Hi Boys and Girls, It was fun helping Michael build the snowman in today´s chapter. I live in the South, but many other dogs live in cold climates where there is snow for months at a time. Use today´s newspaper as a map of the world. Many places have weather and climates different from where you live. See how many faraway places you can find in today´s newspaper. Then have fun doing the activities below.     Your friend,     Woodrow

1. Use a globe or world map with today´s newspaper. With a partner, hunt through the newspaper and find 4 articles that take place in 4 other countries besides the United States. (LA.B.1.2.3)

2. Determine how far away each country is from your home city.

3. With help from your teacher, do an online search to find out facts about weather and climate in each country. (LA.B.1.2.1)

4. Find out what language people speak in each country, and learn about one custom.

1. With a partner, select one country, and use information from the newspaper story to write a new story about the country you chose. (LA.B.1.1.1) (LA.B.1.2.1) 2. Pretend you are a citizen of another country, and write story about what a day would be like for you in that place. (LA.B.1.1.1) (LA.B.1.2.1)

1. Help your child become aware of his or her "life geography." Use the newspaper to talk with your child about places in the world, and about different cultures.

2. Help your child understand why learning about different attitudes and cultures makes for a smart person.

3. Find a newspaper article that shows how attitudes of people in other lands are like ours and different from ours.

4. Encourage your child to explore a different culture through online searches at home on at the public library.

Snowflakes and Snow Crystals -- This site is all about snow crystals and snowflakes -- what they are, where they come from, and just how these remarkably complex and beautiful structures are created, quite literally, out of thin air.

Children Playing in Snow -- Photos of children playing in snow.

A Dog´s Day in the Snow -- Photos of a dog playing in the snow.

Growing Vegetables In The Home Garden -- In planning your garden, consider what and how much you will plant. It is better to have a small garden well maintained than a large one neglected and full of weeds. Diagram the garden rows on paper and note the length you wish to assign to each vegetable. Use a scale of a selected number of feet to an inch. Then you can decide how much seed and how many plants to buy.

Meeting the Vegetables -- Vegetables supply you with vitamins, including vitamin A and C, and folate, minerals, such as iron and magnesium, and fiber. Plus they are low in fat. You should have 2 to 4 servings of vegetables each day.

Growing pizza vegies in a lasagna garden -- We´ve found a few interesting ways you can reuse the newspaper once you´ve finished reading it. My most successful activity with newspapers in the classroom was creating group gardens using the technique called "Lasagna Gardening" which requires layering newspapers, peat moss, mulch, and organic materials.

Serial Story: WOODROW TALES -- The serial story ran in the Daytona Beach News-Journal each Monday from January through May. Text and illustrations for the serial copyright © 2003. Barbara Shapley, NIE Consultant/Writer is a career educator and education writer. The Woodrow Tales is a fictionalized account about a real basset hound, who is smart and loving.

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