1. Baseball's Second Half

Major League Baseball has had its break for the All-Star Game, and now players are back with their teams for the second half of the season. With family or friends, read stories about Major League Baseball this week in the newspaper. Talk about some of the topics the newspaper writers are discussing and writing about. Then pick a player, team or issue you think will be important in the second half of the baseball season. Write a paragraph or two talking about your choice. For extra fun, rewrite your paragraph as a rhyming poem or rap, and perform it for friends!

Learning Standards: Engaging peers in constructive conversation about topics of interest or importance; locating and describing the cultures of communities; writing fluently for multiple purposes.

2. Reading Character

Recognizing character traits can help you predict and understand things in reading. A person's character traits are the kinds of attitudes they show over long periods of time. Someone may be kind, or funny, or mean, or dishonest. A person may help others, or pick on others. Find a feature story in the newspaper that tells you something about a person. On a sheet of paper list the person's different character traits. Finish by writing a sentence stating what kind of person the subject is. For added challenge, pretend that tomorrow you open the paper and read that the person has been arrested for shoplifting or been given an award for helping others. Could you have predicted either choice from the list of character traits you wrote out?

Learning Standards: Acquiring information from multiple sources and then evaluating, organizing and communicating it in various contexts; identifying and explaining how individuals in history demonstrate good character and personal virtue.

3. Kitties in Control

Cat owners often are crazy about their pets. But sometimes they wonder just who's in control: the owner or the cat? A new study by a university researcher in the European country of England has found the answer: It's the cat. And the way cats control their owners is with a special high-pitched cry that is part purr and part meow. People find this sound annoying and hard to ignore, so cats often learn to use it when they want to be fed. With family and friends, talk about different things you like and dislike about different kinds of pets. Then find a pet listed in the Pets section of the newspaper's Classified Ads and draw a comic strip showing someone dealing with one kind of pet.

Learning Standards: Responding to a variety of visual, written and electronic texts by making connections to students' personal lives and the lives of others; using the craft of the illustrator to convey ideas artistically.

4. Insect Spies

When making plans for armies and other military forces, leaders need good information about their opponents. Now military scientists are exploring ways to plant spy equipment in live insects and use them to gather information. The movements of these flying "cybugs" would be controlled by humans, and each would carry embedded cameras or sound equipment. Scientists already have succeeded controlling the flights of moths, and are now working with roaches and horned beetles. With friends, talk about new ways science is being used to help humans. Then find a story in the newspaper about an invention or scientific discovery. Write a sentence stating what this allows humans to do that they couldn't do before.

Learning Standards: Showing how common themes of science, mathematics and technology apply in real world-contexts; writing fluently for multiple purposes.

5. Hispanic Milestone

Last week federal Appeals Court Judge Sonia Sotomayor appeared before members of the U.S. Senate to give her views on what kind of judge she would be on the U.S. Supreme Court. President Obama nominated Judge Sotomayor to be a justice on the nation's highest court, and if approved by the Senate she would be the first Hispanic in history to become a Supreme Court justice. Hispanic Americans are making news in all kinds of ways, because the Hispanic community is the fastest growing in the nation. With family or friends, find Hispanic newsmakers or businesses in the newspaper. Pick one and write how this person or business contributes to the community or makes it a more interesting place.

Learning Standard: Locating and describing the diverse places, cultures and communities of major world regions; reading and writing fluently, speaking confidently, listening and interacting appropriately, viewing critically and representing creatively.