Oct. 5, 2005: The Skunk Issue

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. Make a set of skunk trading cards. Draw a picture of a skunk on the front of each card. On the back, write something important about skunks, like how big they are, where they live and what they eat.

2. Have a contest with a friend. Make a list of other animals that are black and white. Compare your answers. Who has the most animals?

3. Look through your newspaper for things with different smells. Circle things that smell good with a colored marker. Circle things that smell bad with a different colored marker.

4. Write a paragraph about all the different ways skunks defend themselves.

5. Use resource books and the Internet to learn more about another member of the Mustelid family. Use these questions to guide your research:

• What is the animal?
• How large does it get?
• Where does it live?
• What does it eat?
• How does it defend itself?
• How is it like the skunk?
• How is it different?
  

This week's standards:

• Students understand the characteristics of animals. (Science: Life Science)
• Students understand the interaction of animals and the environment. (Science: Life Science)
  
  (standards by Dr. Sherrye D. Garrett, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi