1. Exploring Space

July 16 is an important day in the history of space. On that day in 1969, America's Apollo 11 spacecraft took off on the first mission to land astronauts on the Earth's moon. Four days later, astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin successfully walked on the moon's surface, and Armstrong declared it was "one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." With family or friends, look for stories in the newspaper about exploring space. Pick one and write a paragraph describing the exploration in your own words.

Learning Standards: Explaining how we learn about the universe; explaining how scientists decide what constitutes scientific knowledge; writing fluently for multiple purposes.

2. Weasley Worry

In the movies, actor Rupert Grint has faced many life-or-death situations playing Harry Potter's friend Ron Weasley. But the 20-year-old got a real-life scare this summer when he came down with the swine flu sickness that is worrying doctors around the world. It was "quite scary" when he learned he had swine flu, he said, and he admitted "I thought 'Am I going to die?'" With family or friends, find stories about health or sicknesses in the newspaper. Read one together and write out three ways people could stay healthy when faced with the situation.

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; comprehending what constitutes good health and nutrition.

3. A Giant Elephant

Modern elephants are huge animals, but one that lived long ago in the Southeast Asian nation of Indonesia was simply humongous. Scientists there have found what they say is the largest, most complete fossil skeleton of an early elephant, and they hope it will answer questions about how modern elephants developed in Asia. The 200,000-year-old skeleton was discovered when monsoon rains caused a sand quarry to collapse, and it is much larger than elephants today. It is 13 feet tall, 16 feet long and probably weighed more than 10 tons, scientists said. With family or friends, talk about things that fossils can teach scientists about life in the past. Then pick a photo of an animal from the newspaper and write a paragraph describing what scientists could learn from its skeleton if they discovered it as a fossil in the future.

Learning Standards: Engaging peers in constructive conversation about topics of interest or importance; explaining how fossils provide evidence about the nature of ancient life; generating scientific questions about the world based on observation.

4. Free Play

For many kids, summertime is the season for Little League, play groups, swim lessons, summer camps and other organized activities. But even more important to kids is unorganized, unstructured play, according to a University of Missouri occupational therapist. Unstructured play is the way kids develop "many major life skills," says Lea Ann Lowery. These skills include problem-solving, critical thinking, teamwork and decision-making. With friends, find things in the newspaper you like to do for play. Pick one and write a paragraph describing skills you need for this kind of play, or skills you could gain from it.

Learning Standard: Acquiring information from multiple sources and then evaluating, organizing and communicating it in various contexts; writing fluently for multiple purposes.

5. Root Words

Figuring out words you don't know is an important skill in reading. Sometimes "root" words can help. With family or friends, discuss how root words are words that are part of larger words. "Read," for example, would be a root word of "reading" or "re-read." Skim stories on the front page of the newspaper. Then make a list of 10 words that contain a root word. Write what you think each word means. Then look them up in a dictionary.

Learning Standard: Employing multiple strategies to recognize words when constructing meaning, including the use of context clues, word roots and affixes, and syntax.