1. MooFest

If you like ice cream, milk and other dairy products, the place to be this weekend will be Athens, Tennessee. On Saturday, May 31, the community will be hosting the first National MooFest, a celebration of the fun and health benefits you can get from dairy products. As a class, talk about the ways milk and dairy products help build strong bones and teeth and how dairy cows are raised. Then talk about other healthy foods, or about healthy foods that are grown or produced in your state. Find examples of healthy foods in the ads and photos of the newspaper. Clip them out and design a poster showing good foods to eat.

Learning Standards: Comprehending what constitutes good health and fitness; showing how science concepts can be interpreted through creative expression such as language arts and fine arts.

2. Keep It Creamy

Speaking of ice cream, people love it when it's smooth and creamy. They don't like it as much when little bits of ice form in it, and it gets crunchy. Now scientists in Wisconsin say they have discovered an ingredient that can reduce ice crystals in ice cream and other frozen foods. According to the American Chemical Society, the ingredient is a natural protein that is both tasteless and safe. As a class, find a story about another scientific discovery in the newspaper. Talk about whom the discovery will help most - and how soon. Write a sentence describing a discovery you would like to make.

Learning Standard: Explaining how scientists decide what constitutes scientific knowledge, how science is related to other ways of knowing and how science and technology affect society.

3. Animals and People

From earliest times, storytellers have compared people to animals. That's because the way animals act can make it easier to understand the way people act. This year two writers have put together a book of animal stories to help people understand the way people behave at work. "In the Land of Difficult People" by Terrence Gargiulo and Gini Graham Scott offers tales that "Reveal How to Tame the Beasts at Work." As a class, talk about what kinds of animals you and your classmates are like, and why. Then draw a comic strip for the newspaper showing you doing some things you like to do - as this animal!

Learning Standard: Exploring and using figurative and descriptive language to construct and convey meaning; using the craft of the illustrator to express ideas artistically.

4. Write What You Think

In Jonesboro, Arkansas, a sixth grade class has created a Web site to review products that kids might like. The students at the Fox Meadow Intermediate Center read all they can find about each product and then test the product to compare it to what they have read. Then they write reviews of products for the class Web site HYPERLINK "http://www.mrcoversclassreviews.com/"www.mrcoversclassreviews.com. As a class talk about products kids your age like or use. Then talk about how to decide how good a product is. Write a paragraph about a product you use or like.

Learning Standard: Responding to a variety of written, visual and electronic texts by making connections to students' personal lives and the lives of others; engaging peers in constructive conversation about issues or topics of interest.

5. NBA Playoffs

In the NBA playoffs, great teams have to prove their greatness against top competition. In the regular season this year, the Boston Celtics had the most wins of any team, with 66. The Detroit Pistons had the second most wins, with 59. Now the Celtics and Pistons are battling each other to make the NBA finals. In the newspaper, find a story about a team you like in the NBA playoffs. Then write the beginning of a sports story predicting how you think the team will do.

Learning Standard: Generating questions about issues that affect students or topics about which they are curious; writing fluently for multiple purposes.