H.W. Bush is retired now, but that doesn't mean he's sitting around and taking it easy. To celebrate his 85th birthday this month, the ex-president made a parachute jump out of a plane near his summer home in the state of Maine. Bush, who is the father of the last president, George W. Bush, made his first parachute jump as a Navy pilot when his plane was shot down over the Pacific Ocean during World War II. He also made jumps to mark his 75th and 80th birthdays. With family or friends, look through the newspaper and find some exciting things that you would like to do for your birthday. Pick one and design a birthday poster showing you having fun doing it.

Learning Standards: Reading and writing fluently, speaking confidently, listening and interacting appropriately, viewing critically and representing creatively; engaging peers in constructive conversation about topics of interest or importance.

5. Soles 4 Souls

The PUMA company is known around the world for making sneakers, shoes and sports clothes. Now the company is teaming up with an organization called Soles 4 Souls to collect shoes and other footwear for people in need around the world. From June 15 to July 12, PUMA will be collecting slightly worn shoes at its stores across the country for people who need them in poor countries. In return, PUMA is giving donors 30 percent off the purchase of new shoes at PUMA stores. Soles 4 Souls has given more than 5 million pairs of new and used shoes to needy people in more than 125 countries. With family or friends look for stories in the newspaper about people or groups working to help people in need. Pick one and write a paragraph describing what the group does, and how people could support it.

Learning Standard: Acquiring information from multiple sources and then evaluating, organizing and communicating it in various contexts; identifying and explaining how individuals in history demonstrate good character and personal virtue; writing fluently for multiple purposes.