1. Know, Wonder, Learn -- About the NFL!

The National Football League started its 2008 season last weekend, and millions of fans are excited. Following football in the newspaper is a great way to build reading skills if you use the approach called Know, Wonder and Learn. With this approach, called KWL for short, you ask yourself questions every time you read something. First, you ask what you already KNOW about the subject. Then you ask what you WONDER or WANT TO KNOW about the subject. Then you read and ask what you have LEARNED about the subject by reading. Practice KWL by finding a short story in the newspaper about your favorite football team in the NFL. Write out what you already KNOW about the team. Then write what you WONDER or WANT TO KNOW about the team. Then read the story and write what you LEARNED about the team by reading.

Learning Standards: Making connections between key ideas in texts and students' own lives; acquiring information from multiple sources and then evaluating, organizing and communicating it.

2. Oh Say Can You See

At the opening of football games, or any other event, audiences or performers sing our national anthem, "The Star Spangled Banner." Francis Scott Key wrote "The Star Spangled Banner" on September 14, 1814, during the United States' war with Great Britain that had begun in 1812. The song was not entirely his, however. He actually just made up new patriotic words to a song that already existed. Listen to your teacher read an article in today's newspaper involving something good about the United States today. As a class, make up new patriotic words retelling this story with the tune of a song that you all know. Then sing it out!

Learning Standard: Communicating information accurately and effectively; demonstrating expressive abilities by creating oral, written and visual texts that enlighten and engage an audience.

3. Batman Triumphs

The Batman movie "The Dark Knight" was a huge hit as movie entertainment when it came out this summer. Now it's become the second biggest money-maker for ticket sales in U.S history. Last week, "The Dark Knight" became just the second movie ever to top $500 million in ticket sales in the United States (that's $500,000,000 with all the zeroes). Only the disaster movie "Titanic" sold more, with more than $600 million in tickets in the nation. As a class, talk about what makes a movie popular with viewers. Then pair off with a partner and find a movie you have seen in the ads in today's newspaper. Write a review of the movie as if you were a movie critic for the paper. Finish by using a calculator to determine how many tickets "The Dark Knight" sold to reach $500,000,000 at the average 2008 ticket price of $7.08 per ticket.

Learning Standards: Engaging peers in constructive conversation about issues or topics of interest; writing fluently for multiple purposes; using addition, subtraction, multiplication and division to solve problems.

4. Catch that Pesky Fly!

Flies are among the most annoying insects. They also are fast and complicated, with a highly developed nervous system. That's what makes them so hard to catch, U.S. researchers said last week. The nervous system and brains of flies are built to help them avoid being swatted, researchers at the California Institute of Technology said. At the first sign of a threat, the fly's nervous system prepares in a matter of milli-seconds to flee in the opposite direction. If there's a threat from the front, for example, it will prepare to take off backwards. As a class, find stories and photos of other insects or animals in the newspaper. Discuss the most amazing features of each and brainstorm reasons you think the animal developed that feature.

Learning Standards: Generating scientific questions about the world based on observation; understanding the nature of scientific inquiry.

5. Roald Dahl and the Chocolate Factory

On September 13, 1916, Roald Dahl was born. You may be familiar with his stories "Charlie and Chocolate Factory" or "James and the Giant Peach." Dahl wrote many stories in which crazy events were everyday happenings. Listen as your teacher reads a story to you from the newspaper today. Then write a "review" of the story--two sentences that explain what parts of the story you liked and why.

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

My Review

Sentence No. 1 ______________________________________________ ______________________________________________ ______________________________________________ ______________________________________________

Sentence No. 2 ______________________________________________ ______________________________________________ ______________________________________________ ______________________________________________