Sally Ride rode into history in 1983 when she became the first woman to journey into space on the U.S. space shuttle. President Barack Obama called her “a national hero and a powerful role model” who “inspired generations of young girls to reach for the stars.” Ride died last week after battling cancer. She was born in 1951 in southern California and earned degrees in physics and English at Stanford University. After seeing an ad for America’s NASA space agency in the school’s news- paper, she applied to become an astronaut. She was one of 35 chosen. Ride flew two space missions, and later started a foundation to help girls become interested in science. Search your eEdition for science stories that interest you. Talk about them with your family and discuss what kind of science you would like to pursue if you became a scientist.

Ride, Sally Ride

What Did You Say?

Teen Olympics

Raising Jordyn

Venezuela

Because the eEdition is the electronic version of the newspaper, it can be used to learn how to pronounce new words. Using your mouse, drag the cursor across a word to highlight it. On your computer, use the Edit drop-down menu and choose Speech and then Start Speaking. To hear an entire sentence, paragraph or story, highlight it before choosing the Speech option. Choose an article in the eEdition that interests you. Find a word that you don’t know how to pronounce. Using the steps above, listen to the word. Practice saying the word. Next, read the entire sentence and then the paragraph. Based on what you read, write down what you think the word means. Finally, look up the word in the dictionary or on www.dictionary.com.

As a toddler, Jordyn Wieber used to stand on one leg on the dressing table when her parents put her clothes on. Now, the Michigan teenager stands on one foot on a narrow beam of wood in front of millions of television viewers. Jordyn’s mother said they noticed her balance ability at a very young age, and sent her to gymnastics lessons. When Jordyn turned 10, she pushed her parents to let her become

involved in elite gymnastics. “We did notice that Jordyn had kind of an unusual intensity,” her mother Rita told Yahoo! News. “She just put so much pressure on herself.” Jordyn expects great things from herself and is hoping to score a gold medal at this year’s Summer Olympics in London, England. The 16-year-old joins four other teens — Gabby Douglas, Kyla Ross, McKayla Maroney and Aly Raisman — on the U.S. gymnastics team. Search your eEdition for a story about one of the Olympic gymnasts. Write a short biography and draw of picture of that person.

Have you ever wished you could go to the Olympics to compete? It’s never too early to get started. Many of the athletes on the U.S. Olympic team began training in their sport when they were 5 or 6 years old. And many of them are still teen- agers. The entire U.S. gymnastics team is made up of teens. Three of the U.S. swimmers are 17 and younger; a table tennis team is made up of 16-year-olds; and two of the boxers are still in their teens. Find stories about teen Olympians in your eEdition this week. Create a chart to show how they do in the medal count.

On August 1, 1498, Italian explorer Christopher Columbus landed on the mainland of South America in what is now the country of Venezuela. It was his third voyage to the “New World” in his search for a route to the Asian nation of China. Thinking Venezuela was an island, Columbus named it Isla Santa. When he explored Venezuela’s Orinoco River, however, he realized he had stumbled on another continent. With family or friends, search your eEdition for an article about Venezuela. Or find one online. Research the country and its heritage and write a paragraph describing something you would like to see if you visited Venezuela.

Common Core/National Standard: Engaging effectively in a range of collaborative discussions.

Common Core/National Standards: Selecting appropriate strategies to construct meaning while reading, listening to, viewing or creating texts; using prescribed technology tools for data collection and analysis.collection and analysis.

Common Core/National Standards: Summarizing and describing distributions; using charts, graphs and tables to display information.

Common Core/National Standard: Producing clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization and style are appropriate to the task, purpose and audience.

Common Core/National Standard: Producing clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization and style are appropriate to the task, purpose and audience.

When you buy something, your eyes play a huge role. At least that’s what several large companies believe. Market researchers at the companies are launching “virtual” shopping experiences for consumers taking part in market tests. They are using computer screens outfitted with a retina-tracking camera when testing product packaging. Accord-ing to a Wall Street Journal article, the goal is to find which packaging designs get noticed in the first 10 seconds a shopper looks at a shelf. Researchers said tracking how people look at packaging is more reliable than asking consumers in surveys. Find an eEdition or online article about using technology to market products. Brainstorm a research project for a particular type of item, such as shampoo, and see which packages your friends find appealing. Write a summary of your findings.

The Eyes Have It

Seek and Find

Going Down in Flames

The Gun Control Debate

The Mom Behind the Athlete

The ease of finding names, words and phrases in eEdition articles is one of the many advantages of reading the newspaper electronically. Simply use your computer’s Edit drop-down menu and choose Find. Next, type in the word, name or phrase you’re looking for. You’ll be able to see if and how many times it appears in the article. Your computer will also highlight each place it appears in the story. Find a local story in the eEdition that you know something about, such as a story about your school, community or neighborhood. Follow the steps above to find a word, name or phrase. Write an instruction sheet giving step-by-step directions for finding a subject or person in an eEdition article. Next, write a paragraph about the advantages of using the eEdition to research a report for school.

Should Americans have the right to carry guns? The U.S. Constitution and the U.S. Supreme Court say yes, but many people say no. A great debate rages in the United States about private gun ownership in the wake of shootings like that at the “Batman” movie in Colorado. In that event, 12 people were killed and 58 were wounded when a man stormed into the movie theater and began shooting people randomly. Accord-

ing to a Yahoo! News article, politicians running for office this year find they are being asked to address the gun issue. Former Connecticut Secretary of State Susan Bysiewicz, who is running for U.S. Senate in the state, said “I absolutely think we need tougher gun control laws in our country. We’ve seen that states that have tough gun control laws have fewer deaths.” Conservative Republican candidates are say-ing it’s important to get all the facts before politiciz-ing a tragedy. Both groups agree that background checks need to be more thorough. Find an eEdition article about gun control. Discuss how the issue should be handled with your family or friends.

“The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat” was the tagline of the television show “Wide World of Sports.” For some, the agony of defeat has happened on the world’s biggest stage — the Summer Olympic games. One of the unluckiest of athletes was Mary Decker, a 3,000-meter runner for the United States, who was expected to win the gold medal in the event. She was on pace to win in 1984, but was tripped by another runner, fell and injured her hip. Follow the Olympic track and field events in your eEdition this week. Write an essay about what those not winning might be feeling.

What is it like to raise an Olympian? What advice do you give them? Just ask Ondina Lopez. Three of her children competed in taekwondo in the Beijing Summer Olympics in 2008, and two of them are competing in the Summer Games in the European city of London this month. Ondina taught her children to confront fears of competition the way you would confront a snake. She is deathly afraid of snakes, but had to be strong when she encountered one in their garage. Find an eEdition or Internet article about an Olympian’s mother or family. Write down examples of advice the family gave the Olympian. Create an inspiring poster from what you found.

Common Core/National Standards: Summarizing and describing distributions; producing clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization and style are appropriate to the task, purpose and audience.

Common Core/National Standards: Understanding and using the operations and functions of technology systems to become proficient in the use of technology; writing and following procedures in the form of step-by-step instructions.

Common Core/National Standard: Producing clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization and style are appropriate to the task, purpose and audience.

Common Core/National Standards: Producing clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization and style are appro-priate to the task, purpose and audience; using drawings or visual displays to enhance the development of main ideas or points.

Common Core/National Standard: Engaging effectively in a range of collaborative discussions.

Prosecutors are looking at the possibility of asking for the death penalty in the “Batman” movie massacre in Aurora, Colorado. James Holmes allegedly entered the theater’s emergency exit dressed in body armor and armed with an assault rifle, a shotgun and a handgun, according to an Associated Press article. He turned on the people and began shooting them randomly. Twelve people died in the attack and 58 were wounded. Police captured and arrested Holmes shortly after the assault, but law enforcement officials say he is refusing to cooperate. He appeared in court last week and sat silently as the charges were read to him by the judge. In your eEdition or online, find a story about what kinds of penalties are options in the case. With family or friends, discuss or debate whether the death penalty should be considered.

‘Batman’ Tragedy

Participle Search

Tunnels to America

History in the Making

Amazing Moms

The present participle of verbs is a versatile part of speech. It can be used to show an ongoing action, as in “he is working.” It can also be used as an adjective, as in “I need a working cell phone. The “ing” form of verbs can also be used as a noun, as a gerund: “Work-ing is a good way to earn money.” Use the search features of the eEdition to find participles and gerunds in news and feature stories today or over several days. Be sure to leave a space after the “ing ” to ensure you only find words with those letters at the end. Create a chart to tally which of the words you find are used as verbs, which as adjectives and which as gerund nouns. From the words you find, write one complete sentence each using participles as verbs and as adjectives. Then write a complete sentence using a gerund you found.

Wodjan Ali Seraj Abdulrahim and Sarah Attar are making history this week. They are the first Saudi Arabian women ever to compete in the Summer Olympic games. Members of the International Olympic Committee pressured the Middle Eastern country to allow women to compete in this year’s games, and if it didn’t, the committee threatened to bar the country from participating. Saudi officials

announced on July 12 that the two women would be competing. Finding women to compete was a difficult task for the country, as it has banned women and girls from playing sports. Physical education classes are allowed only in private schools, and women are not allowed to play in official sports clubs or even watch matches in stadiums. Search your eEdition for articles about women from Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern countries competing in the Olympics. Write a paragraph describing what the experience might be like for the Middle Eastern women.

Law enforcement officials and the Mexican Army discovered two drug-smuggling tunnels outfitted with lighting and ventilation systems along the U.S.-Mexico border this month. According to an Associated Press story, it is the latest sign that “cartels are building sophis-ticated passages to escape heightened surveillance on land.” Both tunnels were at least 150 yards long. Officials said the tunnels had sophistication beyond what has been done in the past and would require engineering expertise. Find an eEdition article on drug smuggling. Or find one online. With your family, discuss ways the United States can stop illegal drugs from coming into our country.

Just because you like to goof around doesn’t mean you can’t be successful. Just ask Ryan Lochte. The Olympic swimmer said in a Yahoo! Sports article that he “made an effort to get kicked out of swim practice every day” growing up. Even so, he regularly beat kids four years older than he was in swimming meets. Ironically, his mom was his first swim-ming coach. She knew that in order for Ryan to love swimming and be successful at it, she would have to bite her tongue and not push him. Find an eEdition or online article about a mother helping her kids. Write about one mom’s admirable traits.

Common Core/National Standard: Engaging effectively in a range of collaborative discussions.

Common Core/National Standards: Using technology tools to enhance learning; understanding the operations of technology systems; identifying parts of speech, including common and proper nouns and prepositional phrases.

Common Core/National Standard: Engaging effectively in a range of collaborative discussions.

Common Core/National Standard: Producing clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization and style are appropriate to the task, purpose and audience.

Common Core/National Standard: Producing clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization and style are appropriate to the task, purpose and audience.