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Mini Page Archive - April 2006: Issue 14 - 17
Meet Author Lynne Rae Perkins - Issue 14 -- April 1-7
This week's standards: Students comprehend and respond to a variety of images and text.
Students identify forms and elements of literature. (Language Arts: Reading)
Activities:
- Design a book cover for "All Alone in the Universe" by Lynne Rae Perkins or "Yo! Yes?"
by Chris Raschka.
- Draw a large window frame on a piece of paper. Then cut out pictures from the
newspaper that you might see through your own ³Hello, Goodbye² window. Paste your
pictures in the window frame.
- Draw two lines down a piece of paper to create three columns. In the first column,
write facts that are only about Lynne Rae Perkins. In the third column, write facts
that are only about Chris Raschka. In the center column, write facts that describe
both Perkins and Raschka.(For example, they both have lived in Michigan.)
- Look at the Perkins and Raschka books shown in today¹s Mini Page. Now identify a
family member or friend who might like each of the books. Talk to your family and
friends about the books.
- Ask several family members and friends to give you ideas for new stories.
Select one of the ideas. Then write a summary of a story you might write. Draw
several pictures you might use to illustrate your new story.
(standards by Dr. Sherrye D. Garrett, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi)
Flowering Trees - Issue 15 -- April 8-14
This week's standards: Students understand the life cycles of organisms. Students
understand the relationship between organisms and their environment.
(Science: Life Science)
Activities:
- Create a poster showing different trees and telling why trees are important to us.
- Find three different ways pollen gets from one flower to another.
- Look through your newspaper and advertising inserts for ads for trees.
Circle all the words and pictures related to trees. How many fruit trees did you find?
How many ornamental trees (trees used for decorative purposes)? How many indoor trees?
Which tree would you like to have inside or outside your house?
- How is each of the following important to flowering trees: (a) insects, (b) warm weather,
(c) pollen, and (d) wind?
- Use resource books and the Internet to learn more about trees near you. Select a tree
from your own yard or one that is popular in your community to research. Use these questions
to guide your research: What is the name of the tree? What kind of tree is it? What other
trees is it like? How tall does it grow? What type of flower does it produce? How is the
tree beneficial to people?
(standards by Dr. Sherrye D. Garrett, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi)
The Bill of Rights - Issue 16 -- April 15-21
This week's standards: Students identify key ideals of the United States democratic republican
form of government. (Social Studies: Civic Ideals & Practices) Students identify examples of
rights and responsibilities of citizens. (Social Studies: Civic Ideals & Practices)
Activities:
- Make a set of First Amendment trading cards. Write one of the five freedoms - speech,
press, assembly (meeting), petition (talking to the government), and religion on the
back of a card. Write a sentence telling why you think that freedom is important. On
the front of the card, draw a picture that shows that freedom.
- Share the Bill of Rights with family members and friends. Ask each person to name
the amendment he/she thinks is most important. Ask that person to explain his/her
choice. Share your findings with your friends.
- Which amendment in the Bill of Rights (a) lets you own a gun, (b) makes sure you can
have an attorney at a trial, (c) says that you don*t have to testify against yourself
at a trial, and (d) says the police can*t search your home without a good reason and
without permission from a court.
- Find newspaper stories that demonstrate each of these freedoms: (a) the right to a
trial, (b) the right to criticize a decision made by the government, and (c) the right
to have an attorney. Explain how each story shows one of our rights.
- Select one of the freedoms or rights guaranteed in the Bill of Rights. Now imagine
what life would be like if citizens did not have that right. Write a story about your
family living in a country without that guaranteed right. Describe how life would be
different. Describe how the government would be different.
(standards by Dr. Sherrye D. Garrett, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi)
Meet Robert Louis Stevenson - Issue 17 -- April 22-28
This week's standards: Students comprehend and respond to a variety of images and text. Students identify
forms and elements of literature. (Language Arts: Reading)
Activities:
- Select one of the poems in today’s Mini Page. Draw a picture to go with the poem.
Then copy the poem on the paper under your picture. Give the poem to a family member or friend.
- Look through the newspaper to find rhyming words. Circle a word with a colored marker. Then
find a word that rhymes with that word and circle it in the same color. To try something
different, circle a word with a marker and write your own rhyming word next to that word.
- Go to the weather section of your newspaper. Circle at least six weather words. Now use those
words in your own poem about weather.
- Select your favorite comic strip in the newspaper. Write a “cinquain” about the
character in the comic strip. On the first line, write the character’s name. On the second
line, write two words that describe the character. On the third line, write three verbs ending
in ‘ing’ that tell what the character does. On the fourth line, write a four-word phrase
about the character. On the fifth line, write another word for the character.
- Use resource books and the Internet to learn more about one of the poets whose books are featured
in today’s Mini Page. Use these questions to guide your research: When did the poet first
become interested in writing poetry? What topics does the poet like to write about? Where does the
poet get his/her ideas for poems? How does the poet write his/her poems? What awards or
recognition has the poet received?
(standards by Dr. Sherrye D. Garrett, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi)
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