February 2019

Where is Laura’s house?

Show your students this short video of Laura Ingalls’ birthplace in Pepin, Wisconsin! This video shows her first “little house,” a wooden log cabin.

More on Locusts

This BBC Earth video is packed with facts (adults locusts eat their body weight every day) and the sounds of the swarms alone will have your students glued to the screen. 

Making Connections 

Help your students understand how the pioneers had to provide for themselves. For instance, the standard cure for a chest cold was to rub the chest with goose grease and a spread made of mustaun Factsrd!

Fun Facts

The Rocky Mountain locusts that attacked the prairie are now extinct. The last one was spotted in Canada in 1902.

Breaking News 

Last July, 12 boys were rescued from a flooded cave in Thailand. Watch this minute-long video of this daring rescue mission to give your students further context into what inspired this article. 

A Daring Trip 

The Cave of Crystals in Mexico houses the biggest crystals in the world, with some more than 36 feet long! The cave is super hot (up to 135 degrees), so anyone who explores it needs to wear a special suit and stay in for no longer than 45 minutes. Show your students this brief slideshow of its amazingly huge crystals. 

Related Content 

Your students won’t want to miss this video of the Ohio Caverns shown in our story! We recommend watching from 0:33-1:44 to get a sense of what the cave looks like up close. 

The Longest Cave 

Take your students inside the world’s longest cave in New Zealand in this National Geographic clip. They’ll see firsthand how narrow, how low, and how cool it is!

Trendy Toys 

Show your students a modern-day toy that many considered to be made just to be collected (and potentially cashed in on one day): Funko Pop toys.

Vintage Finds 

The Star Wars fans in your class will get a kick out of this 1996 clip of a young boy sharing his figurines with a collectibles expert. (It’s a British show, so explain that a British pound was worth more than $1 U.S. dollar.)

Visit Superman’s Home! 

Take your students on a kid-led virtual tour of the DC Comics headquarters and see their rare comics and collectibles up close

Plays in the Classroom 

Keep the learning going and make connections with two plays from our archives: The Unstoppable Ruby Bridges and The Day Mrs. Parks Was Arrested.

Teaching Civil Rights

The play ends with Mrs. Luper telling Ayanna that the sit-in at Katz’s would be the first of many. Help students get a better understanding of the sit-in movement with this video about the 4 college men who led the famous Woolworth’s sit-in (which, you’ll want to remind your students, came 2 years after Ayanna’s sit-ins). 

Ayanna Today

Hear more from Ayanna with this video where she explains more about the sit-in experience.

From the Archives 

This play will spark a meaningful discussion about how your students can change their community for the better. Share stories from Storyworks Jr. of other children who’ve made a difference in their community, like The Girl Who’s Saving the Bees and This Kid Is Changing Her City.

Different Sit-Ins

Introduce your students to a completely different kind of sit-in in our play The Woman Who Lived in a Tree, about Julia Butterfly Hill, who lived in a tree for more than 2 years to prevent it from being cut down.

Grow Your Classroom Library 

Author Tommy Greenwald brings his signature wit to books, too. Check out his site for more about “The Crime Biters” series about a crime-fighting dog, and The Charlie Joe Jackson series, about the world’s most reluctant reader. 

We Love Tommy! 

This isn’t the first time Tommy Greenwald has written for Storyworks Jr. He wrote “The Big One” for our September 2016 issue. 

Interesting Stats

This story speaks to a growing trend: The most recent stats show that there are more than 2 million dads in the U.S. who stay at home, while there are nearly 8 million stay-at-home moms. 

Decisions, Decisions 

Wondering what the most popular careers are according to children? Check out this list. To further the discussion, ask them if they agree with the picks and what they would like to be when they grow up. 

Dream Jobs 

Here’s a fun activity: Ask kids what career they want to enter when they get older, then compare your class list to this one of the top 15 professions as chosen by kids.

Underwater Footage 

Make this lesson even more more fun with videos from the National Aquarium of New Zealand. Check out their YouTube channel to find clips of eels, seahorses, sharks, and more.

To drive home the fact that Inky’s escape was a worldwide story, show your students this news clip that breaks it all down for them. (You can stop it after the 1:20 mark.)

Three What?!

Octopuses have three hearts and blue blood. Two hearts pump blood to the gills, while a third circulates it to the rest of the body.

An Octopus In Action!

It must be seen to be believed! Keep the learning going with this video of an octopus escaping a boat through a tiny hole.

Further Reading 

Here’s a cool concept: Being un-bored. There’s a full line of Unbored books and activity kits meant to inspire creativity that’ll give you great recess ideas on rainy days and snow days. 

Try These at Home!

Show your kids these boredom-busting arts & crafts activities, most of which require stuff they’ll have around the house. (Note: Start at the 1:10 mark.)

Class Discussion 

Start a conversation about boredom: Who feels like they get bored easily? Who has their own way to amuse themselves when they’re bored? 

Lots to Discover

Help students understand what a well-regarded poet Nikki Giovanni is--explain that she was the first recipient of the Rosa Parks Woman of Courage Award. (And share our play about Rosa Parks if your kids need background info!)

Chilly Connection

While we’re on the topic of cold weather, check out our Paired Texts on the Hottest and Coldest Places On Earth.

Can’t Get Enough of Nikki?

Watch this brief clip where Nikki Giovanni gives us her two cents on writing for children.

Nikki’s Namesake

Nikki is a nickname. She was born Yolanda Cornelia Giovanni, Jr.

Poetry Support

Check out this Ideabook post from our archives that include simple ways to make the most of the poetry in every issue.