December 2009 Independent Readers Guide
Looking for opportunities to help your students learn with Highlights? This monthly guide to the magazine will help you find stories and activities that suit your students' reading level.
ACTIVITIES
Fun This Month (page 2)
Find your way through a snowy maze, and get ideas of things you could do before the end of 2009.
It's Showtime! (page 10)
Gain performance confidence with these speaking and acting exercises.
Hidden Pictures® (page 14)
Find the canoe, candy cane, and other objects.
Don't Wake the Sleeping Dragon (page 21)
Sneak up on the dragon's lair to nab some treasure.
Thinking (page 28)
Ponder what's happening on this basketball court.
Crafts (page 32)
Design holiday gift bags, make a jingle-bell mobile, and create a beaded necklace.
BrainPlay (page 37)
Why do you think some foods come in cans or bottles instead of boxes or bags?
Picture Puzzler (page 43)
Find the 11 objects that look exactly the same in these two pictures.
ARTS
Snowflake Photography (page 26)
See how this photographer takes snapshots to a whole new dimension.
FICTION
The All-Year Christmas Tree (page 8)
Marcus chooses a tiny, living Christmas tree that his family can enjoy throughout the year.
Ask Arizona (page 16)
Arizona overcomes her jealousy and encourages her friend to do well in the karate competition.
Those Wacky Shoes (page 22)
This footwear has a mind of its own.
READERS' CONTRIBUTIONS
Your Ice-Cream Scoops! (page 20)
Kids share creative ice-cream flavor ideas.
Your Own Pages (page 24)
Readers see drawings and poems from their peers all over the world.
Dear Highlights (page 42)
The editors deal with readers concerns about not having a talent and a fear of dogs.
SCIENCE AND NATURE
Science Corner (page 18)
Find out why welders make steel so hot, and learn how airplanes follow "highways in the sky."
Dino Days (page 18)
"Why did T. rex have tiny arms?" Dino Don Lessem answers this question.
Science Letters (page 29)
Discover why things float.
Living with Lizards (page 34)
An author tells of his experience with skinks, a type of lizard, in Botswana, Africa.
SPORTS
Sid the Kid (page 12)
This young hockey star hasn't let success go to his head.
WHAT A PRO KNOWS
Lisbeth Rawl: Something Sweet (page 40)
This chef creates treats that people love to look at and love even more to eat.