1. Red Hot

Wearing red can make you a red-hot athlete. A few years ago, British researchers found that if two athletes are equally good, the one wearing red often seems to do better. It seems the color red makes the competitive juices flow. Check the newspaper for pictures of athletes’ uniforms. Cut out Sports pictures and color the athletes’ uniforms a bright red. Then write the words “Red Hot” down the side of a sheet of paper. Write a poem about red uniforms, starting each line with the letters that spell “Red Hot.”

Common Core/National Standards: Producing clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization and style are appropriate to the task, purpose and audience; integrating information presented in different media or formats to develop a coherent understanding of a topic.

2. News of the Day

It can be fun and challenging to keep up with the news. As a class, look through the newspaper and decide what the three most important news stories are today. Read them as a class. Write a few sentences explaining what each story was about. Draw a cartoon showing an event from one of the stories.

Common Core/National Standards: Engaging effectively in a range of collaborative discussions; producing clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization and style are appropriate to the task, purpose and audience; using drawings or visual displays when appropriate to enhance the development of main ideas or points.

3. Viking Items Found

A 16-year-old who says his friends consider him “a little nerdy” was using a metal detector at a field near his home in the European nation of Denmark when he came across coins and other items from the Viking era 1,000 years ago. A later archaeological dig at the site in the northern part of the country unearthed 365 items, including 60 rare coins. The coins — now in Danish museums — have a distinctive cross mark that was used by the Norse king who is believed to have brought Christianity to Norway and Denmark. As a class, talk about ways that scientists and archaeologists study ancient peoples. Then imagine you are a scientist from the future. What could you learn about our world by studying the items you can find or read about in the newspaper? Write up your findings and present them to the class.

Common Core/National Standards: Engaging effectively in a range of collaborative discussions; producing clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization and style are appropriate to the task, purpose and audience.

4. Slave Cabin Moved to D.C.

A former slave cabin on Edisto Island in South Carolina is being dismantled plank by plank by the Smithsonian Institution to be rebuilt at the National Museum of African American History and Culture. It is scheduled to go on display in late 2015 in its new home on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Dating to the 1850s, the cabin was one of the last buildings that exist of a village for field workers at a plantation. Black families lived in the wood-sided, two-room house, without electricity or heating, until the 1980s, until it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1986. In Washington, it will be what the museum’s director calls “a true jewel in the crown of our collection.” The cabin is one of two preserved through the efforts of the Edisto Historical Preservation Society, which raised $40,000 to clear away vines and have the tilting structure stabilized. As a class, discuss why it is important for modern Americans to see how slaves lived. Then write a short editorial for the newspaper explaining why the slave cabin will be an important addition to the Museum of African American History.

Common Core/National Standards: Engaging effectively in a range of collaborative discussions; responding thoughtfully to diverse perspectives, summarizing points of agreement and disagreement; writing opinion pieces on topics or texts, supporting a point of view with reasons and information.?

5. Beckham Retiring

Soccer without David Beckham? Unthinkable as it may seem, that will be the case after this season. The superstar has announced he will retire from soccer when this season ends. At age 38, he’s playing his final season with the Paris-St. Germain team, adding a French league championship to those he has won in England with Manchester United, in Spain with Real Madrid and in the United States with the Los Angeles Galaxy. No word publicly of his plans, but he has long been rumored to be interested in owning a club in the United States. Sports stars appeal to fans in many ways. Find a star you like in the sports section of the newspaper. Read stories about him or her in the newspaper or online. Write a short essay explaining why you like this star, citing evidence from the stories.

Common Core/National Standards: Conducting short research projects that build knowledge about a topic; citing specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions; writing informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.