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Grades 2-5
Where in the world?
December 2nd is a national holiday in Laos. Can you find Laos on a world map or globe? Most news stories have datelines at the beginning of each story. Datelines are the names of the places where the story happened. Looking at the front page of your paper, circle all of the datelines. Find all of these places on a map.
Holiday fun
December is filled with fun holiday events. Use your newspaper to make a calendar of holiday events in your area. Put a star by the events that you, your friends, and family would most want to attend.
Save energy, save money
Many people pay higher energy costs in the winter months. Use your newspaper to find examples of common household items that use electricity. Make a list of these items. As a group, discuss ways you might be able to save energy by using these items less.
Making your list
The holiday shopping season is in full swing and the newspapers are full of ads for gift items. Go shopping in your newspaper. Find a good gift for each member of your family in the ads. Make your list and add up the total cost for all your gifts.
Poetry in nature
Joyce Kilmer, the poet who wrote the famous poem that starts with the line: "I think that I shall never see a poem lovely as a tree," was born on December 6, 1886. Look for pictures of trees or other scenes of natural beauty in your newspaper. Write your own poem about the beauty of trees or nature.
Fresh or frozen?
Clarence Birdseye was born on December 9, 1886. He is the man who developed a way of deep freezing foods. Using the newspaper's grocery ads, compare the prices of frozen foods with fresh foods of the same kind. Which kind costs more? Why do you think this is so?
Happy Hanukkah
Hanukkah, the Jewish holiday known as the Festival of Lights, is celebrated for eight days beginning on December 12. It is traditional for children to get a small gift on each of the 8 days. Using your newspaper, choose 8 gifts, each under $5 that you would enjoy receiving.
Fire prevention
More fires occur during the winter than any other time of the year. Look for stories about fires in your area. Read the stories carefully to see if officials were able to find out what caused the fire. Using what you learn, make a poster listing things people can do to prevent fires.
First flight
December 17th is the anniversary of the Wright brothers' first airplane flight. Read your newspaper for stories about other "firsts" happening today. Choose one story and write a short paragraph answering these questions: Who did it? What did they do? How did they do it? When did they do it? Where did it happen?
Winter foods
December 21 is the start of winter. What foods do you like to eat in winter? Check out Wednesday's Food section. Find a good cold-weather recipe and write it down or try it out with your family.
Top story
Newspapers often carry lists at this time of year of the most important news stories of the year. Think back over the year. What story do you think was the biggest of the year? Write a paragraph explaining why you chose this story.
Grades 6-8
Holiday shopping
After Thanksgiving, people really start their serious shopping for the holidays. Make a list of holiday gifts you would like to give members of your family. Guess the total amount you have to spend on these gifts. Then go "shopping" for gifts in your newspaper's ads. Be sure to stay in your budget.
Keep it safe
December is Safe Toys and Gifts Month. Go through your newspaper's ads and rate all of the toys you see. Make a list of which toys you think are the safest. Make another list of toys you think may not be safe.
Most popular toys
What toys do you think will be most popular this holiday season? Study holiday toy sale ads in your newspaper. Look closely at the ideas used in these ads. Then choose one toy you think will be very popular this year. Design an ad to draw attention to that toy.
Rosa Parks
On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat to a white person in Montgomery, Alabama. In so doing, she became a symbol for the entire civil rights movement. Look through The Denver Post for examples of people who are making a difference. Choose one of these people and write a short feature article about him or her and how one person can make a difference.
Medical terms
The first successful heart transplant was performed on December 3, 1967. Search the Denver Post eEdition for stories and columns about health and medicine. Make a list of all the medical or scientific terms you find. Use a dictionary or encyclopedia to find the meanings of words you don't know.
Walt Disney
Walt Disney was born
on December 5, 1901. Look at the ads and flyers in your newspaper
that advertise children's toys, DVDs, and other items. Circle
all the items that have something to do with Disney characters
or the Disney company.
Pearl Harbor
Japan bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Search for articles in The Denver Post eEdition about Japan. What do these articles tell you about the relationship between the U.S. and Japan today? Write a paragraph about what you learn from these articles.
Frozen foods
Clarence Birdseye was born on December 9, 1886. He invented a way to deep freeze foods. Find examples of frozen dinners in The Denver Post. What is in the dinner? How much does it cost? Then estimate how much it would cost to buy all those ingredients fresh and make the dinner from scratch. Which way costs more? Why do you think this is so?
Holiday movies
There are a number of new movies for young people that have been released in time for the holiday season. Look in the Friday entertainment section to find reviews of as many of these movies as you can. After reading the reviews, make a list of the movies you want to see and a list of the ones you don't want to see.
Children in need
The U.N. International Children's Emergency Fund was established on December 11, 1946. Disaster and starvation are all too common for children in many nations. Use recent editions of your newspaper to find out which nations might benefit most from this Fund. Make a list of these nations and locate them on a map.
Hanukkah treats
The Jewish holiday of Hanukkah is celebrated for eight days beginning on December 12. Look in the Wednesday Food section for recipes that people often make at Hanukkah time. Print out one of these recipes and paste it on a card that you decorate. Use your Hanukkah recipe card as a gift for a friend who celebrates Hanukkah.
Person of the year
Look through The Denver Post for ideas about who would make good candidates for the most important newsmaker of the year. Make a list of candidates, and then have your class vote to pick the one they think most deserves to be the person of the year.
Top ten
As the year draws to a close, newspapers will be coming up with lists of the top stories for 2009. Come up with your own list of top ten stories. Rank them in order of importance from one to ten.
Grades 9-12
Human rights
December is Human Rights Month. Unfortunately, there are still many places in the world where people are being mistreated. Look in your newspaper for examples of this. Pick one place where you think the situation is especially bad. Write a letter to the editor of your newspaper to bring more attention to this problem.
Medical news
Dr. Christiaan Barnard made medical history when he did the first successful heart transplant on December 3, 1967. Search through The Denver Post eEdition for stories about new medical discoveries or findings. Write a summary of the one you think will be most significant for the future.
Holiday movies
Check the movie section in The Denver Post to see what the big holiday movies are this year. Rank the movies according to how well you think they will do at the box office. Compare your guesses with the actual Box Office ratings, published in the Friday Entertainment section.
Going to war
Japan attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 and the U.S. entered WWII the next day. Most historians agree that we had no choice in entering WWII. But not everyone agrees that we made the right choice in invading Iraq. Search for news stories and editorials about the war in Iraq. Based on these, draw an editorial cartoon that expresses your opinion about our involvement in Iraq.
Nuclear disarmament
On December 8, 1987, the former Soviet Union and the U.S. took the first step towards nuclear disarmament by signing a treaty eliminating two entire classes of nuclear arms. Read news articles about what is happening in the world and in the U.S. today regarding the development of nuclear weapons. Write an editorial giving your opinion about what steps the U.S. should take to curtail nuclear arms proliferation around the world.
Climate change conference
The United Nations Climate Change Conference will be held in Copenhagen, Denmark December 7 - 18. Read news articles about the conference and answer these questions: What are the goals of this conference? What is the position of the U.S. at this conference? How does the U.S. position fit with the goals? Are you critical or supportive of the U.S. position? Explain your answer in a brief report.
Genocide Convention
On December 9, 1948 the U.N. General Assembly unanimously approved the Genocide Convention, which was set up to prevent and punish the crime of genocide. Sadly, this did not put an end to genocide. Search The Denver Post for stories about situations that exist today where large numbers of people are being killed. Write a report on one of these situations and give your opinion about whether or not you think the situation violates the Genocide Convention.
Looking into the future
Nostradamus was born on December 14, 1503. He was famous for making astrological predictions, which some people still believe in today. You may not be able to predict 500 years into the future, but try making predictions for 2008. Pick five stories in the news today and predict how they will turn out. Here are some issues to turn your crystal ball on: the presidential election, the war in Iraq, and the state of the economy.
Family conflict
Many letters to "Ask Amy," The Denver Post's advice column, have to do with conflicts between parents and children. Select a "Dear Amy" letter that has to do with a conflict like this, but don't read the response. Write your own response to this letter suggesting how you think the parents and children could solve this difficulty. How similar was your advice to the response given by Amy?
Freedom of the press
The Bill of Rights was ratified on December 15, 1791. One part of the Bill of Rights guarantees freedom of the press. Using your newspaper, find a story that you think some government officials might not let newspapers print if this right did not exist. Circle the facts you think these officials might not want revealed.
A blot on history
On December 17, 1944, President Franklin Roosevelt signed an executive order that allowed Japanese Americans to be placed in internment camps. These people lost their livelihoods and most of their possessions. Do some research about this event in history. Then write a newspaper editorial for a World War Two-era newspaper criticizing Roosevelt's decision and explaining how it was a violation of the civil rights of Japanese Americans.
Winter weather
December 21 is the official start of winter. What weather is predicted for your area this winter? Make a list of all the winter weather predictions that appear in the newspaper. Begin a daily chart of actual high and low temperatures. After two months, compare your findings with the predictions you recorded. How accurate were the weather predictions?
Top stories of 2009
As the year draws to a close, many newspapers will be coming up with their lists of the most important news stories of 2007. Come up with your own list, ranking the stories from one to ten, with one being most important. Compare your list with the list in The Denver Post. How many stories did you have in common?
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