This is a unique service of the Deseret News to help teachers use the newspaper as a current textbook. It can be printed and copied or used as a starting point for discussions and classwork as desired. These activities help students to learn about a variety of subjects and current events by using the Deseret News.
Inside the newspaper
MORE FEBRUARY ACTIVITIES SUITABLE FOR ELEMENTARY-AGED CHILDREN ARE AVAILABLE UNDER THE NIE LISTING: Grades 7-12 activities/February. You will find another Valentine's Day scavenger hunt, a pretend Valentine's Day spending spree and valuable information and activites on the anniversary of the 2003 space shuttle disaster.
READING-WRITING CONNECTIONS
Each edition of the Deseret Morning News includes news stories and features about topics that touch the lives of people. Explore an issue or topic that you have a personal interest in while you learn more about the writing process.
1. Name two or three topics or issues in the news that interest you.
2. Review the topics you chose and select one to be the topic of your writing.
3. Re-read the newspaper article about your topic and underline key ideas.
4. Write the headline on a piece of paper and make notes about the important ideas you found as you read the article.
5. Ask classmates how they feel about the topic you selected. Interview someone to gather information to write about. Conduct at least two additional interviews with resource people who are knowledgable about your topic.
6. Following your teacher's instruction, suggest a name for your classroom publication and a headline for the story you wrote.
Holidays, celebrations and other events in FEBRUARY
American Heart Month
There are lots of things you can do to keep your heart and your body healthy. What are some good foods you can eat to help your heart stay healthy? What are some exercises you can do for your heart? Find ads in the Deseret Morning News for good, healthy foods you can buy. Also look for pictures of exercise equipment you can buy. Search the classified ads and the larger, display ads for all kinds of exercise equipment. Clip out all the things you find that will help you compile a "Healthy Heart" notebook. You might like to paste all the things you find in the newspaper onto a poster-sized sheet to display in your classroom or at home. Or, you might want to ask your teacher if you and your classmates can create a "Healthy Heart" bulletin board for your classroom.
Black History Month
Choose a famous Black American of interest to you, either past or present. Pretend you are a reporter for the Deseret Morning News and make a list of questions you would ask the person you chose to answer for you. Compile some thoughts and some specific information about the person and turn it into a feature article that could appear in the Deseret Morning News.
National Cherry Month
National Hot Breakfast Month
Do you like to eat cherries? What is your favorite breakfast? Do you have a hot breakfast or a cold breakfast on school days? On weekends? Look through the food ads in the Deseret Morning News to find pictures of good breakfast foods. Clip them out and paste them on a paper plate to make a healthy breakfast you'd like to eat. Try to find some cherries in an ad or in a recipe in the Deseret Morning News that you could use for any meal. Take a poll in your class to see how many students eat a hot breakfast on school days and how many eat a cold breakfast. Which got the most votes? Why do you think that is? Now do the same poll, focusing on non-school days and weekend days. Did the results differ from the previous poll? How? Why?
Spirit of Teachers Month
Who is your favorite teacher? What do you think are some of the best things about him/her? Why do you think that? Write a few paragraphs in tribute to your favorite teacher and send your work in to the Deseret Morning News Kid Scoop Page for possible publication: P.O. Box 1257, SLC, UT 84110. Be sure to include your name, grade and school.
February
1
National Freedom Day
Why do you think a February date would be chosen for a holiday like National Freedom Day? Share some ideas on this with your classmates and teacher. What is the best thing to you, about living in America and possessing the many freedoms we have in this country? Look through the Deseret Morning News to find articles about how American people are being protected by freedoms. Think about what would happen in our country if these freedoms weren't protected. What would America be like then? How does America help preserve freedoms in other world countries? Find newspaper articles that tell about some of these ways. Clip out the articles and prepare a classroom bulletin board highlighting them.
February
1
Robinson Crusoe Day
Who wrote the book, "Robinson Crusoe?" Have you read it? Did you like it? Why or why not? Do some research about Robinson Crusoe and the problems he faced being stranded on an island. Make a list of things you think he would have needed on the island. Conduct a scavenger hunt to locate things in the Deseret Morning News that Crusoe would have liked to possess. Circle the items in crayon or clip them out and paste them on a separate piece of paper, listing the reason you chose the items that you did.
February
2
Groundhog Day
Look through the Deseret Morning News for stories and articles about how some people celebrate this day. If the groundhog sees his shadow when he comes out, tradition says there wil be six more weeks of winter. Watch the Deseret Morning News weather reports over the next few weeks to see which areas of Utah and the United States are having a hard winter. Groundhog Day in many Utah cities is a very wintry and snowy day. How was the day's weather where you lived? What did the groundhog see when he came out of his hole? Check the Deseret Morning News to find out.
February
5
National Weatherperson's Day
February
10
Umbrella Day
These days set apart as holidays are good times to think about the weather. Use the Deseret Morning News to find the following weather-related items:
1. a weather map
2. the word "cloud"
3. a weather symbol for rain
4. a weather-related job listed in the classified ads
5. an international city where it's raining
6. the air pollution index for Salt Lake City
7. a sports story about an event that was challenged by the weather
8. a photo or story about "severe" weather conditions
9. a comic strip character who is influenced by the weather
10. an advertisement for a winter-type product
February
8
Boy Scouts of America Founded
On February 8, 1910, the Boy Scouts of America was founded. Are you or have you been a Boy Scout? Has someone in your family been a Boy Scout? The Boy Scout motto is "Be Prepared." Look through the Deseret Morning News for articles about people, states or countries who were prepared for something that happened to them. Tell how you think being prepared is an important thing. Has anything happened to you, personally, that was easier to handle because you were prepared? Share your thoughts with your classmates.
February
12
Lost Penny Day
February 12 is Lost Penny Day. Why do you think this date was chosen for celebration of this holiday? Pretend that you found a "lucky penny." Write a short story about what happened to you after you found the lucky penny. Send in your short story for possible publication to: Deseret Morning News, KidScoop Page, P.O. Box 1257, SLC, UT 84110. Be sure to include your name, grade and school.
February
12 and 22
Abraham Lincoln's and George Washington's Birthdays
February
20
Presidents' Day
These days are celebrated to help people see the important role that presidents have played in the development of our great country. For the next two weeks, watch the Deseret Morning News for articles about our current president, George W. Bush. Clip out the articles and keep them in a folder. Try to determine some of the duties that the president has and the kinds of activities he participates in. Write a letter to President Bush telling him how you feel about the way he is handling things in the United States right now. Do you have any suggestions for him? What compliments can you give him? Would you like to be the president of the United States some day? What would you do the same as Lincoln, Washington and/or Bush? What would you do different? Why?
February
14
Valentine's Day
What is your favorite part of Valentine's Day? Use pictures, words and letters that you have clipped from the Deseret Morning News to create a Valentine's Day poem you would like to give to someone special. Color it nicely after you have finished pasting everything on a colored piece of paper. Put your card in an envelope and deliver it or mail it to that special someone.
February
15
Susan B. Anthony Day
Susan B. Anthony is remembered as a champion of suffrage, abolition, temperance and equal rights for women. The 19th Amendment granting women the right to vote was credited to her efforts. Search the pages of the Deseret Morning News for articles dealing with some of the subjects that were important to Susan B. Anthony. How do you think she would feel if she were to see what is going on in the United States today? What do you think she would agree with and what do you think she would disagree with and take as her "cause" to fight for and somehow change? Why do you think that way? Have you ever seen a Susan B. Anthony coin?
February
19
Student Volunteer Day
Look throughout your school to see where there is work to do that you might be able to volunteer for. Speak to your principal, teacher or custodian to find out how you can help. Construct an advertisement that could appear in the Deseret Morning News about what you want to do and how other students can take part in volunteering, also. Make the ad appealing so that it could interest other students to take part.
February
27
International Polar Bear Day
Do some research about polar bears and write down at least 10 facts about these bears. Locate countries in the world in which polar bears live. Draw a large picture of a polar bear on a piece of white construction paper. Clip out words and/or pictures from the Deseret Morning News of things that are (or could be) white. Paste them all over your polar bear, and ask your teacher if you can mount all the bears from your class on a bulletin board.
February
28
Floral Design Day
Look at the index of the Deseret Morning News (top of the front page) and find where the classified ads are located in the newspaper. Turn to those pages and locate some ads for flowers, flower shops and/or flower arrangements that are available. What information is alike in the ads and what information is different? Now cut out flowers of many kinds from the newsprint classified pages. You may make a pattern from another piece of paper or just cut the flowers out freehand. When you have at least five cut from the newspaper pages, mount them on a piece of art paper to create a floral design. Draw in stems, leaves, vase and/or some sort of background with crayon, marker, pencil or water colors. Place all the pictures on a bulletin board to share with your classmates.
February
28
Mardi Gras
Mardi Gras (which means Fat Tuesday) is a celebration in New Orleans each year on Fat Tuesday, 47 days before Easter Sunday. It's colors are purple (for justice), green (for faith) and gold (for power). People dress in costumes and masks and watch parades and attend balls. Make floats for your own classroom parade, using a shoe box that you decorate in purple, green and gold and attach things you cut out of the Deseret Morning News that are things to celebrate. Choose things that you are glad to have or that you wish you had to put on your float. Line up all the shoe boxes to make a Mardi Gras parade for your classroom.
