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Mini Page Archive - May 2006: Issue 18 - 22
Unusual Animal Mothers -- Issue 18 -- April 29 - May 5
Printable Version
This week's standards: Students understand the characteristics of organisms. Students understand
the life cycles of organisms. (Science: Life Science)
Activities:
- Create a poster showing different ways human moms take care of their children.
- Find five items in the newspaper that your parents or grandparents use to take care of
you. Explain how they use each item.
- Look for comic strip moms in your newspaper. Find a mom who is taking care of a child.
Find one who is teaching her child something. Find one who is helping the child do something.
How are these moms like individuals you know?
- Which animal moms (a) get help from other animals in caring for their young, (b) take
care of their young on their own, and (c) are not around when their young are born or
who leave their young almost immediately after they are born?
- Think about all the different things moms, grandmothers or other caregivers do to take
care of young children. Write down as many ideas as you can about: (a) how moms make
sure their children are healthy, (b) how moms help their children learn to do everyday
tasks or chores, (c) how moms help their children do better in school, and (d) how moms
help their children get along with others. Now use some of these ideas to write a paragraph
about why mothers, grandmothers or other caregivers are important.
(standards by Dr. Sherrye D. Garrett, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi)
Amendments -- Issue 19 -- May 6-12
Printable Version
This week's standards: Students understand the purpose of government. (Social Studies: Power, Authority and Governance)
Students identify key ideals of the United States' democratic republican form of government.
(Social Studies: Civic Ideals and Practice)
Activities:
- The 19th Amendment gave women the right to vote. Pretend you are living in 1919.
Make a poster telling people that women should be allowed to vote.
- Interview several adult family members or friends. Ask them to suggest ideas for the
28th Amendment to the Constitution. What changes would they like to see in the country?
Ask them to explain why they would want those changes. What do you think of the changes?
- Find stories in the newspaper that show people using rights from any of the Amendments
11 to 27. Circle the story and put the amendment number on the story. How many different
amendments did you find? What amendments were hard to find?
- Which amendments (a) made changes in the ways citizens vote, (b) tried to change people's
social behavior, (c) directly affect the presidency, and (d) expanded rights for specific
groups of people?
- Each of the amendments to the Constitution was made for an important political, social
or historical purpose. Use resource books and the Internet to learn more about one of these
amendments: 15, 18, 19, 23 or 26. Use these questions to guide your study: What was happening
in the country at the time the amendment was proposed? What were the arguments for and against
the amendment? How long did it take to pass the amendment, from the time it was proposed to
the time it was ratified? How is our country different because of the amendment?
(standards by Dr. Sherrye D. Garrett, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi)
Bicycling Today -- Issue 20 -- May 13-19
Printable Version
This week's standards: Students understand that physical activity provides opportunities for enjoyment, challenge,
self-expression and social interaction. Students apply movement concepts and principles to the
learning and development of motor skills. (Physical Education)
Activities:
- Bicycle helmets must be designed to meet safety rules, but they can be painted or decorated
any way you like. Draw a large bicycle helmet on a piece of paper. Now color or decorate your
helmet just the way you want it.
- Collect pictures and words about bicycles and cycling equipment from newspaper ads and photos.
Use your pictures and words, plus colored markers or paints, to create a bicycling collage.
- Find newspaper ads for local businesses or special events. Identify three locations you
might be able to travel to on a bicycle. Now identify three locations that you would not use a
bicycle to travel to. Explain why it would not be a good idea to bicycle to those locations.
- Which of the bicycle safety rules in today’s Mini Page are about (a) being courteous to drivers
and bicycle riders who share the road with you, (b) what you have to do to get ready to ride your
bicycle, and (c) what you have to do when you ride your bicycle under special weather or
road conditions.
- Use resource books and the Internet to learn more about bicycles. Use these questions to guide
your research: When was the first bicycle invented? What did the first bicycles look like? When
did cycling become a competitive sport? How have bicycles changed over the years? What is unusual
or special about bicycles today?
(standards by Dr. Sherrye D. Garrett, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi)
Military Bands -- Issue 21 -- May 20-26
Printable Version
This week's standards: Students understand music in relation to history and culture. (Music) Students
understand customs and traditions of their own culture. (Social Studies: Culture)
Activities:
- Look at the pictures of the horns, woodwinds and percussion instruments in today’s Mini Page.
Now think about what a new kind of marching instrument might look like.
Design your own musical instrument. Draw a picture of yourself playing the new instrument.
- Make a list of the instruments shown in today’s Mini Page. Now ask family members and friends
if they have ever played one of these instruments. If not, what instrument would they like to play?
Which instrument was the most popular?
- Find newspaper stories or announcements about musical events in your community. Write the events on
a piece of paper. Next to each story, list the instruments you would expect to find at that performance.
How many of the events involve marching bands? How many are about concerts in a park or community
location?
- Which instrument in today’s Mini Page (a) would be the easiest to carry, (b) would take a lot of
strength to carry, (c) requires strong, quick fingers, (d) requires powerful lungs, and (e) would you
like to play?
- Use resource books and the Internet to learn more about one of the instruments in a military marching
band. Use this questions to guide your research: When was the instrument first invented? Was it ever
used for a military purpose? Who were some famous musicians who played the instrument? What other
types of music use the instrument? Has it changed over time?
(standards by Dr. Sherrye D. Garrett, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi)
Pollination -- Issue 22 -- May 27-June 2
Printable Version
This week's standards: Students understand the characteristics and life cycles of organisms. (Science: Life
Science) Students understand the interactions of animals and their environments. (Science: Life Science)
Activities:
- Create a poster with the title “Thanks to the Busy Bees.” Cut out newspaper words and
pictures of all the different foods that bees help to pollinate and paste them on your poster.
- Use the weather map in your newspaper to trace the route migrating beekeepers would make as they
follow crops. Start in Florida (January), then draw a line to Georgia, to South Carolina and so on.
- Make a series of “Did You Know?” cards. Draw a beehive on the front of the card. Then
write one fact about beekeepers on the back of each card. Share your cards with family members and
friends. Have each person separate the cards into an “I knew that!” stack and an “I
didn’t know that” stack.
- Which of the crops pollinated by bees are (a) fruits, (b) vegetables, and (c) other types of plants?
- Use resource books and the Internet to learn more about the life of a beekeeper. Use these questions
to guide your research: What different kinds of bees are kept by beekeepers? How many bees live in
one hive? How do beekeepers protect themselves from stings? How much do beekeepers charge to
“rent” their bees?
(standards by Dr. Sherrye D. Garrett, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi)
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