May 3, 2006: Unusual Animal Mothers

The Mini Page is a syndicated, four-page tabloid written for young children found each Wednesday in the Rocky Mountain News. This issue of The Mini Page is available through the eEdition Archive to registered eEdition subscribers. Click here to learn about subscribing to the eEdition at no cost to you (for Colorado teachers).

Activities:

1. Create a poster showing different ways human moms take care of their children.

2. Find five items in the newspaper that your parents or grandparents use to take care of you. Explain how they use each item.

3. Look for comic strip moms in your newspaper. Find a mom who is taking care of a child. Find one who is teaching her child something. Find one who is helping the child do something. How are these moms like individuals you know?

4. Which animal moms (a) get help from other animals in caring for their young, (b) take care of their young on their own, and (c) are not around when their young are born or who leave their young almost immediately after they are born?

5. Think about all the different things moms, grandmothers or other caregivers do to take care of young children. Write down as many ideas as you can about: (a) how moms make sure their children are healthy, (b) how moms help their children learn to do everyday tasks or chores, (c) how moms help their children do better in school, and (d) how moms help their children get along with others. Now use some of these ideas to write a paragraph about why mothers, grandmothers or other caregivers are important.

This week's standards:

• Students understand the characteristics of organisms.
• Students understand the life cycles of organisms. (Science: Life Science)
  
  

(standards by Dr. Sherrye D. Garrett, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi)