Frogs have been around for 180 million years on Earth, and they still look pretty much the way they did at the beginning. But scientists have just announced a discovery on the African island of Madagascar that is gigantic news. A fossil of a frog that lived 65 million years ago may have been the biggest ever. And it was nasty, so mean it may have eaten baby dinosaurs! This frog, nicknamed the "Devil Frog," was 16 inches long and weighed more than 10 pounds. As a class, talk about how fossils teach us things about the past. Then pair off with a classmate and find three items in photos, stories and ads in the newspaper that teach something about the past. Share your findings with the class.

Learning Standards: Engaging each other in conversations to explore issues; comprehending the past.

2. Here Kitty, Kitty

As pet stories go, this one was a nightmare. A little kitten riding the subway with its owner escaped from its carrier and ran away into the train tunnels under New York City. But after 25 days, the story had a happy ending. Subway workers found the six-month old kitten named Georgia and returned her to her owner. Newspapers pay a lot of attention to animal news and animal photos because many people are interested in them. Keep a scrapbook of animal news and photos from the newspaper for a week or month. For each item, write a complete sentence explaining why you think the news or photo would interest readers.

Learning Standards: Acquiring information from multiple sources and then evaluating, organizing and communicating it; writing fluently for multiple purposes.

3. Goodnight, Moon

In space, the Earth revolves around the sun and the moon revolves around the Earth. Every once in a while the Earth gets in between the sun and the moon and the moon disappears in the Earth's shadow. This event is called an eclipse of the moon ("eclipse" means to "darken" or "overshadow"). Last week people in the United States and other parts of North and South America got to see for themselves what an eclipse of the moon looks like. As a class, talk about other ways that events in space make news. Find an example in the newspaper and draw a comic strip showing why the event is newsworthy.

Learning Standards: Generating questions about issues that affect students or topics about which they are curious; showing how science concepts can be interpreted through creative expressions such as language arts and fine arts.

4. Toys, Toys, Toys

Every year the companies that make toys and games get together to show off new toys that will be offered for sale. This year's American International Toy Fair was held last week in New York City, and toymakers from more than 94 countries took part. Pretend you are toymakers and talk with classmates about what new toys you would like to see invented for the new year. Then design an ad for the newspaper showing one new toy you think kids your age would like. Give your ad an exciting headline to attract attention.

Learning Standard: Reading and writing fluently, speaking confidently, listening and interacting appropriately, viewing critically and representing creatively.

5. Shipwrecks

A company called Odyssey Marine Exploration has made a business of recovering things lost in shipwrecks. Now some of its recoveries are being featured in a traveling museum exhibit called "Shipwreck! Pirates and Treasure." The exhibit, which opens in March at Michigan's Detroit Science Center, teaches visitors the history of shipwrecks and explains modern methods for recovering items from shipwrecks. As a class, talk about what people can learn from shipwrecks. Then imagine a shipwreck in a body of water mentioned in the newspaper this week. Write the beginning of a news story describing the challenges people would face recovering items from the wreck.

Learning Standards: Employing multiple strategies to construct meaning; writing fluently for multiple purposes.