“Pictures of Hope” is a national 12-city program that was created by award-winning photographer Linda Solomon and is sponsored by Chevrolet. The project puts cameras in the hands of children so that they can take pictures that represent their hopes and dreams for the future. The photos will be made into holiday cards that will be sold to raise money for the Lighthouse PATH program that serves struggling families in the Detroit, Michigan, area. Find an eEdition story about children facing struggles or challenges. With disposable or digital cameras, take photos of things that might fulfill their dreams. Or draw pictures of things that might fulfill their dreams. Display your pictures in your classroom and discuss.

Taking Photos to Show Hope

Get Your Eyes Checked, Ref!

To Be Continued …

Ahoy, America!

Helping & Serving

NFL football is one of the most popular sports in the nation, but the first three weeks of the 2012 season caused a lot of unhappiness among fans this year. A work dispute between the referees and the league led to a lockout of the regular refs by league leaders, and the use of replacement refs for the first three games. When a controversial call affected the outcome of a game between the Green Bay Packers and Seattle Seahawks, league officials began getting pressure to resolve the situation quickly. Three days later, a new work agreement had been reached with the regular referees. As a class, talk about why referees are important in sports events. Then talk about people outside sports who sometimes have to “referee” discussions or disputes between people. Draw a comic strip for the eEdition showing a non-sports “referee” in action, and how he/she is helping others.

The Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria are three of the most famous ships in history. They left the European nation of Spain on August 13, 1492, searching for the riches of the Far East in what is now the continent of Asia. Led by Christopher Columbus, the three ships reached land on October 12, 1492. Columbus didn’t know at the time that he hadn’t reached the Far East, but was in fact in the

Bahamas in the Caribbean Sea. Later that month, he sighted the island of Cuba, but thought that it was mainland China. He then landed on the neighboring island of Hispaniola and set up a small colony with his men. He returned to Spain with gold, spices and “Indian” captives in March 1493. Columbus returned the area three more times, and found more islands, as well as mainland South and Central America. He never reached the Far East, but is now credited with being one of the first European discoverers of the “New World” of the Americas. Find and read an eEdition article about exploration. Use what you find to write a fictional story about a child stowing away on an expedition of explorers.

Your eEdition gives you many ways to find the stories and information you need. Open the different tool bars at the top of the page until you find the one that shows the different sections of the eEdition. Go to the first page of the entertainment or sports section. Read a story on the page that continues on another page. Then use the toolbar at the top of the page to find the rest of the story. When you find the rest of the story, read it and write a short paragraph tell-ing what it’s about. Then write another paragraph comparing the way you find the rest of a story with the eEdition with the way you would find it with a paper newspaper.

In Vaughn, New Mexico, people speeding or breaking into houses don’t have to worry about being arrested by the lone certified member of the town’s police force. However, if you are deal-ing drugs, the officer’s nose is going to hunt you down. That’s because the only certified member of the police force is a drug-sniffing dog, now that the town’s police chief has retired. Vaughn’s one other police officer isn’t certified. Find an eEdition article about the activities of your local police. Draw a picture of an officer doing something that you think helps the community.

Common Core/National Standards: Using drawings or visual displays when appropriate to enhance the development of main ideas or points; under-standing and applying media techniques and processes in visual arts.

Common Core/National Standards: Engaging effectively in a range of collaborative discussions; adding drawings or visual displays when appropriate to enhance the development of main ideas or points.

Common Core/National Standard: Using technology resources for problem-solving, self-directed learning and extended learning activities; discussing the positive and negative impact of technologies such as computers on daily life.

Common Core/National Standards: Using drawings or visual dis-plays when appropriate to enhance the development of main ideas or points; choosing a range of subject matter, symbols and ideas.

Common Core/National Standard: Writing narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, descriptive details and clear event sequences.

Wallace County High School in Sharon Springs, Kansas, recently reduced the amount of food offered in school lunches, and students didn’t like it. So they took their complaints to the Internet video site YouTube, and they now have had almost 750,000 views. Their YouTube effort was a music video parody of the song “We Are Young,” in which kids lip-sync lyrics like “Give me seconds. I need to get some food today! My friends are at the corner store, getting junk so they don’t waste away.” These students aren’t the only ones upset about the reduction in the amount of meat, protein and grains in school lunches. Athletes say they can’t perform well at practice after school because they are hungry. Find an eEdition or online story about school lunches. As a class, discuss it and how school lunches can be made healthy and nutritious.

Feed Me, Lunch Lady

Voter Cheaters

Pick a Movie!

Election 2012: Guns & the Second Amendment

A Lawsuit? Really?

Grown-ups have told you since kinder-garten that cheating is not OK. But what happens when the grown-ups are the cheaters? People call them on the carpet. That is what is happening in the state of Florida, after election officials in nine counties informed prosecutors and election officials about voter registration problems. According to an Associated Press story, questionable voter registra-tion forms have been filled out on behalf of the Republican Party of Florida. These registrations changed addresses, listed dead people, were incomplete or illegible. The Republican Party fired the private firm doing the voter registration on its behalf, and one person from the com- pany was dismissed. Find an eEdition story about voter registration. Or find one online. Write a short essay about why it’s important to register and vote, and what steps can be done to make sure registrations are fair and accurate.

A spate of shootings across the country in recent months has again raised the question of gun control in the United States. This is an issue also facing the two presidential candidates, as they go head-to-head in debates this month. It’s the issue your class will research and debate this week in the News Bytes Mock Presidential Election Debate. The Associated Press recently released an article examining where

Republican candidate Mitt Romney and Democratic President Barack Obama stand on key issues facing the country. President Obama hasn’t pushed for gun control during his term in office. He favors better implementation of current laws, but has voiced support for outlawing assault-type weapons and more stringent background checks for buyers at gun shows. Romney opposes stricter gun control laws. As governor of Massachusetts, he did sign a bill banning assault weapons and quadrupled the state’s gun-licensing fee. Find eEdition articles on gun control issues and the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Do further research and debate the issue.

Your eEdition contains everything included each day in the print edition of the newspaper. That includes ads as well as stories and photos. In today’s eEdition, find an ad for a movie you would like to see with your friends. Click on the ad to show your friend what actors are in the movie and why you find it interesting. Now find an ad or listing that will tell you where and when you can see this movie. List two or three choices on a sheet of paper. Finish by writing a paragraph describing how using an eEdition is different from print for finding movies, along with the advantages and disadvantages.

Don’t like the cost of popcorn, soda and candy at the movies? Sue the theater. Jason Thompson recently filed a lawsuit against a Livonia, Michigan, movie theater, accusing it of gouging custom-ers on snacks. A Wayne County judge threw out the lawsuit, saying it doesn’t apply to businesses that are regulated by other laws. Thompson filed the suit after paying $8 for a Coke and a package of chocolate-covered peanuts — nearly three times what he would have paid at a restaurant or drug store. Find an eEdition or online article about pricing of products. As a class, debate whether businesses should charge a standard price for items they sell.

Common Core/National Standard: Engaging effectively in a range of collaborative discussions.

Common Core/National Standard: Writing arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence.

Common Core/National Standards: Using a variety of technology tools for data collection and analysis; comparing information technologies from the past and present.

Common Core/National Standard: Posing and responding to specific questions with elaboration and detail by making comments that contribute to the topic.

Common Core/National Standard: Propelling conversations by posing and responding to questions that relate a current discussion to broader themes or larger ideas.

Would you elect a person convicted of a felony crime to a public office? Brian Banks is asking voters in the Detroit, Michigan, area to do just that. He is running for Michigan’s House of Representatives and has been convicted of felonies eight times for writing bad checks and for credit card fraud. In a Detroit Free Press article, Banks insists he has turned his life around. He got his GED, graduated from college, earned a master’s degree and law degree and is working toward a Ph.D. His Republican opponent, Dan Shulte, said that convicted felons can’t be lawyers, doctors or teachers in the state, so they shouldn’t be state legislators. Find an eEdition article about people running for office. As a class, debate if a person’s past should prohibit them for running for public office.

Felons and Legislators

How Free Should Speech Be?

Read Electronically

Election 2012: Debating Reproductive Rights

Busting Cliques

Leaders of Muslim countries rallied at the United Nations recently to ask for limits on freedom of expression to prevent disparaging attacks on Muslims’ Islamic religion, according to an Associ-ated Press article. “When we discrimi-nate against gender, it’s called sexism,” said Malaysia’s foreign minister, Anifah Aman. “When African Americans are criticized and vilified, it’s called racism. ... But why is it when Muslims are stigma-tized and defamed, it is defended as ‘free-dom of expression?’” President Barack Obama said a recent anti-Islam film made by an American was “crude and disgusting,” but said he couldn’t support limiting free speech, which is guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution. Find eEdition or Internet articles about issues involving religion and freedom of speech. Write an essay giving your views on one case.

Women’s reproductive rights have long been a lightening-rod issue for politicians running for federal offices. The issue has split voters since 1973, when a U.S. Supreme Court decision known as Roe vs. Wade gave women the right to have an abortion. It is an issue the two presidential candidates may address in the national debates being televised this month, and the issue you will debate as a class this

week in a News Bytes Mock Election Presidential Debate. President Obama supports abortion rights and his health care law requires that contraceptives be available for free to women enrolled in workplace health plans. Republican Mitt Romney opposes abortion rights except in cases of rape and incest, and has said Roe vs. Wade should be reversed by a future Supreme Court to allow states to make their own abortion laws. His running mate, Paul Ryan, would restrict a woman’s right to abortion even more. Find articles in the eEdition and online about the candidates’ positions on reproductive rights. Do further research about the issue and debate it as a class.

An eEdition makes it easy to quickly scan the news with a computer. With toolbars or navigation arrows you can easily move from page to page. And by moving your cursor or navigation tool over stories, you can read highlights of the headlines or key points. Go to the front page of today’s eEdition, or the front of a section that interests you. Scan the stories with your cursor or naviga-tion tool. Click on one that interests you. Read the portion that appears on the front page and click to find the rest. Write a complete sentence describing what was most interesting about the story. Write a second sentence describing advantages of reading with eEditions.

How do you break down the barriers between high school cliques? At Red Mountain High School in Mesa, Arizona, the athletic director sent out an email asking for suggestions, and got a response from the softball coach. She suggested forming a student-athlete advisory committee, according to an Arizona Republic article. The committee is planning several community-service events, such as nursing home visits and campus clean-up days, at which all students can participate. Search your eEdition for stories that address high school issues such as cliques or social pressures. Pick a problem at your school, and write a proposal for a solution.

Common Core/National Standard: Posing and responding to specific questions with elaboration and detail by making comments that contribute to the topic.

Common Core/National Standard: Writing arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.

Common Core/National Standard: Producing clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization and style are appropriate to the task, purpose and audience.

Common Core/National Standard: Producing clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization and style are appropriate to the task, purpose and audience.

Common Core/National Standard: Coming to discussions prepared, having read or studied required material, explicitly drawing on that preparation by referring to evidence on the topic.