Read aloud Maya Angelou's poem On the Pulse of Morning, which she read at President Bill Clinton's inauguration in 1993. Ask students what they can infer about the speaker of the poem and her feelings about America.

After the class has had a chance to brainstorm, share with students some biographical information about Angelou. Which events or aspects of her life are reflected in the poem? What pieces of information surprised them and why? Ask students to discuss how one's life and experiences can influence one's writing. Is there evidence of this in students' own writing?

Many of Hans Christian Andersen's stories have been adapted and abridged into animated movies. Begin the activity by asking students to write a brief summary of The Little Mermaid, The Nightingale, The Emperor's New Clothes, or another of Andersen's stories. Then read students the original story and ask them to create a Venn diagram that indicates the similarities and differences between the two versions of the tale. Have them use their diagrams to write essays that compare the two versions. Students could also be encouraged to explain which version they prefer and why. Students can also use the Fractured Fairy Tales interactive to write their own alternative versions of several well-known fairy tales.

Your students probably had some background knowledge about the Titanic even before the release of James Cameron's movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslett. A nice way to begin your study is with the Internet Workshop model. You might use the recommended Websites from this calendar entry as part of the Internet Workshop.

Some questions you might ask students to explore are:

• Could this disaster happen today?
• What could have been done to prevent the disaster at that time?
• What really sank the Titanic?
• Did anything good happen as a result of this disaster?

Invite your students to tour the National Archives exhibit When Elvis Met Nixon, where they can read the five-page letter that Presley personally delivered to the White House, the story of the famous meeting (with accompanying photos), the agenda for the meeting, and the thank-you letter Elvis wrote to the President after the visit. 

After reading these primary documents, younger students can discuss the reasons Elvis wanted to meet the President; then, they can explore what would happen if a contemporary recording artist were to meet with the President today. Referring to the agenda for Elvis's meeting, have students work collaboratively to create an agenda for a contemporary artist. Have them use the interactive ReadWriteThink Letter Generator to write a letter to the artist suggesting a meeting with the President to discuss the problem of drugs, racism, violence, or another contemporary issue. More tips are available for use with the Letter Generator. 

Older students might explore the various ironies of the meeting in a discussion of Nixon's political motivations for agreeing to the meeting and Elvis's interest in being made a "Federal Agent at Large" who would fight drug abuse and the Communist threat.

Take your students on an interactive tour of Ellis Island. Scholastic provides a tour, including audio, video, and photographic resources.

Allow students plenty of time to explore the tour and the resources provided there, supplementing the information with additional resources from the Web Links section below. Be sure to listen to the audio stories of immigrants included in most stages of the tour. Invite students to interview an immigrant in your town to collect his or her story. Students can publish the stories they collect online and read stories published by other students.

To show how children who did come through Ellis Island felt, you might share books such as The Memory Coat (Scholastic, 1999) and Dreaming of America: An Ellis Island Story (Troll Communications, 2001). Based on what they've learned through their exploration of Ellis Island online, their interview with a local immigrant, and in the available texts, have students assume the persona of someone who has just landed on Ellis Island and write a diary entry about his or her experiences. Collect the entries into a class anthology that shows students' understanding of the feelings of people coming to the U.S. for the first time.

Share some of the following proverbs taken from Poor Richard's Almanack with your students:

• There are no gains without pains.
• At the working man's house, hunger looks in but dares not enter.
• Industry pays debts while despair increases them.
• Plough deep while sluggards sleep and you shall have corn to sell and to keep.
• One today is worth two tomorrows.
• Have you something to do tomorrow? Do it today.
• Trouble springs from idleness and grievous toil from needless ease.
• The noblest question in the world is: What good may I do in it?
• Hear no ill of a friend, nor speak any of an enemy.
• Many a man thinks he is buying pleasure when he is really selling himself a slave to it.
  

Ask students to give their impressions of the person who would write these statements. Then, have students choose one saying, paraphrase it, and explain why they agree or disagree with its message. As a final activity, ask students to write their own mottos for life. These mottos can be illustrated and displayed in the classroom or made into bumper stickers or t-shirts.

Winter has long been immortalized in art, poetry, and song. For many of us, winter makes us think of frolicking on snowy days and reading by the fire on cold nights-even if we live in a warm place where it never snows! Brainstorm with your students about the words and images that come to mind when they think of winter. How do these words and images compare to their own experiences with winter weather? Have students select and read a picture book about winter. How do the words and images in the book compare to the list they brainstormed and to their own experiences? Students can use the interactive Venn Diagram to make the comparison.

As students read, ask them to look for examples of winter activities that the characters do with their families or friends. Were there any winter traditions on the list students brainstormed? Challenge your students to celebrate what winter means to them by starting their own tradition on the first day of winter. Students can use the interactive Postcard Creator to write to family and friends, inviting them to participate in the new tradition.

Looking at the rules of a game allows for a perfect opportunity for students to practice their expository reading and writing skills.

Print out copies of Naismith's original 13 rules for basketball. Put students into groups (since some students know a lot about basketball and some very little) and ask them to read the original rules and to identify-with different colored highlighters-the rules that are still in effect today and the rules that have been changed or eliminated. Then, ask students to write one rule that has been added to the original list and another rule that has been changed dramatically from the original source. Have students present these new and modified rules to the class.

Working individually, students should brainstorm a list of sports and games that they know well. Have students select one from their list and write ten rules for playing that sport or game. Remind students that their audience is people who have never played or heard of that sport or game before. In addition to the ten rules, students should also identify the equipment and time needed to play. Afterward, students should read each other's lists to be sure that all necessary rules are included.

Use one of Dickinson's most famous poems, "This Is My Letter To The World", for a classroom activity on how audience affects voice.

Discuss the poem with your students, focusing on the idea that the speaker was writing to a "world" that did not care about him or her and that he or she wanted to be treated gently. Ask students to imagine themselves stranded on a desert island for 10 years. Have them use the ReadWriteThink Letter Generator to write two letters to send off the island in two separate bottles. One letter should be addressed and written to someone they know and care about. The second letter should be addressed and written to the world at large (i.e., no one person in particular). See the Letter Generator page for more information about this tool.

After this exercise, students should consider how much of their writing depended on the audience. Have them examine word choice, subject, and tone in each letter.

Disney movies provide an easy exercise for examining gender representations and cultural stereotypes in film and media.

Begin by asking your class to list all the Disney films that they have seen. Then, have students make lists of the female characters from these films. Divide the class into small groups, and assign two or three of these characters to each group. Then, ask them to describe their assigned characters. For this description, they should consider:

• What are their physical attributes?
  
  
• How do they relate to the male characters in the movie?
  
  
• What do they seem to want out of life?
  
  
• Do they seem realistic?

After the groups discuss their characters, generate a class list of characteristics. Using this list, have students write a thesis statement that begins, "The female characters in Disney films are generally ...." You may want your students to continue writing this piece as a paragraph or as a full essay.