MiniPage activities meet many state and national educational standards. This week’s standards:

MiniPage activities meet many state and national educational standards. This week’s standards:

Students understand the physical and human characteristics of places. (Geography: People and Places) Students understand how historical events, people, places and situations contribute to our understanding of the past. (Social Studies: Time, Continuity and Change)

Activities:

1. Draw an outline of the map of Puerto Rico on a large piece of paper. Now cut out words and pictures from the newspaper that remind you of Puerto Rico. Think about food, entertainment, education and nature. Paste your words on your map. Share your map with a family member or friend.

2. With a friend, look through newspaper ads for sporting and outdoor equipment you could use if you were on vacation in Puerto Rico. Use colored markers to circle items. Use blue for water, yellow for beaches and green for mountains and forests. Which category has the most items?

3. Talk with a classmate or friend about Puerto Rico. Discuss why these different people would probably like to visit Puerto Rico: a historian, an environmentalist and a musician.

4. Pretend a student from Puerto Rico is visiting your community. Where would you take that person? Use newspaper stories and ads to locate places or events that would be familiar to your visitor, such as (a) restaurants, (b) music events and (c) outdoor locations. Now find places or events that would be new to your visitor in each of these categories.

5. Use resource books and the Internet to learn more about the arguments for and against statehood for Puerto Rico. Use these questions to guide your research: Why would it be good for Puerto Ricans to have statehood? What are the arguments for remaining a commonwealth? What are the arguments against independence? Write a paragraph presenting your opinion. Use information and arguments you learned from your research.