1. Year of the Tiger

All over the world, tigers are in trouble. The black-striped big cats are still one of the most beautiful predators, but their habitats are in danger in most parts of the Earth and the number living in the wild is dropping. Scientists say human development has destroyed nine-tenths of tigers' natural habitats on Earth, and the number living in the wild has dropped from an estimated 100,000 at the start of the 1900s to 3,200-3,600 today. Last week, leaders from 13 countries where wild tigers live scheduled a meeting in the Asian country of Thailand to write an action plan for a worldwide summit meeting on tiger survival next September. Led by a group called the Global Tiger Initiative, the effort aims to double the number of wild tigers in the world by the year 2020. With a partner, look for an endangered animal in the newspaper (don't forget the names of sports teams). Use what you find and design a poster showing ways people could help this animal survive.

Learning Standards: Explaining ecosystem concepts and processes; describing positive and negative effects of humans on nature and wildlife; reading and writing fluently, speaking confidently, listening and interacting appropriately, viewing critically and representing creatively.

2. Seeing Your Shadow

February 2 is Groundhog Day. Legend has it that if a groundhog leaves its den on this day and sees its shadow, the winter will last six weeks longer. Of course meteorologists are pretty good at estimating, too. Track the weather in this week's newspaper and make predictions for next week's mean temperatures. The mean temperature is the high temperature plus the low temperature, divided by two. Check next week's newspaper to see how close you came.

Learning Standard: Describing patterns of changing weather and how they are measured; using addition, subtraction, multiplication and division to solve problems.

3. Monkey Math

Monkeys are among the smartest animals in the world. They are primate mammals like humans, and they even can do math! That's what a team of scientists from the European country of Germany has found using tests developed for rhesus monkeys. The tests showed that the monkeys could understand higher math rules and ideas and answer math problems correctly 83 to 92 percent of the time. The tests measured whether the monkeys could understand the ideas of "greater than" or "less than" when looking at groups of objects and operate levers to record their answers. As a class, talk about the skills different animals have and how they use those skills. With a partner or alone, find an animal that interests you in the ads, photos and stories of the newspaper. Do a little research online or in the library and make a list of skills the animal has. Then write how the animal uses its skills.

Learning Standards: Engaging peers in constructive conversation about topics of interest or importance; investigating and explaining the characteristics of living things; writing fluently for multiple purposes.

4. Helping Polio Sufferers

President Franklin D. Roosevelt was the only U.S. president to be elected to office four times. He also was the only U.S. president to have the crippling disease polio. To help people with polio, President Roosevelt helped found the March of Dimes, an organization that now works to prevent all kinds of birth defects in babies, not just polio. To remind people of President Roosevelt's work, his great-granddaughter Liz Roosevelt Johnston visited a Pennsylvania school district last week to promote a new partnership to build awareness of the March of Dimes and its programs. The pilot program in Bristol, Pennsylvania, will involve students from all grade levels and let people know how important it is to improve the health of babies, prevent birth defects and reduce premature births and other infant health problems. As a class, talk about health issues that are important to young children. Then find photos and words in the newspaper that you could use to make a poster promoting the health of babies.

Learning Standard: Engaging peers in constructive conversation about topics of interest or importance; comprehending what constitutes good health and nutrition; responding to a variety of texts by making connections to students' personal lives and the lives of others.

5. Wind Power

Wind power is considered a "renewable" source of energy, because there is always more wind. It is getting more and more attention in the United States and other countries as people look for ways to use less oil, coal and gas to generate electric power. Now the U.S. Energy Department says wind power could produce 20 percent of the electricity needed by houses and businesses in the eastern half of the United States by the year 2024. In a new report the Energy Department said there is enough wind to achieve that goal, but it would cost $90 billion to build wind towers on land and sea and install about 22,000 miles of new high-tech power lines. Much of that money would have to come from federal or state governments. As a class, talk about renewable sources of energy like wind, solar and water power. Then draw a comic strip for the newspaper showing wind power at work. Dream up some unusual sources of wind power!

Learning Standards: Evaluating alternative long range plans for resource use and byproduct disposal in terms of environmental and economic impact; explaining how energy is distributed to living things in an ecosystem; using the craft of the illustrator to express ideas artistically.