1. Music Month

March is Music in Our Schools Month, and this year’s theme is “Music Touches Lives.” As a class, talk about the different things music can do for listeners—tell stories, create a mood, touch your emotions. Then find a story or photo in the newspaper that interests you. Pretend you are going to write a song to tell what is going on in the story or photo, or to capture the mood. What kind of music would you choose? Explain your choice to classmates. Then for added fun, write the first verse of a song based on your story or photo.

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

2. Bubble Bursts

An artist and entertainer named Fan Yang has won world-wide fame for creating amazing soap bubbles. But he got a bigger response than expected when he announced he was going to set a new bubble record by enclosing a 7-foot-6 inch Asian elephant inside a giant bubble. When more than 2,000 people protested the event as a mistreatment of animals, it was canceled by a Southern California science center. As a class talk about the different ways animals are used for entertainment or work that helps people. Draw an ad for the newspaper asking people to treat animals well when using them to entertain.

Learning Standards: Generating questions about issues that affect students or topics about which they are curious; using the craft of the illustrator to formulate and express ideas artistically.

3. Water Watch

Every day Americans invent new things. In the state of Oregon, for example, a company has invented a Faucet Light that changes color when water gets hot coming out of a faucet. The Hog Wild Toys company says the device that attaches to regular faucets can make bathroom safety fun for kids of all ages. With a partner, search the ads in the newspaper for a new product that interests you. Write a sentence stating why you think the product was invented. Then brainstorm a new product you think kids your age would like.

Learning Standards: Responding to a variety of written, visual and electronic texts by making connections to students' personal lives and the lives of others; describing major kinds of economic activity and concepts of supply and demand.

4. Salamanders

University of Missouri scientist Ray Semlitsch studies creatures most people don’t ever see. These creatures are active only at night and live in the shallow, cool “headwater streams” where rivers start. The creatures are salamanders, and in a new study Semlitsch has found they play bigger role in the food chain than was thought. As a class, talk briefly about food chains and food webs in natural environments. Then find a picture of an outdoor scene in the newspaper. Make a list of everything that could live in the environment in the picture. Then draw a chart showing where each living thing would fit in the food chain of the environment.

Learning Standard: Describing, comparing and explaining the locations and characteristics of ecosystems; organizing data using tables, charts and graphs.

5. Alphabet Basketball

This week fans all over the nation are watching results from the NCAA men’s and women’s college basketball tournaments. The tournaments are lots of fun, but they also can help you build skills. For example, you can practice putting things in alphabetical order. From the newspaper, pick a bracket from the men’s or women’s Division I tournaments (East, West, South or Midwest). Put the teams that played in the first round into alphabetical order. Then put the teams in the second round in alphabetical order. Then put the teams in the third round in alphabetical order. For added challenge, repeat with another bracket.

Learning Standard: Acquiring information from multiple sources and then evaluating and organizing it.