Apr. 8, 2009: Hopping Into Spring

The Mini Page is a syndicated, four-page tabloid written for young children found each Wednesday in The Denver Post. 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. Design a toy rabbit to give to a friend. Draw your rabbit. Write several sentences that tell about your toy rabbit. Share your picture with family members and friends.

2. With a friend, go through the newspaper and circle all the pictures of rabbits in news stories and ads. How many rabbits are in the newspaper? How many look like cartoon rabbits and how many look like real rabbits?

3. Draw a line down the center of a piece of paper. Write the word "Smaller" in the first column and "Larger" in the second column. Now find newspaper words or pictures of different animals. Paste the words/pictures of animals that are smaller than rabbits in the first column and words/pictures of animals that are larger than rabbits in the second column.

4. Look in the "pets" or "animals for sale" section of the classified ads in the newspaper. Find examples of animals other than rabbits that are small and furry. How many different animals did you find? Which animal would you like to have for a pet?

5. Use resource books and the Internet to find rabbits that appear in cartoons/movies and in books. Make a list of the haracters and books you find. Now survey at least five friends or family members. Ask them to name the cartoon or movie rabbits they remember. Ask them to name any rabbits they remember from books. Put checks by the names on your list. How many names on your list were mentioned by the people you interviewed? Which names were remembered by the most people?

This week's standards:

• Students understand the characteristics and life cycles of organisms.(Science: Life Science)
• Students comprehend and respond to a variety of images and text. Students identify forms and elements of literature. (Language Arts: Reading)
• Students describe the way artistic creations serve as expressions of culture. (Social Studies: Culture)
  
  

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