Message in a bottle

Talk about a slow postal system.

More than two years ago, Cally Rumbolt's father put a note in a bottle and set it adrift off the shores of the Grand Banks of Newfoundland.

This year, Sofi-Ona Hamer fished it out of the North Atlantic Ocean near Scotland.

Cally's dad is a fisherman, and in 2007 and 2008 he sent dozens of notes in bottles overboard in the hopes that someone would find them, and send a note to Cally. Cally lives in Pickering, Ont.

She didn't even know that he was doing it - until she received a couple of replies. Her latest is from Sofi-Ona, who noticed a bottle washed up on the shore as she was walking along a rocky beach in Scotland one rainy day recently.

She thought it was garbage and was going to put it in the recycling, when she realized there was a plastic bag inside it - and a note.

The note was faded and most of it was unreadable. She tried rubbing charcoal over the letters to see if she could get the note to become more readable. Finally, she was able to make out the words, "Pickering, Ontario, Canada" and the street, "Poprad Avenue" at the top of the page. She got in touch with The Toronto Star newspaper, and they helped her track down Cally's address.

Sofi-Ona couldn't read the note, but thanks to The Star, we know that this is what Cally's dad wrote in those letters he tossed over the side of the boat:
"My dad works on a supply vessel off the Grand Banks of Newfoundland... He is sending this note in a bottle in the hopes that someone will return a letter to me."

In addition to connecting with Sofi-Ona (who plans to write Cally now that she has her address), Cally received a letter from a 16-year-old girl in Ireland, who found a bottle while walking her dogs.

Writing/Discussion Prompt
If you wrote a message in a bottle what would it say? What types of things would you want to be certain to mention?

Curriculum Prompt
What types of things did you think about after you read the title of the article? As you read the article, did you need to change your understanding of what the article was about? After reading the article, would you say your first guess about the story was right or not so much? How can making guesses about what we read make us better readers?

Primary
Identify, initially with some support and direction, what strategies they found most helpful before, during, and after reading and how they can use these and other strategies to improve as readers (OME, Reading: 4.1).

Junior
Identify the strategies they found most helpful before, during, and after reading and explain, in conversation with the teacher and/or peers or in a reader’s notebook, how they can use these and other strategies to improve as readers (OME, Reading: 4.1).

Grammar Feature: Italics
At times, journalists will change the formatting of their text in an article. For example, in today’s story, our journalist switched her font to italics when she reported the message found on the notes. The reason journalists do this is to distinguish certain words from others.

FYI, italics is used in the same way as underlining. For that reason, a piece of work may contain italics or underlining, but not both).

Muggle version of Platform 9-3/4

PLATFORM 9-3/4 REALLY EXISTS

Here’s a magical picture from the muggle world.

This picture was taken at the real-life King’s Cross station in London, England.

Harry Potter fans will recognize Platform 9-3/4 as the magical spot in the wall Hogwarts students must pass through to reach the Hogwarts Express train that takes them to school.

A cast-iron 9-3/4 sign has been put up on the wall between platforms 9 and 10. And a luggage trolley seems to be halfway in and halfway out of the wall, just as if someone were about to make the jump to the magical world from the muggle one.

There’s often a traffic jam at this spot in King’s Cross station, as tourists and Harry Potter fans stop to take pictures of this wonderful tribute to the series.

The latest Harry Potter movie, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part I is playing in movie theatres now. Part II will be released this June.

Click here for the official movie website, including the trailer for Part I.

Image: Wikipedia, By SoxFan.

Writing/Discussion Prompt
If you were going to make a monument or a statue celebrating a book, which book would you choose? Which character would you have made into a statue? Is there a certain moment in the story you would want to have on display?

Curriculum Prompt
Does knowing about the Harry Potter series help a reader understand today’s article? How does thinking about what we know already help us when we read something new?

Primary
Identify a variety of reading comprehension strategies and use them appropriately before, during, and after reading to understand texts (e.g., activate prior knowledge through brainstorming and/or developing mind maps; ask questions to focus reading and clarify understanding; use visualization to clarify details about such things as homes and clothing of early settlers; use pictures to confirm understanding of printed text) (OME, Reading: 1.3)

Junior
Identify a variety of reading comprehension strategies and use them appropriately before, during, and after reading to understand texts (e.g., activate prior knowledge through asking questions about or discussing a topic; develop mind maps to explore ideas; ask questions to focus reading; use visualization to clarify details of a character, scene, or concept in a text; make predictions about a text based on reasoning and related reading; reread to confirm or clarify meaning) (OME, Reading: 1.3)

Grammar Feature: Hyphen
In today’s article, hyphens are used in two sentences. In both of these sentences the hyphen is used in the forming of compund words. When used this way, the hyphen tells the reader that there is a relationship between the words that make up the compound.

“This picture was taken at the real-life King’s Cross station in London, England.”

“A cast-iron 9-3/4 sign has been put up on the wall between platforms 9 and 10.”

Ireland facing bankruptcy

A PROUD NATION FORCED TO ASK FOR MONEY

Ireland is a proud, independent nation. Historically, it suffered a long and painful struggle for independence from Britain.

This week, however, Ireland’s government had to admit that it’s going broke. Its banks are close to bankruptcy, nearly 200,000 homeowners may lose their homes and more than 13 per cent of its population is unemployed.

The country will have to borrow money—from Britain and other lenders—to stay afloat.

A team of 12 officials from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) arrived in Dublin, Ireland last week. They went over the country’s finances to figure out how to get it out of debt.

They decided that many of the countries in Europe would lend Ireland money, to the tune of $110-billion. Ireland will use that money to boost its businesses and kick-start its economy again.

In the meantime, however, having to go cap-in-hand to other countries is something many Irish people will consider shameful. The Irish Prime Minister denies that there is anything to be embarrassed about, but the proud Irish people, who would prefer to stand on their own two feet, feel differently.

In an editorial last week, the newspaper The Irish Times said that after having obtained independence from Britain, “we have now surrendered our sovereignty” to European lenders and the IMF.

This crisis may spell the end for the Irish Prime Minister, who faces an election on Nov. 25.

Source: Based on an article by Doug Saunders, The Globe and Mail.

Writing/Discussion Prompt: Metaphors
This article has tons of them: “stay afloat,” “kick-start its economy,” “cap-in-hand, “ “to the tune of $110-billion,” “stand on their own two feet,” “spell the end,” etc. Why are metaphors used by writers? What impact does a metaphor have on its reader?

Curriculum Prompt
Retelling, or summarizing, is a really difficult skill. Here’s an effective way to summarize a news article. Using a highlighter, highlight the five most important facts in the article (make sure that your facts are chosen from the beginning, middle, and end). Next, rewrite the facts you’ve highlighted in your own words.

Junior
Demonstrate understanding of a variety of texts by summarizing important ideas and citing supporting details (OME, Reading: 1.4)

Grammar Feature: “However”
Sentences with the word “however” in the middle must be preceeded and followed by a comma.

“This week, however, Ireland’s government had to admit that it’s going broke.”

“In the meantime, however, having to go cap-in-hand to other countries is something many Irish people will consider shameful.”

Stonehenge an ancient tourist destination



"WEALTHY TEENAGER" HELPS SCIENTISTS LEARN ABOUT STONEHENGE

Scientists have figured out that the bones of an ancient teenager, buried near Britain’s mysterious Stonehenge monument, came from hundreds of kilometers away.

The wealthy teen was buried with a string of amber beads around his neck. He is known to researchers as “the boy with the amber necklace.”

He originally came from The Mediterranean, and was likely a tourist, visiting Stonehenge much as people do today—as a tourist destination.

The exact purpose of Stonehenge—an ancient ring of giant stones—is unknown and still puzzles scientists and entices tourists today.



Scientists still don't know exactly why, or how,
Stonehenge was created.
Image: Wikimedia Commons, Daveahern.

 The discovery of “the boy with the amber necklace” reinforces the idea that visitors travelled long distances to visit Stonehenge.

Scientists knew that he had travelled far, because amber is not normally found near Britain. They used “isotope analysis” to measure certain elements in the boy’s teeth, which helped them conclude that he was from the Mediterranean.

His necklace suggests that the boy came from a rich family.

His skeleton is one of several “foreign” sets of remains. The “Amesbury Archer” is thought to have come from the foothills of central Europe, and others are thought to have come from Wales or Brittany.

Curriculum Connection
Today’s article includes a lot of words that young readers will not be familiar with. Ask your children to use semantic, syntactic, and graphophonic clues to read and understand these words.

Primary and Junior
Predict the meaning of and rapidly solve unfamiliar words using different types of cues, including:

• semantic (meaning) cues (e.g., prefixes, suffixes, base words, phrases, sentences, and visuals that activate existing knowledge of oral and written language);

• syntactic (language structure) cues (e.g., word order, language patterns, punctuation);

• graphophonic (phonological and graphic) cues (e.g., onset and rime; syllables; similarities between words with common spelling patterns and unknown words; words within words)

(OME, Reading: 3.2)

Grammar Feature
The long dash: A long dash can be used around parenthetical expressions. If the parenthetical information is in the middle, both sides of the clause have long dashes.

“The exact purpose of Stonehenge—an ancient ring of giant stones—is unknown and still puzzles scientists and entices tourists today.”

If the parenthetical information is at the end of the sentence, the long dash precedes the clause and is followed by a period.

“He originally came from The Mediterranean, and was likely a tourist, visiting Stonehenge much as people do today—as a tourist destination.”

Extensions
“The boy with the amber necklace” travelled very far to see Stonehenge—especially since he lived about 3,500 years ago. Why do you think people make such an effort to travel? Why is travelling important (or not so important) to you?

A "silver lining" to the mining disaster

DISASTER PUTS COPIAPO ON THE MAP

When a copper mine collapses trapping 33 miners, it’s a terrible tragedy.

However, in the case of the recent Chilean mine collapse, there is a silver lining. In fact, the mayor of Copiapo, Chile, calls the incident “a blessing from heaven” for his town.

Before Aug. 5, not very many people from outside of Chile knew about Copiapo. Then the tragedy struck. The miners were trapped underground for two months while millions of people around the world watched and waited, and thousands of reporters descended on Copiapo.

Now the small town is very well known. And that has improved its economy. All of the reporters and mining experts who spent months in Copiapo spent a lot of money there, on things like hotels, rental cars and food. The city’s mayor estimates that more than $20-million has been spent there since the mine collapse.

Now, tourists are visiting the city that the miners made famous. The city’s tourism board is talking about building a museum about local miners, with a focus on “los 33,” which would feature the rescue capsule.

“Copiapo is not the same place it was on Aug. 5,” the mayor said.

Curriculum Connection
The tourism board and the mayor of Copiapo are very excited about the attention and money the town has received in the months surrounding the mining tragedy. Do you think residents of the town and the miners who were trapped feel the same way? If so, why do you think they would have a similar point of view? If you think they may feel differently, support your answer using evidence from the article and your own ideas.

Primary:
identify the point of view presented in a text and suggest some possible alternative perspectives (OME, Reading: 1.9)

Junior:
identify the point of view presented in texts; determine whether they can agree with the view, in whole or in part; and suggest some other possible perspectives (OME, Reading: 1.9).

Grammar Feature
An idiom is an expression that cannot be understood when someone just looks at the words that make it up. For example, if someone has a chip on their shoulder, it means that they are upset; and if something is a piece of cake, it means that it is easy.
There are three idioms in this article (“on the map”; “is not the same place it was on Aug. 5.”; “silver lining”). Help your students to identify these idioms and infer what they mean.

Extensions for Primary and Junior
If you were in charge of designing the museum in Copiapo, what would you include in it to make it appealing for children to visit?

Miners to be out tomorrow

Chile, in South America, is where 33
miners have been trapped for
two months. Image: Wikimedia.

CHILEAN MINER RESCUE

Tomorrow, 33 miners in San Jose, Chile are expected to see their families for the first time in two months.

That’s because they have been trapped, 600 metres below ground, in a mine shaft. They became stuck underground when some tunnels in the gold and copper mine they were working in collapsed.

After the accident, the Chilean government quickly drilled two small tunnels down to the miners to give them fresh air, water and food. However, they knew that it would take much longer to drill tunnels big enough to lift them out of the hard rock ground.

In the meantime, their families along with government officials and more than 1,200 reporters from around the world, built a camp aboveground to give the miners daily supplies and to communicate with them.

The miners had to co-operate to live in the small underground space. They set up daily routines for exercise, work (taking away rock debris from the tunnels) and recreation such as playing chess and cards.

It was originally thought that the miners wouldn’t be out in time for Christmas. However, the drilling has been quicker than expected. The first miners will be lifted out of the mine today.

The miners will have “new lives” when they come out. The whole world is interested in hearing the story of how they survived underground for so long. The Chilean government, and some newspapers and TV stations, will pay them a lot of money to tell their story. They will have to deal with reporters taking their pictures and asking them a lot of questions.

Their story is almost certain to be made into a movie. In fact, the miners have already started writing a book about what they have been going through. It began as a journal, in which they logged their meals and activities. It will have some interesting characters, including "the athlete," Edison, who jogs several kms a day in the tunnels, and "the electrician," Alex, who found a way to hook the miners' lamps to truck batteries to keep them charged.

The miners have also been watching videos on how to deal with reporters and avoid questions they don't want to answer. Most of the miners have already been offered plane tickets around the world to tell their story on TV shows.

The miners are expected to reach the surface around noon tomorrow.

Curriculum Connection
When we read, we are constantly working to understand what is written. One of the strategies that we use when we are reading is to determine what information is important. Use a highlighter or a pencil crayon to identify the most important pieces of information in the article.

How do you know that this information is the most important?

How do you think this strategy helps us as readers?

Primary
identify, initially with some support and direction, what strategies they found most helpful before, during, and after reading and how they can use these and other strategies to improve as readers (OME, Reading: 4.1)

Junior
identify the strategies they found most helpful before, during, and after reading and explain, in conversation with the teacher and/or peers, or in a reader’s notebook, how they can use these and other strategies to improve as readers (OME, Reading: 4.1).

Grammar Feature
Homophones are words that sound the same, but are spelled differently and have different meanings. An example of a homophone is: miner and minor. A miner is a person who works in a mine. A minor is someone who is (in Canada) less than 18 or 19 years old, depending on the province.

As a class, think of some examples of homophones and discuss their different spellings and meanings.

Extensions
In order to survive, humans need food, water, air and shelter. But, is this enough? The miners who were trapped had all of their basic needs met, but they also required exercise, daily work, communication with the outside world and recreation in order to keep their minds and bodies healthy. What do you think you need in order to survive and to be happy in your own life?

Before the mine collapsed on the 33 men, they were ordinary people who were working hard to make a living. When they come out of the mine, they will be emerging as celebrities. If you were one of the miners who was trapped, how would you react to this drastic change in your life?

Celebrities swarm Toronto



Image: TIFF website.

 TORONTO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL NOW ON

There are lots of international celebrities in Toronto right now, because the city is hosting a huge film festival, called TIFF or the “Toronto International Film Festival.”

Big stars like Natalie Portman (Queen Amidala from Star Wars), Matt Damon, Colin Firth, Hayden Christensen and Zach Galifianakis are in town for their movies’ premieres.

During the festival, three- to four-hundred new films are shown in 37 different theatres venues all over the city. The festival is a way for directors, who have new films, to “debut” them to thousands of people. More than a quarter of a million people (250,000) attend TIFF each year.

Other film festivals are held around the world - perhaps the most famous is the Cannes Film Festival, held each year in France. However, the Toronto Film Festival has taken its place as one of the most prestigious in the world.

The 2010 Toronto International Film Festival runs for 11 days, ending on September 19.

Related links
Want to keep tabs on which celebrities are in town for the festival? One of the best ways is through Toronto blogs like torontoist.

Oil spill - hope



Recovering birds are kept
warm and isolated in a
special trailer in the
"Ft. Jackson Oiled Wildlife
Facility in Louisiana. A gull
taken through the cleaning
process. Photo: BP.

 THE OIL SPILL MAY SOON BE CAPPED

For more than three months, more than 80 million litres of oil have gushed from a broken oil well in the Gulf of Mexico.

The company responsible, BP (British Petroleum), has tried many different things to stop the flow of oil, which is spewing into the gulf and threatening wildlife.

They tried capping the well, but the flow was too strong and the rig was too deep under the water. They even tried stuffing the well with golf balls, mud, fabric and human hair! That didn’t work.

Recently they tried using underwater “robot submarines” to cut into the broken pipe and cap it with a funnel. That may actually be working.

It’s a positive development, but it’s almost too late. First, 11 people died in the explosion on April 20 that originally damaged the oil well. And the massive amount of oil that leaked into the Gulf has already done immense damage to our ecosystem. The chemicals that BP used to help clean up the oil are themselves toxic – not only to the workers who have to do the cleaning up, but to the environment as the mixture of chemicals and oil washes up onto the shore.

U.S. President Barack Obama is furious. After all, even though the company that owns the oil well, BP, is British, the oil is washing up onto American soil. Now, beaches in Florida are starting to become covered in the oily, chemically gunk. Recently, President Obama sent a bill for $69-million to BP to cover the initial costs of responding to the spill.

Last week there were reports that BP may have known that the oil well had the potential to break. And BP’s reputation is forever tarnished; it’s likely that no one will ever forget that BP was the company that caused such a massive world-wide disaster.

Canada is sending aid to help in the clean-up efforts.

And at least two well-known celebrities have come forward to help fix the oil well. Celebrities can sometimes be helpful because not only do they tend to have a lot of money to donate, but they know a lot of people and can influence people to help out. Actor Kevin Costner has offered aid to help get the oil spill under control. And James Cameron, the Canadian director (who recently directed the movie Avatar), has volunteered to bring the scientists who helped him on the movie The Titanic to work on the oil spill. They have a lot of expertise in working underwater in very creative ways, and that’s the kind of thinking that’s needed on this project.

Related links
It’s good to get many different points of view on a news story.
Here’s what some of the online newspapers are reporting about the oil spill:
The Globe and Mail on Canada's response.
The Toronto Star.
The New York Times.
BP's corporate website.
Educators: Here you'll find an illustration of the underwater robots used by BP.

Boy wins right to wear kilt to graduation

TEEN FIGHTS PRINCIPAL'S DECISION - AND WINS.

Hamish Jacobs has won the right to wear a kilt to his high-school graduation.

The 19-year-old Alberta student asked his principal, earlier this month, if he could wear a kilt when he graduates.

The principal said no, because the school's policy states that male students must wear dress pants to the ceremony.

Jacobs' mother is from Scotland. Although Jacobs himself has never been to Scotland, he wanted to honour his Scottish heritage by wearing the kilt, which he intended to borrow from his uncle.

After his principal turned down his request, more than 2,200 people joined Jacobs' Facebook page in support. He was interviewed by a number of newspapers and TV stations, and many people signed an online petition.

After all of the publicity he received, his school's board of trustees overturned the principal's decision. Jacobs will now be able to wear a kilt to his graduation.

Jacobs texted his mom to tell her the good news: "Mom, we won!"

Related links:
Here's a CTV.com article ("Alberta high school student wins right to wear kilt").
An article in the Globe and Mail ("After a wee bit of publicity, kilt permitted at graduation").
The original article in the Globe when he was first turned down ("No kilt at graduation, school tells Alberta teen").

Almost-perfect game

PITCHER ALMOST GETS A RARE "PERFECT GAME"

If you've ever suffered a "bad call" in a sport, just think how Detroit Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga feels.

Last Wednesday, he pitched a "perfect game." That's a game in which the pitcher gets every one of the 27 batters out from the other team.

Perfect games are very rare. There have only been 20 of them in history, so if a pitcher gets a perfect game, it's a very big deal.

On Wednesday, Galarraga had retired 26 batters from the other team, the Cleveland Indians. The last batter hit the ball, but it was thrown to the first baseman, who touched the base first. The batter should have been out and the pitcher would have thrown a perfect game.

Right? Wrong.

Unfortunately, the umpire made a mistake. Umpire Jim Joyce thought the runner got to first base in time, and he called the runner "safe." That would mean that one person was on base - so no perfect game.

But the umpire was wrong. In the heat of the action, he thought he saw the runner get to first in time, but that wasn't what happened. Even though he realized his mistake, it was too late. In baseball, once an umpire makes a call, it stands. The runner was declared safe at first and the pitcher didn't get his "perfect game."

Galarraga was disappointed but he isn't holding it against the umpire. He understands that Joyce is a good umpire who just made a mistake. Yesterday, the two shook hands. It was an emotional moment for both of them - especially the umpire, who feels terrible about the incident.

Related links:
Here is an article from The Globe and Mail.
Here's The Star article.