ReadyZone H1N1 Be Prepared and Keep Learning

KEEP LEARNING

Although you're out of the school building, there are many opportunities to continue learning at home and in your community. Try some of these activities to spark your interest.

English/Language Arts: Become a Playwright

Write and perform your own play. Make sure to include dialogue and lots of action. Include ideas for costumes and props you may need for the performance. Cast siblings, neighborhood friends, or other family members to star in your play or make puppets to act out a puppet-based show.

Having trouble coming up with an idea for your play? Make your favorite book come to life. Many plays and movies are adapted from books. If you don't have a favorite book, consider reading a new book and creating a play right after finishing it. Check out these reading lists for grade-appropriate reading suggestions:

Mathematics: Become an Architect

Practice your measurement and research skills by becoming familiar with some famous skyscrapers and creating a scale model of your favorite. Consider researching the following skyscrapers: Petronas Towers, Sears Tower/Willis Tower, Chrysler Building, or the Empire State Building.

When conducting your research, find the answers to the following questions:

1. Where is the skyscraper located?
2. When was it completed? How long did the construction take?
3. How tall is it?
4. What materials were used in its construction?
5. Who was the architect who designed the building? What were some of the goals the architect was trying to accomplish? Do you think he or she succeeded in meeting those objectives?
6. During what year(s) was it the tallest building in the world? When, if ever, did it lose its title? Where does this building rank today among the tallest in the world?
7. What materials or technology enabled it to surpass the heights of previously constructed skyscrapers?
8. What were some of the challenges involved in building it?

Once your research is complete, create an illustration, drawn to scale, of your favorite skyscraper on a piece of poster board or on butcher paper. Consider using 1 foot of illustration to equal 100 feet of actual skyscraper, or determine a scale that works for your space and supplies. At the bottom of the illustration, include a stick figure of a five-foot person for size comparison.

Looking for more of a challenge? Create a three-dimensional model of your favorite skyscraper by carving Styrofoam, stacking Legos, K'nex, or other building blocks, cutting and bending cardboard, or cutting and gluing balsa wood.

Science: Become an Astronaut

Explore highlights from NASA's fifty-year history with video and audio clips featuring astronauts and NASA scientists that illustrate key developments and technologies that have allowed us to better understand our solar system.

Then, take a virtual tour of the universe to learn more about our galaxy and beyond.

Social Studies: Become a Historian

Use our list of Web links and suggested readings, to brush up on the people, artifacts, and landmarks of ancient Egypt. Then, play the interactive game Cleopatra's Palace to see how they fit into the history and culture of Cleopatra's world in Alexandria.

Further Resources

Develop reasoning, logic, and lateral thinking skills with fun and challenging puzzles.

Use easy-to-color images to create a new project or finish off an old one.

Find videos, interactive games and animations, and Web resources for all kinds of homework problems.

Encourage creativity and artistic expression by using the materials you have around the house to create fun craft projects.

Prepare for an upcoming science fair by visiting Science Fair Central to gather project ideas, learn about the scientific process, and how to safely conduct an experiment.