Wander the World: Traveling Treasure Chests

Traveling Treasure Chests

Your journey around the world this summer begins at your local library.  Your local library has many great programs that will be traveling from library to library all summer. You can journey around the world, from continent to continent, by listening to stories, songs, poetry and more! Visit hcplc.org to find out when these Traveling Treasure Chests will be visiting your library. After you have visited a program, come back here to the NIE Blogging Zone to share your experiences with others. Just click on the comment button below and start blogging!

Wander the World: Source of conflict

Source Of Conlict

Many of the summer reading books focus on young people encountering conflicts in their lives and communities. How do these conflicts compare to everyday conflicts you face in your life? What conflicts can you find in articles in the St. Petersburg Times or on tampabay.com?  Look for an article in the St. Petersburg Times or a blog on tampabay.com that focuses on an issue or concern that affects children or teens in the community. Read the article or posting carefully. Think about the purpose of the author and the main idea of the writing. What is the main focus of the article? What is the conflict? Do you agree with the perspective being shown in the article? Share your thoughts with other students across Tampa Bay here at our Summer Times Reader Blog. Just click on the comment button below and start blogging!

Wander the World: Celebrating diversity

Celebrating diversity

A Pride of African Tales by Donna L. Washington takes you on a journey to the continent of Africa. Each tale reflects a different culture and lesson to be learned. It is not just the stories in the book that will catch your attention. Award-winning artist James Ransome’s watercolor paintings show the diversity of the African people through clothing, architecture, landscape and wildlife. What is diversity? Look up the word “diversity” in the dictionary. There is a lot of diversity in Hillsborough County. Look in the St. Petersburg Times for photos, cartoons, pictures or words that show diversity. Do your neighborhood and school have a lot of diversity? How does this diversity make life and learning more interesting? Just click on the comment button below to discuss these ideas!

Wander the World: Extra! Extra!

Extra, extra read all about it!

As a journalist for your school newspaper, you are assigned the job of writing a newspaper article about one of the summer reading books. This isn’t just any article. You are going to interview your favorite character. A good journalist must begin with six key questions: who, what, where, when, why and how. Before you plan your character interview, find an article in the St. Petersburg Times and answer each of those six questions. Now that you see the pattern for a newspaper article, write an article about your favorite character. Share your article with other students across Tampa Bay here at our Summer Times Reader Blog. Just click on the comment button below and start blogging!

Wander the World: Creating a travel brochure

Creating a travel brochure

Imagine you are a travel writer for the St. Petersburg Times, and you have been tasked with putting together a special travel section focusing on a luxury tour to visit some of the places represented in your summer reading books. Have you visited all seven continents yet? If you could visit one of the continents, which one would it be: North America, South America, Asia, Australia, Africa, Europe or Antarctica? Click on the comment button below to discuss your travels.

Wander the World: First stop ... Florida

First stop ... Florida

The United States is part of North America. Your travels in North America can begin right here in Florida. Florida has many different ecosystems. An ecosystem is a living community of plants and animals that need each other to exist. Think about all of the different ecosystems in your life: your state, your town, your city, your school, your home. Now think about all of the important things in your ecosystem. All animals, including humans, need water, oxygen and food to exist. What do you need to exist? Look through the St. Petersburg Times to find examples of things that you and your family need to exist in your community. Click on the comment button below to discuss the items that are most important in your ecosystem?