1. America’s Birthplace

On April 18, 1775, two men leapt on their horses and took off on what would become a historical ride at the start of the American Revolution. Patriots Paul Revere and William Dawes found out that British troops were on their way to capture arms that American colonists had stored in Concord, Massachusetts, and to arrest colonial leaders Samuel Adams and John Hancock. The colonists had organized a message system to alert each other about British troop movements. One or two lanterns would be hung in the bell tower of the Old North Church in Boston to communicate movements. Revere and Dawes woke Adams and Hancock and many other colonists. Armed minutemen met the British troops when they arrived in the town of Lexington. A “shot heard around the world” early on the morning of April 19 started the Revolutionary War. As a class, find a travel story about Boston in the newspaper or online. In teams, put together travel brochures about Boston and its historical sites.

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

2. Play Ball!!!

The Major League Baseball season is under way. To get in the spirit, look at the sports section in today's newspaper and make a simple graph that compares the wins and losses of your favorite team with the wins and losses of two other teams.

Core/National Standard: Organizing data using concrete objects, pictures, tallies, tables, charts, diagrams and graphs.

3. Kooky Collections

With just two months until summer vacation, kids all over the country are thinking about places they might want to go. There are amusement parks and beaches, of course, but there also are odd and interesting museums. For example, if you like shoes, you won’t want to miss out on the Giant Shoe Museum in Seattle, Washington. It boasts having a Size 37 shoe from Robert Wadlow, who is said to be the tallest man in the world. Then there is the Paul A. Johnson Pencil Sharpener Museum in Hocking Hills, Ohio, which has a collection of more than 3,000 sharpeners. In Gladbrook, Iowa, the Matchstick Marvels Tourist Center has a replica of Notre Dame Cathedral made of 400,000 matchsticks, plus matchstick models of the United States Capitol, a dinosaur and more. Search your newspaper for stories about odd or interesting places to visit. Draw a picture of a place you’d like to visit. Write a short rhyme explaining why you’d like to visit that place.

Core/National Standards: Producing clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization and style are appropriate to the task, purpose and audience; adding drawings or visual displays when appropriate to enhance the development of main ideas or points.

4. An Unseen Challenge

Tennis and blind students. These aren’t two things you normally would put together, but a trip to Japan by 17-year-old Sejal Vallabh of Massachusetts did. She worked for a summer as an intern with a service organization that teams with the Japanese Blind Tennis Federation. She was so impressed with the program that she started her own version with the Perkins School for the Blind in Watertown, Massachusetts. Run entirely by teens, the program has now expanded to California and New York City. Vallabh is working with students at Harvey Mudd College to design a tennis ball that emits continuous noise to help the blind players. As a class, find and read a newspaper story about inventions that help the disabled or other people. As a class, discuss something you might like to design to help people with physical challenges.

Core/National Standard: Initiating and participating effectively in a range of collaborative discussions, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.

5. Your Family Tree

Genealogists study families and their histories. Some people do this for a living, but many people follow genealogy as a hobby. To do this, they use a variety of records, such as birth certificates, church baptism records and U.S. Census information. Recently, the U.S. government released the results of the 1940 census online. It is considered a very important census, because it asked a wide variety of questions about American families. In the newspaper, find a story about a family. Write down things you learn about the history of the family from the story. Then write down things you would include in a newspaper story about your family if you wanted to share your family’s history.

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