1. Compute for Less!

It's the holiday season, so many companies and shops are having big sales. As a class, make a list of things it's nice to have in your house or apartment. These things could include a TV, soft beds, a CD player, a refrigerator, etc. Have each person pick an item from the list and hunt through today's newspaper to find the best price for the item at area stores. Finish by adding your price to those of your classmates to see how much it might cost to outfit a home or apartment.

Common Core/National Standards: Performing the daily functions of a literate individual; using addition, subtraction, multiplication and division multiple sources and then evaluating, organizing and communicating it.

2. Ousting a Dictator

Weapons of mass destruction. Harboring members of the terrorist organization al-Qaeda. Violating human rights. These were all reasons the United States gave for invading the Middle East country of Iraq in March 2003, but the overall aim of the invasion was to remove the country’s dictator, Saddam Hussein, from power. Hussein was finally captured on December 13, 2003. He was found hiding in a hole located about nine miles outside his hometown of Tikrit. Hussein was tried and found guilty of crimes against humanity. He was sentenced to death by hanging and was executed on December 30, 2006. U.S. troops were later pulled out of Iraq, and the U.S. turned its attention toward capturing Osama bin Laden, the leader of al-Qaeda. Bin Laden was found and killed by U.S. Navy Seals last year. Find newspaper or Internet articles about what has happened in Iraq since U.S. troops pulled out. As a class, discuss how things have changed for the better or worse since Hussein was removed. What are the biggest challenges that remain for Iraq?

Common Core/National Standard: Engaging effectively in a range of collaborative discussions.

3. Searching for Treasure

In real life, finding sunken or hidden treasures doesn’t look like it does in the movies. It takes months of historical research and months more to search for a shipwreck, claim the find, explore the wreck and bring up the contents. All of this takes hundreds of thousands of dollars, so most treasure hunters want to keep what they find. An American salvage company found out the hard way that you don’t always get to keep the loot. Odyssey Marine Exploration found a wreck believed to be the Spanish ship called the Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes off the coast of the European country of Portugal. The Spanish government successfully sued the company to get back the $500 million worth of silver and gold found on the ship, saying it belonged to Spain. Search your newspaper and Internet for a story about a modern day explorer or treasure hunter. Write a fictional first-person story about where you would go and what you would look for if you were a treasure hunter.

Common Core/National Standard: Writing narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events.

4. Self-Expression or District Violation?

Christian Chavez of Kerrville, Texas, chose a unique way to express his support of Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel. He had Manziel’s face cut into his hair on one side of his head and the words “Johnny Football” cut into his hair on the other side. The first day he came to his high school sporting his new “do,” the principal sent him home, saying he violated the district’s dress code, which says that only natural hair colors are acceptable and hairstyles that are distracting are not allowed. Search your newspaper and the Internet for pictures of and stories about teens wanting to express themselves through their looks. Divide the class in two and debate the rights of students to self-expression vs. the needs for schools to have dress codes. Look at your district’s dress code before the debate.

Common Core/National Standard: Posing and responding to specific questions with elaboration and detail by making comments that contribute to the topic, text or issue under discussion.

5. Big Bully

What kind of person mocks a disabled child? Evidently, 43-year-old William Bailey of Ohio does. He was filmed telling his son to walk like a “retard” right in front of a 10-year-old girl with cerebral palsy and also was shown “dragging his leg and patting his arm across his chest” as if disabled while picking his son up. The girl’s mother asked him to stop and her grandmother caught the incident on video, which went viral. A complaint was filed and the man was charged with breaking two laws and sentenced to 30 days in jail. Find a newspaper or Internet story about bullying. Write a summary of the story.

Common Core/National Standard: Producing clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization and style are appropriate to the task, purpose and audience.