Scholastic News Article

Pick an article from Scholastic News (February 14th issue) and express your thoughts on that article. Be sure to include the title of the article, a quick summary, some facts, some opinions, and anything else interesting worth pointing out in your article.

Time For Kids

Using the worksheet provided go to this Time For Kids link (right-click" and open) and answer questions 1-5 and 7-8 on the worksheet.

Type your response to question 6 and post on the Blog.

All About Presidents

Read this article on Presidential Fun Facts and Presidents Then and Now and answer the following questions.

"Fun Facts" Article

1. What is Abraham Lincoln's son's first name?

2. What was President Reagan's career before he became president?

3. Why do you think there aren't a lot of left-handed presidents?

4. Why was James Polk the first president to be photographed? How do we know what all the previous presidents looked like if they weren't photographed?

"Presidents Then And Now" Article

5. What mean animal did Teddy Roosevelt own?
6. This animal likes to "play dead" when scared. What kind of animal am I and which president would I belong to?
7. How would you react if Quentin interrupted you the same way he interrupted his father?
8. How are the two articles alike? How are they different?

Can Animals be Nice?

Read this article to find out how animals can act a lot like humans. Answer questions in any order, just remember to number them.

*If you do not want to type your response, you may handwrite it. (pacing - about 45 minutes)

1. In your own words, what does the first apragraph mean to you?

2. [Foxy freinds] Why did the female fox stop playing with the male fox?

3. [Foxy freinds] How did the male fox react?

4. [Unexpected gift] How did Sniff, the chimpanzee, help the scientist?

5. [One Good Turn] What does the phrase "Scarfed down" mean?

6. [In a Pinch] Sumamrize what happened.

7. Extended Response: describe a time when you withnessed (or heard about) an animal helping another animal.

Cotton Gin

Go to this link, read about the history of the cotton gin, and answer the following questions.
1. What country started to grow cotton 2,000 years ago?
2. Before the cotton gin, how did people get the seeds out of cotton?
3. What century did people start to grow cotton in North America? (examples - 1300s, 1400s, 800s, etc)?
4. What kind of cotton was grown on the Atlantic Coast?
5. Who invented a cotton gin that actually worked well?
6. The new cotton gin had _______ teeth that caught cotton fibers, and a system of _______ to pull harder.
7. After the cotton gin was invented, people started to wear more cotton instead of ______.

Super Trees

Read this National Geographic Kids interview about a conservationist and explorer.

Answer the following questions.

1. How long does it take to walk a mile in the forest? WHY?

2. Name 2 things kids can do to help redwoods and forests.

3. How old can some redwoods live for?

4. What substance makes redwoods resistant to fire?

5. What substance makes redwoods resistant to "decay-causing fungi?"

6. Write a complete sentence explaining what you thought was interesting about this article.

Homophones

Homophones are words that sound the same but have different spellings and different meanings. Look at this a list of homophones and create a short story or rhyming sentences using pairs of homophones. You can look up the meanings of the words using this online dictionary.