Dec. 20, 2006: Season's Greetings

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. Draw a line down the center of a piece of paper. Then draw a line across the center of the paper. In each of the four squares you've just created, design a different stamp. In the first square, draw a holiday scene. In the second, draw a holiday food. In the third, draw a holiday decoration. In the fourth, draw people enjoying the holiday. Share your stamp designs with family members and friends.

2. Cut out holiday symbols, such as Christmas trees or candy canes, from the newspaper. Use your symbols to make your own Christmas card.

3. Look through the entertainment or community calendar section of your newspaper. Find three different special holiday events you would like to attend. Write the events on a piece of paper and explain why you chose those events.

4. Cut out newspaper comic strips that show people engaged in holiday activities. Paste the strips on a piece of paper. Write about each strip, explaining how the activities are similar to or different from those of your family.

5. Use resource books and the Internet to learn more about a holiday symbol, such as a wreath, Santa Claus, a dreidel or a Kwanzaa candle. Use these questions to guide your research:

• What does the item symbolize now?
• What did the item symbolize before it was connected with the holiday?
• When did the item first become connected to the holiday?

Write a paragraph discussing what you found in your research.

This week's standards:

• Students understand the ways in which language, stories, folktales, music and artistic creations serve as expressions of culture and influence the behavior of people living in a particular culture.(Social Studies: Culture)
• Students use different media, techniques and processes to communicate ideas, experiences and stories. (Visual Arts)
  
  

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