1. The Cookie Vote

Can cookies help predict who will win the race for president? Readers of the magazine Family Circle may think so, after picking winners in the last four elections based on cookie recipes submitted by the candidates' wives. Readers are now voting on recipes submitted by Cindy McCain and Michelle Obama, and who wins may indicate which of their husbands will win the presidential contest in November. McCain's recipe is for oatmeal butterscotch cookies, while Obama's is for shortbread cookies flavored with lemon, orange and almond. As a class, talk about your favorite kinds of cookies. Then draw a comic strip for the newspaper, showing your favorite cookie as a candidate for president! Give your strip a funny name. Learning Standard: 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.

2. 'Super-Earths'

One of the questions scientists want to answer most is whether there could be other planets like our Earth in the universe of outer space. New research by scientists from the continent of Europe suggests that Earth-like planets may be more common than people believed. The researchers said they recently had discovered three planets they called "super-Earths" orbiting a nearby star, and small planets in two other solar systems as well. As a class, talk about reasons scientists study space, our solar system and the universe. Then work in teams for the next few weeks to create a scrapbook of stories about space. Write five sentences describing what you found. Begin each sentence with a different letter from the word SPACE. Learning Standards: Explaining how we learn about the universe; writing fluently for multiple purposes.

3. What a Cadet!

For many years women could not attend the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado. This year, a young woman named Hila Levy was the Number One student in the graduating class, earning the Outstanding Cadet award and a place in the academy's 100-year honor roll. On top of that, she earned the high honor of a Rhodes Scholarship to study at Oxford University in England. A native of Puerto Rico, Levy is the first Puerto Rican to be awarded a Rhodes Scholarship, and four years ago she was the Civil Air Patrol's National Cadet of the Year. With a partner, find a story in the newspaper about women or girls succeeding in school or jobs. Write a complete sentence describing how one woman or girl has succeeded.

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

4. Gas and Boats

With the price of gas rising, people are looking for ways to use less of it in the activities they like. One activity hurt by higher gas prices is power boating. To help boaters use less fuel, the Boat Owners Association of the United States is offering a few tips for summer boating. These include (1) only taking what you need on boat rides, (2) removing unused equipment, (3) carrying less water on board for short trips, (4) painting the boat bottom to make it slide smoothly through the water and (5) traveling with river currents or tides whenever possible. As a class, talk about the ways higher gas prices affect different things families do. Then draw an editorial cartoon for the newspaper showing a way families could use less gas.

Learning Standards: Engaging peers in constructive conversation about issues or topics of interest; using the craft of the illustrator to formulate and express ideas artistically.

5. Money, Money, Money

How do you spend your money? A man named Adam Smith spent a lot of time studying the way people use money and became a leader in the area of study called economics. Smith was born 285 years ago this month in Scotland. In honor of his birthday, imagine you have $100 to spend on yourself. Use your math skills and today's newspaper to create a list of things you could get and not go over your $100.

Learning Standard: Describing and demonstrating how the economic forces of scarcity and choice affect the management of personal financial resources and shape consumer decisions regarding the purchase of goods and services.

Thing:_______________________________ Price:_______________________________ Page Found: _________________________

Thing:_______________________________ Price:_______________________________ Page Found: _________________________

Thing:_______________________________ Price:_______________________________ Page Found: _________________________

Thing:_______________________________ Price:_______________________________ Page Found: _________________________

Thing:_______________________________ Price:_______________________________ Page Found: _________________________

Thing:_______________________________ Price:_______________________________ Page Found: _________________________

Thing:_______________________________ Price:_______________________________ Page Found: _________________________

Thing:_______________________________ Price:_______________________________ Page Found: _________________________

Thing:_______________________________ Price:_______________________________ Page Found: _________________________

Thing:_______________________________ Price:_______________________________ Page Found: _________________________

Total Spent: _________________________