The BulleTin • Monday, april 12, 2021 A9
© 2021 by Vicki
icki Whiting, Editor Je
Jeff f Schinkel, Graphics Vol.
ol. 37, No. 19
Grab a ruler and draw a square
with each side 30 cm or one
foot long.
Measure your desk or tabletop.
How many 30 square centimeters
can you fit onto this?
orldwide, people are trying to
figure out how to make and
use less plastic, but wouldn’t it be
great if we could get rid of the
plastic trash that is already here?
How many worms would you
need to eat all of the plastic bags
that would fit on your desk
or tabletop?
A Discovery in Spain
A Spanish biologist, Frederica Bertocchini, was ___________ bees. When she cleaned out her
beehives, she made a remarkable discovery.
Uh oh! Hungry waxworms have chewed
through some of the words in this article.
Can you replace the missing words?
She found waxworms in the _________. That
wasn’t unusual because waxworms, which are the
larvae of wax moths, like to eat the ___________
and the wax. This can destroy a beehive
but might be good for the _________.
Find the
bee that’s
different!
Width of one page of the
newspaper:
When Bertocchini took out the
waxworms from the beehives, she
put them into a plastic _______. Later,
when she checked the bag, she ___________
the worms had eaten __________ in it.
How many
waxworms can you
find on this page?
Get a ruler and start measuring
parts of the newspaper in inches
and centimeters.
inches
centimeters
The height of the largest photo
in the newspaper:
Could these _______ plastic-eating worms
help scientists _______ the world’s growing
plastic waste crisis?
inches
centimeters
Worms that eat plastic?
Hungry Little Helpers
Plastic pollution is a big problem. Scientists
believe there are more than 5 TRILLION pieces
of plastic in the Earth’s oceans
alone.
Scientists have been feeding caterpillars called waxworms the kind of
plastics used in shopping bags. They discovered that just 60 little worms
can eat more than 30 square centimeters (1 square foot) in a week.
Scientists think that large numbers of these hungry worms could be put to
work to eat plastic waste.
How much is 5 trillion?
One research study
estimated that the 5.25
trillion pieces of plastic
floating in our oceans would
be enough to stretch to the
moon and back twice.
Help this waxworm find the plastic bag.
In just days, they could
eat what would otherwise
take hundreds of years to
decompose (rot), helping
solve Earth’s big plastic
pollution problem.
How much does all this plastic weigh? Circle
every other letter to discover the shocking answer!
PLASTIC
BOTTLE
GLASS
JAR
APPLE
CORE
LEAVES
PIZZA
BOX
Recycling Bin
ALUMINUM
CAN
NEWSPAPER
Landfill Bin
Compost Bin
The width of your favorite
comic strip:
The length of an ad in the
newspaper:
Headline
Mix Up
Unfortunately, when wax
worms eat plastic, their
poop becomes toxic or
poisonous. Scientists are
working hard to solve this
problem. If you grow up to become a scientist,
maybe you could solve it!
SORTING IT ALL OUT: Draw a line from each item to the correct bin where it belongs.
centimeters
centimeters
There is a lot of interest
in using lots of worms
to eat the tons and tons
of plastic waste in the
world. But there is one
problem slowing this
down. Worm poop!
ETBHCILRVTWYJESINGQHNTRT
FHGOAUTSZABNPDLACFGRHIL
CLADNLEVLWECPAHUAINVTAS
inches
inches
One Problem
THE COMBINED WEIGHT OF PLASTIC
WASTE IN THE OCEAN IS GREATER
THAN THAT OF:
The length of the longest
headline on the front page:
WAXWORMS
BEEHIVES
TRILLION
PLASTIC
PROBLEM
CLEANED
TRASH
TOXIC
SOLVE
EARTH
HOLES
TWICE
ROT
EAT
BAG
Cut out 10 words
from different
headlines
throughout the
newspaper. Create
a story using one
clipped word per
sentence. Share
your story with
someone.
Standards Link: Research:
Use the newspaper to
locate information.
inches
centimeters
Standards Link: Math: Use the newspaper
to practice measuring skills.
Children are born curious.
From their earliest days, sensory exploration
brings delight and wonder. New discoveries
expand their minds. When they unlock the
joy of reading, their world widens further.
Magic happens.
Kid Scoop opens the doors of discovery
for elementary school children by providing
interactive, engaging and relevant
age-appropriate materials designed to
awaken the magic of reading at school,
at home, and throughout their lives.
For more information about our literacy
non-profit, visit kidscoopnews.org
B I C L E A N E D W
S E V I H E E B A T
P V G P X A L X E R
R L A S T O W T A I
O O A G R O T I R L
B S A S R C P R T L
L B O M T R A S H I
E B S T W I C E L O
M S E L O H C E M N
Standards Link: Letter sequencing. Recognize identical
words. Skim and scan reading. Recall spelling patterns.
This week’s word:
TOXIC
The adjective toxic means
poisonous or harmful.
Plastic becomes toxic
waste in the ocean.
Try to use the word toxic in a
sentence today when talking
with your friends and family
members.
Science Solves Problems
Look through the newspaper for an article
about a problem. Are there any scientists
working to solve this problem? What
kind of scientists?
ANSWER: ComPOST-IT notes.
Standards Link: Research: Use the newspaper to locate information.
Have you ever sweet talked
someone into helping you
with a chore or simply doing
it for you? Write about it!