Sept. 21, 2005: On the Other Hand

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. Look at the comics pages in your newspaper. Make a list of all the things comic strip characters are doing with their right hands. List those things people are doing with their left hands. How many left-handed characters are in your comics?

2. If you are right-handed, try several tasks using your left hand. If you are left-handed, try using your right hand. Try these: (a) print and write your name, (b) cut out a circle from a piece of paper, and (c) eat some food with a fork or spoon.

3. Find a friend or family member who is left-handed. Ask that person to tell you about the difficulties he or she has in a right-handed world. Ask if there are any advantages to being lefthanded.

4. Look at common objects you encounter during one day. How many of them are designed so that they are more convenient for a right-hander? Make a list of at least 10 items you see in your home, at school or in a store.

5. Being left-handed can be more than just inconvenient. Use the Internet to learn more about lefthandedness. Use these questions to guide your research:

• What workplace safety problems do lefthanders face?
• What difficulties do left-handers face in school?
• What different theories have been suggested in the past to explain why some people are left-handed?
  
  

This week's standards:

• Students understand the characteristics and life cycles of organisms. (Science: Life Science)
• Students understand language structure, language conventions, figurative language and genre to create, critique and discuss print and nonprint texts. (Language Arts)
  
  (standards by Dr. Sherrye D. Garrett, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi