GENERAL PROCEDURE
Ears, found in the upper corners of a front page, provide additional information. Acquaint students with ears. Have students locate the front page and the ears in each section of The Washington Post. What kind of information is found in the ears of each section?
Now turn to the KidsPost page. Do ears exist? If they do exist, what information is found in the left ear of the KidsPost page? What is in the right ear?
The student-drawn weather illustration and weather forecast appear above the fold on the KidsPost page. For the Level 2 activity help students to distinguish the weather prediction for the current day from the one for the next day.
1. When states appear in the right ear or in a KidsPost article, use the graphic as an opportunity to teach geography. Have a large map of the United States posted in the room and individual maps for students. Help students to turn the image in KidsPost until they see its similarity to the state on the map. Name it. Students could color the state.
What is the name of its capital? Locate the capital city on the map. Draw a star on their maps where the capital is located.
After identifying the state, students should identify contiguous states and countries. What are the main products of the state and area? Who are the leaders, past and present?
This activity could be modified when countries appear in the right ear or on the KidsPost page.
Extension: Read the front page and DIGEST in the MAIN NEWS section. Are there any stories from this state in these pages?
2. How accurate is the weather forecast? Collect the weather art and forecasts of a week. Also collect the WEATHER page found in the METRO section for the same days plus one. Have students record the predicted high and low temperatures and weather condition for Monday found on the KidsPost page. Then read Tuesday’s WEATHER page
for the actual temperature high and low. This information is found under “Official Weather Data” and is given for Reagan National, Dulles and BWI airports. Students will need to determine which airport is closest to their school.
Continue recording the temperatures and weather conditions, both forecast and actual, for a week. Discuss with students what conditions existed to influence temperatures.
Have students compare data. How accurate were the forecasts for their neighborhood? Have students graph results.
Have students prepare a Washington Area Forecast based on the data collected and other information found on the WEATHER page.
Extension: Have students draw a picture to illustrate one of the weather conditions. Weather abbreviations are:
s — Sunny
pc — Partly Cloudy
c — Cloudy
r — Rain
sh — Showers
t — Thunderstorms
sf — Snow Flurries
sn — Snow
i — Ice
Submit pictures to KidsPost for the weather ear. Mail entry to KidsPost, The Washington Post, 1150 15th Street N.W., Washington, D.C. 20071.
3. On Monday in “Birthdays of the Week,” readers get an overview of birthdays that make this week special for some local KidsPost readers. These are presented in date of birth order. Revise the list to be in chronological order.
Teachers may post “Birthdays of the Week” on the bulletin board. If a student in the class is celebrating a birthday that week, add his or her photograph and a ribbon to connect to the correct location in the column.
Create a birthday card for someone having a birthday this week in your class or in your school (office, cafeteria and custodial staffs). Write a four-line rhyming message for inside the card.
Extension: Do students know any celebrities, well known or historic personalities who are celebrating birthdays this week? You could create a timeline that students will develop throughout the school year. Take time to update it on a weekly or monthly basis.
Create a timeline of the 1900s. Either have each student produce an illustrated timeline or divide the class into decade groups.
First place the birth date of well-known personalities, literary or historic figures on the timeline. Read about the individuals and place an event from each life on the timeline.
For example, “Mountain climber Edmund Hillary (1919)” is listed on July 20. For a second item on the timeline, students could identify May 29, 1953, Edmund Hillary of New Zealand and Tenzing Norgay of Nepal become first human beings to conquer Mount Everest-Chomolungma, the highest place on earth.
Academic Content Standards and Skills
Maryland
Mathematics, Students will collect, organize, display, analyze, or interpret data to make decisions or predictions.
Virginia
Science, Interrelations in Earth/Space Systems, The student will investigate and understand how weather conditions and phenomena occur and can be predicted.
Washington, D.C.
Mathematics, Data Analysis, Statistics and Probability, The student collects, organizes, represents, evaluates and interprets data; makes predictions based on data.
Fundamental Skill:
Reinforce Interacting
Sub-skill Reinforcement:
Following directions, locating information, categorizing, predicting outcomes, analyzing, drawing conclusions, developing visual imagery
