Exploring With The Times

Elementary activities

The mood of the times
Using the stories in the St. Petersburg Times for a month, create a graph or chart depicting the mood of the Tampa Bay area. First, you will need to create a color key depicting emotional states from ecstatic to mournful and excited to enraged. Next, collect articles from the Times. Jot down the mood for each article and note in your journal. Then calculate the average mood for each day and depict it on your graph or chart. At the end of the month, your project will be ready to share with your class. Create your own visual representation of the Public Mood Ring. You can send a low resolution jpeg or PDF of your image and essay to jpushkin@sptimes.com for display on the NIE Lights on Tampa Web page.

Water, water everywhere
Florida is a peninsula. A peninsula is a large mass of land projecting into a body of water. Our state is nearly surrounded by water as is the entire world. Look through the St. Petersburg Times to find as many words as you can that are related to water. Make a list of the words and categorize them into nouns, pronouns, adjectives or adverbs.

Creating art
Doyle uses light to create movement in installation. Look for words in the St. Petersburg Times that represent a type of movement. Create your own art work incorporating these words with images. Write a short paragraph describing your artwork. Share your artwork and description with your class.

Living together
Inhabitants (people, animals, plants) living in an ecosystem interact and depend on each other, and other factors to survive. With your class, discuss the definition of an ecosystem. Look in the St. Petersburg Times for pictures and articles, which represent the ecosystem in which you live. Create a collage with the articles and pictures you find. Write a creative story discussing the parameters of your ecosystem: Who lives in your ecosystem/community? How do all these inhabitants of the animal kingdom (including humans) depend on each other? What types of interactions occur?

Form and structure
The structure of the Fort Brooke building combines with the images, colors and textures presented create a unique presentation for Casa Magica. Now it is your turn to be creative. Look for a building or structure in the St. Petersburg Times. You can look for a photo, cartoon or image in an advertisement. Clip or print the image and then re-create its structure on a piece of paper. Now decide on a theme for your art based on the structure you have found. Create a three-dimensional piece of art using the image you found as your base. Create a short essay discussing your thought process for your creation. Share your artwork and essay with your class. Send a low resolution jpeg or PDF of your image and essay to jpushkin@sptimes.com for display on the NIE Lights on Tampa Web page. You can see other students’ submissions by logging on to www.tampabay.com/nie/lights.

Analyzing images
Art is an important component of newspapers. Photographs, cartoons and click art often are used to catch someone’s eye. Look for images in the St. Petersburg Times. Using the information you now know about light and color, analyze the image you have selected. Is there a good use of light and color? Are the images effective? Write down your ideas in your journal, and share your thoughts with your class.

Secondary activities

Protecting Tampa Bay
Throughout history, people have played a significant role in their surrounding environments. Look in the St. Petersburg Times for an article about a person who has made an impact on Florida. Print or clip the article. Summarize the main points of the article. Research this person on the Internet. Write a short essay about the impact the person has made and the results of the person’s impact. Be sure to include whether this person has affected society in a positive or negative way.

Creating art (secondary activity)
What does the word “ecstatic” mean”? How does this word pertain to Doyle’s images? Create your own drawing to reflect your own interpretation of Doyle’s art. Look in the St. Petersburg Times for images and words that represent what the word “ecstatic” means to you. Print or clip these images and create your own art work. Write a fully developed paragraph explaining your art work. Share your artwork and description with your class.

Mutating an ecosystem
According to Dictionary.com, an ecosystem is a structure formed by the interaction of a community of organisms and their environment. An ecosystem is a living community of plants and animals that need each other to exist. The ecosystem created in Slurb is a result of decades of people having disregard for the environment. The ecosystem is disturbing. On a piece of paper, write down all of the images presented in this artwork. It is important to understand the consequences of using limited natural resources. Look in the St. Petersburg Times for examples of things you and your family need to exist. Next to each item, write down why you need this item to exist in your community. What would happen if these items were no longer available? Write a creative short story or poem about the how a change in the ecosystem would change your life. Share your story or poem with your class. You also can share your poem or story with other students in the Tampa Bay area by sending it to jpushkin@sptimes.com for publication on the Lights on Tampa NIE Web page. You can see other students’ submissions by logging on to www.tampabay.com/nie/lights.