Career Education,
The legal and historic background of copyright, public domain and provenance — encouragement to create in the arts and sciences and to be rewarded — are introduced against the historic and current examples of looting of art, book banning and burning, and banishment and firing of those who make literature and arts accessible. Weekly means for inspiration and access to the arts, books and culture are also explored in Post Arts, Style and Entertainment.
When Associate Justice Stephen Breyer announced his retirement from the Supreme Court, President Joe Biden nominated Judge Kentanji Brown Jackson, the first Black female, to fill the pending vacancy. The Senate hearings, Court history of all White men until the confirmation of Thurgood Marshall and all male until the confirmation of Sandra Day O’Connor, Court influence on society and recusal option provide lessons, resources and activities.
From animals, sweat bees and monarch butterflies to horseshoe crabs, manatees and white sharks to veterinary careers and zoos, articles and activities provide students with many examples of tracking movement and tracing survival. Students read and write a photo essay on a theme.
Attention is turned to the unexpected, unusual and rare on land, in the air and within the waters of the world. KidsPost and World articles capture students’ imaginations and a beach sand lab stimulates discoveries. Students use venery, study an elephant’s trunk and vampire bats’ kindness, and meet an octopus teacher. They delve into sea snot, ghost nets and dark splotches.
The articles and suggested activities in this guide focus on the content and challenges in today’s children’s literature and the content of the character and challenges to Dreamers to remain in America, the only home they have known.
At home more people are walking, biking, hiking and camping, giving that segment of the economy a boost. While visits to museums are non-existent or severely limited during the pandemic, exhibits, tours and interactive activities have moved online for world-wide access. Ecotourism addresses questions surrounding sustainability, benefits and drawbacks, conservation and survival. People need updates to make real decisions.
The power and potential of words is our theme. Rhetoric with rhetorical devices and rhetorical modes influences our reactions and actions. Language — adding new words, changing meanings and demoting others to footnotes. The way we express ourselves with words, communicates our culture and reflects our character.
There is always change, but 2020 was a year of extraordinary changes — global deaths due to a pandemic, marches for racial equality and justice, name changes of schools and teams, a woman of Indian and Jamaican heritage on the Democratic ticket, NASA’s return to space shuttles — and mundane curtailments that influenced culture. Students read, discuss and debate, and write about these changes and those who made a difference.
Students and teachers join in celebrating 20 years of KidsPost. They are encouraged to write profiles, news stories and comic strips; create Gyotaku prints; meet young activists; and publish a newspaper. Students also observe Bethany Beach fireflies and learn the physics of roller coasters, Ferris wheels and observation wheels.
Pandemics have spread across the globe before, but like the novel coronavirus they always bring new challenges. The personal impact as well as the tests to businesses, the medical community and local, state and federal governments are included in readings and activities.
