It’s Halloween Night and you have to report upon the happenings of the evening in your local newspaper. We have provided you with two background pictures, a 1850s graveyard and a dilapidated house to use. Then we have provided a series of appropriate clip art including, bats, dracula, witches, ghosts, a skeleton, a werewolf and frankenstein to create your initial scene. Your kids can of course animate their story and then take a photo of their creation as an automatic insert into the newspaper. They then can title the article, provide their name as a reporter and write about the happenings on Halloween night.

In “Genghis Khan” we retell the story of one of the greatest leaders in history. In this template, the child is presented with a graphic and a text box with one to three paragraphs of information regarding the subject, and that page is then followed by a page with a multiple choice question to ascertain the student’s comprehension of the previously read materials. The child has the ability to go back and re-read the section if desired.

In the Mount Rushmore Presidents activity, children will be presented with two pictures or portraits of each of the four presidents that are depicted on Mount Rushmore. Their writing assignment is fundamentally one of researching each of the presidents and trying to determine why they were chosen as one of the four presidents to be honored on this national monument.

In this activity we retell the history surrounding the creation of Mount Rushmore from its origins through the selection of the sculptor, Gutzon Borglum, then the various obstacles and travails the team of miners and carvers went through in creating this national monument. Photographs of the workers on the mountain, along with photographs of the mountain before the project and after are provided as well.

The activity describes events in Helen Keller’s life from early childhood, including the illness that cost her sight and hearing, the arrival of her teacher Anne Sullivan, the breakthrough that led to Helen learning to communicate, and on through her success in education and in serving as an advocate and role model for the blind community. After children read a one page biographical narration on Helen, they are presented with five multiple choice questions to answer.