Current Event: America Goes Trump

In a shocking result, voters in the United States elected Republican businessman Donald Trump to be the nation’s next president. Trump upended Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton, who had been widely expected to win the election. Polls had given Clinton a 90 percent chance of winning the presidency, but Trump claimed narrow victories in each of the so-called swing states (states that do not vote predictably Democratic or Republican) en route to a slim electoral victory. With 270 electoral votes needed to win, Trump claimed at least 289. In small consolation to Clinton, she appeared to win the popular vote after running up large margins on the West Coast. It would be the first time since 2000 that a candidate captured the Electoral College while losing the national popular vote. In that election, Republican George W. Bush edged out Democrat Al Gore.

Vice president-elect Mike Pence, right, watches as President-elect Donald Trump speaks during an election night rally, Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2016, in New York. Credit: © Evan Vucci, AP Photo

Objective:

The president of the United States is often considered the most powerful elected official in the world. The Constitution of the United States gives the president enormous power. However, it also limits that power. The authors of the Constitution wanted a strong leader as president, but they did not want an all-powerful king. As a result, they divided the powers of the United States government among three branches—executive, legislative, and judicial. The president, who is often called the chief executive, heads the executive branch. The president has many roles and performs many duties. As chief executive, the president makes sure that federal laws are enforced. As commander in chief of the nation’s armed forces, the president is responsible for national defense. As foreign policy director, the president determines United States relations with other nations. As legislative leader, the president recommends laws and works to win their passage. As head of a political party, the president helps mold the party’s positions on national and foreign issues. As popular leader, the president tries to inspire the people of the United States to work together to meet the nation’s goals. Finally, as chief of state, the president performs a variety of ceremonial duties. The Behind the Headlines news story and related World Book articles explore all of the presidents in U.S. history.

Words to know:

• Democratic Party
• Donald Trump
• Election
• Electoral College
• Government of the United States
• Hillary Rodham Clinton
• President of the United States
• Republican Party

Discussion Topics:

1. Ask your students to name some famous U.S. presidents. (Students might say George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Andrew Jackson, Thomas Jefferson, John F. Kennedy, Abraham Lincoln, Barack Obama, Ronald Reagan, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt, George Washington, Woodrow Wilson.)

2. Ask your students, “If you were to choose the greatest political leader from your country, who would you choose and why?”

3. Ask your students if they would want to be the political leader of their country. What would be some of the benefits and drawbacks of being the head of their country?

4. Ask your students to use World Book’s Timelines feature to make a timeline on Donald Trump’s life. (Students may wish to use World Book’s “Donald Trump” article for help.)

Current Event: Mount Rushmore Turns 75

October 31, 2016, was the 75^th anniversary of the completion of the Mount Rushmore National Memorial. Carved on a granite cliff in the Black Hills of South Dakota, the giant-sized presidential faces on Mount Rushmore have symbolized American creativity and history, as well as the nation’s variety of natural beauty, since the memorial opened in 1941. Mount Rushmore National Memorial shows the faces of four American presidents: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln. The heads are 60 feet (18 meters) high. The height of the heads is to the scale of a human being 465 feet (142 meters) tall. American sculptor Gutzon Borglum designed the memorial and supervised most of its work. Work on the memorial began in 1927 and continued, with interruptions, for over 14 years. Borglum died in 1941, before the memorial was completed, and his son Lincoln finished the work. The memorial is part of the National Park System. More than 2 million people visit Mount Rushmore every year.

Mount Rushmore Credit: © Shutterstock

Objective:

The National Park System consists of hundreds of areas in the United States that have been set aside for the benefit and enjoyment of the people. These areas, called parklands, are natural wonderlands, famous historic places, or sites for many kinds of outdoor recreation. They include national parks, monuments, battlefields, lakeshores, rivers, and historic buildings. The United States government established the first national park in the world, Yellowstone National Park, in 1872. The National Park System developed with the creation of additional parklands. Today, the District of Columbia and every state except Delaware have at least one national parkland, and the system consists of about 400 areas and totals more than 84 million acres (34 million hectares). The Behind the Headlines news story and related World Book articles explore Mount Rushmore and other national park system areas.

Words to know:

• Abraham Lincoln
• Black Hills
• George Washington
• Gutzon Borglum
• Mount Rushmore National Memorial
• National Park System
• South Dakota
• Theodore Roosevelt
• Thomas Jefferson

Discussion Topics:

1. Mount Rushmore National Memorial was completed in 1941. Ask your students to name some people who were alive in 1941 and are still alive today. (Students might name Hank Aaron, Kofi Annan, Pope Benedict XVI, Warren Buffett, George H.W. Bush, Jimmy Carter, Fidel Castro, Elizabeth II, Pope Francis, Morgan Freeman, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, John Glenn, Jane Goodall, Billy Graham, Willie Mays, Toni Morrison, Jack Nicklaus, Sandra Day O’Connor, Colin Powell, Bernie Sanders, Desmond Tutu, Betty White.)

2. Ask your students to name some famous national parks around the world. (Students might say Banff National Park, Death Valley National Park, Denali National Park, Grand Canyon National Park, Galapagos National Park, Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Iguaçu National Park, Jasper National Park, Kilimanjaro National Park, Komodo National Park, Kruger National Park, Serengeti National Park, Yellowstone National Park, Yosemite National Park.)

3. Ask your students, “If you were to choose the four greatest people from your country, who would you choose and why?”

4. Ask your students to use World Book’s Timelines feature to make a timeline showing the history of the National Park System. (Students may wish to use World Book’s “National Park System” article and the articles of individual park system areas for help.)

Current Event: The Wonderful World Series

On October 25, the 2016 World Series began when the Cleveland Indians defeated the Chicago Cubs 6-0 in game one. The Cubs and Indians have the two longest World Series droughts in baseball. A drought is a long period of dry weather, and when applied to baseball, it means a team hasn’t won a championship in a very long time. The Cubs haven’t won a World Series since 1908 and the Indians haven’t won it since 1948. Because somebody has to win, one team will end its title drought and elate generations of frustrated fans. To get to the World Series, the Cubs defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers 4 games to 2 in the National League Championship Series. The Indians won the pennant when they defeated the Toronto Blue Jays 4 games to 1 in the American League Championship Series.

The venerable lions guarding the Art Institute of Chicago received their first Cubs hats on Oct. 24, 2016, the day before the Cubs first World Series appearance since 1945.  Credit: Art Institute of Chicago

Objective:

The World Series is a series of games that determines the annual champion of Major League Baseball (MLB). It is played between the champions of MLB’s two leagues, the American League and the National League. The series is held each autumn following the completion of the regular season, and is the last in a sequence of four playoff rounds involving five teams from each of the two major leagues. The World Series is one of the world’s most popular sports events. It has been played every year starting in 1903, except for 1904 and 1994. In 1904, the owner of the National League champion New York Giants refused to play what he considered an inferior team, the American League champion Boston Americans. In 1994, the World Series was canceled because of a players’ strike. The Behind the Headlines news story and related World Book articles explore, the World Series, baseball’s 30 teams, and some of its best players.

Words to know:

• American League
• Baseball
• Chicago
• Chicago Cubs
• Cleveland
• Cleveland Indians
• National League
• World Series

Discussion Topics:

1. In Chicago, there is a joke about Halley’s Comet coming twice (1910 and 1986) since the last time the Cubs won the World Series (1908). Ask your students to name other historical events that have happened since the last time the Cubs won the World Series in 1908. (Students might say World War I [1914-1918], the Great Depression [1930’s], World War II [1939-1945], the development of the Internet [1960’s], the moon landing [1969], the Soviet Union collapse [1991], September 11 terrorist attacks [2001].) Ask your students what they think is the most important event since 1908.

2. Ask your students to name some famous baseball players. (Students might say Hank Aaron, Ernie Banks, Yogi Berra, Barry Bonds, Roberto Clemente, Ty Cobb, Joe DiMaggio, Bob Feller, Lou Gehrig, Bob Gibson, Bryce Harper, Reggie Jackson, Derek Jeter, Walter Johnson, Clayton Kershaw, Sandy Koufax, Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, Stan Musial, Albert Pujols, Cal Ripken, Jr., Pete Rose, Jackie Robinson, Alex Rodriguez, Babe Ruth, Mike Trout, Ted Williams, and Cy Young.)

3. Ask your students what their favorite sport is and why.

4. Ask your students to use World Book’s Timelines feature to view or add to the History of Baseball timeline. (Students may wish to use the World Book’s “Baseball” article for help.)

Current Event: Rosetta and the Comet

On September 30, the space probe Rosetta crash-landed on the comet it had been orbiting, marking the end of an ambitious mission that paid–and should continue to pay–huge dividends for astronomy. The European Space Agency (ESA) launched Rosetta on March 2, 2004. Rosetta orbited comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko from August 2014 to September 2016. By gathering data on a comet, Rosetta helped scientists learn more about the solar system’s composition and history. Rosetta also carried a small craft named Philae to land on the surface of the comet’s nucleus (core). In 2014, when the lander Philae touched down on 67P, its landing harpoons failed to trigger. The craft bounced high into space and came down on its side in a sunless area of the comet’s nucleus. Scientists worked feverishly to conduct experiments and gather data for 57 hours before the lander’s solar-powered batteries died. Despite Philae’s loss, Rosetta continued orbiting the comet, taking photographs and collecting data. Rosetta was a fabulously successful mission. It became the first spacecraft to orbit a comet, and it released the first probe to land on (rather than crash into) a comet. It returned invaluable data about the evolution of comets as they approach the sun and the history of the early solar system.

This artist’s impression shows the European Space Agency (ESA) lander Philae on the surface of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Philae was released from the ESA probe Rosetta to gather detailed information about the comet’s structure and makeup. Credit: DLR German Aerospace Center

Objective:

A comet is a bright heavenly body that often has a cloudy tail of light. A comet’s nucleus (center) is a ball of ice and rocky dust particles. As a comet nears the inner solar system, heat from the sun vaporizes some of the ice on the surface of the nucleus. The comet spews gas and dust particles into space. This gas and dust forms the comet’s coma. Radiation from the sun pushes dust particles away from the coma. These particles form a tail called the dust tail. Because comet tails are pushed by solar radiation and the solar wind, they always point away from the sun. Most of the comets that can be seen from Earth travel around the sun in long, oval orbits. We can see comets because the gas and dust in their comas and tails reflect sunlight. Also, the gases release energy absorbed from the sun, causing them to glow. The best-known comet is Halley’s Comet, which appears in the sky about every 76 years. The Behind the Headlines news story and related World Book articles explore comets and other astronomical topics.

Words to know:

• Astronomy
• Comet
• European Space Agency (ESA)
• Halley’s Comet
• Rosetta
• Solar system
• Space exploration

Discussion Topics:

1. Some comets, including Halley’s Comet, orbit the sun. Ask your students if they know any other types of celestial bodies that orbit the sun. (They might say the eight planets; five recognized dwarf planets, including Pluto; occasional meteors; asteroids.)

2. Rosetta was named for the Rosetta stone, an inscribed rock that enabled scholars to interpret ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs. Ask your students if they can name other ancient civilizations. (They might say Assyrians, Babylonians, Celts, Chinese, Greeks, Israelites, Persians, Phoenicians, Romans.)

3. Private companies have begun launching people into space. Ask your students if they would want to visit another planet or any other celestial body. Assuming they could safely travel anywhere in space, where would they go? Would they go if they knew they could never return to Earth?

4. Ask your students to use World Book’s Timelines feature to view or add to the Advances in Space Exploration timeline. (Students may wish to use the World Book’s “Space exploration” article for help.)

Current Event: Nobel Peace Prize

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos won the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize. The Nobel Committee cited Santos’s “resolute efforts to bring the country’s more than 50-year-long civil war to an end, a war that has cost the lives of at least 220,000 Colombians and displaced close to six million people.” Since 1964, Colombia’s government had been engaged in a conflict with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), a left-wing guerrilla group with Communist ideals. Santos initiated negotiations between the government and the FARC that yielded a historic peace agreement. However, Colombians narrowly rejected the agreement in a plebiscite (public vote) held on Oct. 2, 2016. Santos dedicated the Nobel Prize to all Colombians who have suffered from the civil war, and he donated the monetary prize of 8 million Swedish kronor (about $925,000) to the war’s many victims.

Nobel Prize medal (Credit: Nobel Foundation)

Objective:

The Nobel Prizes are awarded each year to people who have made valuable contributions to the “good of humanity.” Alfred Nobel, the Swedish chemist and industrialist who invented dynamite, established the Nobel Prizes. Nobel wanted the profits from explosives to be used to reward human ingenuity. The prizes, first established in 1901, remain the most honored prizes in the world. They are given for the most important discoveries or inventions in the fields of physics, chemistry, and physiology or medicine; the most distinguished literary work of an idealistic nature; and the most effective work in the interest of international peace. A sixth prize–the Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel–was first awarded in 1969. Prizewinners receive their awards on December 10, the anniversary of the death of Alfred Nobel. The peace prize is awarded in Oslo, Norway. The other prizes are presented in Stockholm, Sweden. The Behind the Headlines news story and related World Book articles explore the Nobel Prizes.

Words to know:

• Alfred Nobel
• Colombia
• Communism
• Nobel Prizes

Discussion Topics:

1. Ask your students to name some well-known Nobel Prize winners. (Students might say Winston Churchill; Marie Curie; Albert Einstein; Alexander Fleming; Ernest Hemingway; Martin Luther King, Jr.; Nelson Mandela; Barack Obama; Theodore Roosevelt; Mother Teresa; Desmond Tutu.)

2. Among the people who never won a Nobel Prize are Cesar Chavez, Mohandas Gandhi, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Raoul Wallenberg. Have your students research these people (or someone else they choose) and debate which person most deserved to win a Nobel Prize.

3. Alfred Nobel was the inventor of dynamite. In 1888, a French newspaper accidentally published his obituary (his brother was the one actually who died) and referred to Alfred as “The merchant of death … who became rich by finding ways to kill more people faster than ever before. ….” Some people believe that Nobel was so horrified at what he read that he established the Nobel Prizes to rescue his legacy. Ask your students to debate, “It is important for people to leave behind a good legacy.”

4. Ask your students, “If you had a choice of either winning a Nobel Prize or a 10 million dollar lottery, which would you choose, and why?”

5. Ask your students to use World Book’s Timelines feature to view or add to the Nobel Peace Prizes: 1951 to Present timeline.

Current Event: The Deep Deep Dragon Hole

Chinese scientists recently learned that a fabled ocean depth known as the Dragon Hole, a huge underwater chasm located in the South China Sea, is the deepest such natural feature in the world. For most of the past year, researchers made risky dives and used sonar scanners and underwater robots and cameras to explore the hole’s murky depths. They eventually found the Dragon Hole to be 987 feet (300 meters) deep. This makes it the deepest blue hole, a kind of vertical underwater cave, in the world’s oceans. A blue hole is a type of sinkhole, a bowl-shaped depression in Earth’s surface that forms where the ground sinks, collapses, or washes into underground openings. Blue holes get their name from their distinctive deep blue color, a sharp contrast to surrounding, shallower, aquamarine waters. Blue holes can be dangerous for divers to explore because below about 300 feet (100 meters), there is virtually no oxygen and little light. The steep walls of a blue hole extend into the dark depths, and it is often difficult to determine how far down the bottom lies.

Aerial view of the experts and staff exploring the Dragon Hole on July 24, 2016 in China. Also known as the Sansha Yongle Blue Hole, it is the world’s deepest such underwater feature. Credit: © Luo Yunfei, VCG/Getty Images

Objective:

China is a large country in eastern Asia. It is the world’s largest country in population with over 1 1/3 billion people—about 20 percent of all the people in the world. China is one of the largest countries in the world in area. Agriculture has always been the chief economic activity in China. Most of the people live in rural villages, and over half of all workers are farmers. However, China has some of the world’s largest cities. Shanghai is China’s largest city and one of the world’s largest as well. Beijing, the country’s capital, is the second largest city. About 100 Chinese cities each have more than a million people. China is one of the world’s oldest countries, with a rich history that stretches over thousands of years. The country’s written history goes back about 3,500 years. The Chinese were the first to develop the compass, paper, and porcelain. They undertook huge construction projects, such as the Great Wall. The Behind the Headlines news story and related World Book articles explore China and other countries.

Words to know:

• China
• China Sea
• Sinkhole
• Sonar

Discussion Topics:

1. Ask your students what they know about Asia. (Students might say that Asia is the largest continent in both size and population; most of Russia, the world’s largest country, is in Asia; China and India, the world’s two most populous countries, are in Asia; the world’s highest (Mount Everest) and lowest (Dead Sea shore) places are in Asia; the world’s major religions began in Asia—Buddhism, Christianity, Confucianism, Hinduism, Islam, and Judaism.)

2. Including China, eight Asian countries have a population of at least 100 million. See how many of the other seven countries your students can name. (Students should say Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Japan, Pakistan, Philippines, Russia.)

3. Ask your students to use World Book’s Timeline feature to view or add to the History of China timeline. (Students may wish to use World Book’s “China” article for help.)

Current Event: Mapping the Milky Way

The European Space Agency (ESA) recently released a wealth of data gathered by the space probe Gaia that promises to revolutionize the study of our galaxy in the next several years. The probe pinned down the precise position and brightness of over a billion stars. Until now, astronomers had to guess what the Milky Way looks like by observing other galaxies with similar traits. Launched in 2013 by the ESA, Gaia traveled to a point behind Earth and began measuring the positions of over a billion stars as it orbited the sun. Gaia measures stellar distances using a technique called parallax. It first images a star against a background of other stars. Halfway around the sun, it takes another picture of the same star. Because the two pictures are taken many millions of miles apart, the star’s position changes slightly in relation to its background. And because scientists know how far away the two star pictures were taken, and how much the star appeared to move, they can calculate its distance from Earth. Gaia’s first map shows a two-dimensional plot of star density in the Milky Way. As Gaia orbits the sun, it will gather information on more and more points of light. It will then be able to refine its data to better define star positions. Astronomers are confident that future data from Gaia will allow them to create extremely accurate, three-dimensional maps of the galaxy.

Artist’s impression of Gaia mapping the stars of the Milky Way. Credit: ESA/ATG medialab/ESO/S. Brunier

Objective:

The Milky Way is the galaxy that contains the sun, Earth, and other objects in our solar system. It also includes hundreds of billions of stars besides the sun. Huge clouds of gas and dust lie throughout the galaxy, and they constantly form new stars. The Milky Way is so massive that about 10 smaller galaxies orbit it like satellites revolving around a planet. The name Milky Way also refers to the part of the galaxy that can be seen with the unaided eye. On clear, dark nights, this portion of the galaxy appears as a broad, milky-looking band of starlight stretching across the sky. When observed through an entire year, this band appears to circle completely around us in the sky. Dark gaps in the band consist of clouds of gas and dust that block out light from the stars behind them. The Behind the Headlines news story and related World Book articles explore the Milky Way and other astronomical topics.

Words to know:

• Astronomy
• European Space Agency (ESA)
• Galaxy
• Milky Way
• Orbit
• Parallax
• Planet
• Satellite
• Solar system
• Space exploration
• Star
• Sun

Discussion Topics:

1. The Milky Way is our home galaxy. Ask your students to name some objects in our solar system. (Students might say the sun, other stars, the moon, any of the eight planets [Earth, Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, Neptune, Saturn, Uranus, Venus], dwarf planets such as Pluto, asteroids, comets, or meteors.)

2. Ask your students to debate: “Is it worth it for countries to spend a lot of money on space exploration programs? Why or why not?”

3. Ask your students to use World Book’s Timelines feature to view or add to the Advances in Space Exploration timeline. (Students may wish to use World Book’s “Space exploration” article for help.)

Current Event: A Giraffe by Any Other Name

Scientists recently discovered that instead of just one species of giraffe, there may be four. After studying skin biopsies from 190 giraffes from all around Africa, a group of scientists have suggested that giraffe species are as different from one another as polar bears are from grizzly bears. Each individual giraffe has its own distinct coat pattern. According to the scientists, these patterns are the easiest way to tell the species apart. The scientists believe rivers and other physical barriers may have separated giraffe populations long enough for the distinct species to develop. Two of the newly identified species are critically endangered. One such species, the northern giraffe, has a total population of fewer than 5,000 individuals. Many of these giraffes live in unstable areas in central Africa. Other African mammals such as the elephant, lion, and rhinoceros have been studied extensively, but the giraffe has been largely overlooked. More than 2 million giraffes lived in Africa just 150 years ago. They have rapidly declined since then, however, particularly over the last 15 to 30 years. They now number only about 90,000 individuals.

A giraffe in Kenya at sunset. Credit: © Shutterstock

Objective:

Giraffes are the tallest of all animals. Male giraffes may grow more than 18 feet (5.5 meters) tall—5 feet (1.5 meters) taller than the African elephant, the second tallest animal. The giraffe gets its great height from its legs, which are 6 feet (1.8 meters) long, and a neck that may be even longer. But even though giraffes tower over other animals, most adult males weigh only about 2,600 pounds (1,200 kilograms). A male African elephant may weigh more than five times as much. Giraffes live in Africa south of the Sahara in open woodlands. They feed on the leaves, twigs, and fruit of trees and bushes. A giraffe, like a cow, chews a cud, which is food that has entered the stomach but is returned to the mouth for a second chewing. Lions are the only animals that attack adult giraffes. A lion may kill a giraffe if it catches the victim lying down or if it springs onto the giraffe’s back from ambush. Giraffes defend themselves by kicking with their feet. Their kicks are sometimes powerful enough to kill a lion. Young giraffes may be killed by lions, leopards, cheetahs, hyenas, and crocodiles. The Behind the Headlines news story and related World Book articles explore giraffes and other animals.

Words to know:

• Africa
• Elephant
• Giraffe
• Lion
• Mammal
• Sahara
• Wildlife conservation

Discussion Topics:

1. Ask your students to name other animals native to Africa besides giraffes. (Students might say cheetahs, chimpanzees, elephants, gorillas, hippopotamuses, lions, ostriches, rhinoceroses, and zebras.)

2. In 46 B.C., Julius Caesar brought to Rome the first giraffe ever seen in Europe. Name some people who were alive at the time and could have visited Caesar’s giraffe. (Students might name Mark Antony, Augustus, Marcus Brutus, Cleopatra, Herod the Great, Horace, Livy, Virgil.)

3. Giraffes are popular animals at many zoos. Ask your students to debate “Animals should not be kept in captivity.”

Current Event: Saving California’s Island Fox

Once teetering on the brink of extinction, the rare island fox of California’s Channel Islands has made the quickest recovery yet for a North American mammal in the history of the Endangered Species Act. In 2000, only 55 island foxes lived on Santa Cruz Island, and another 15 of the animals lived on the chain’s two northern islands. In 2004, the island fox was formally listed as endangered and was given a 50 percent chance of becoming extinct within a decade. An intense recovery program, however, achieved the difficult feat of recovering the species. The conservation efforts restored the Channel Islands’ fox population to more than 4,100, and the animal was removed from endangered species protection in August 2016. Island foxes live on only six of the eight Channel Islands off the southern California coast. The only carnivore unique to California, island foxes feed on beetles, crickets, earwigs, mice, and the occasional crab. They also eat the fruits of cactus, manzanita, saltbush, and other plants.

Island fox surrounded by vegetation. Credit: National Park Service/U.S. Fish & Wildlife Services

Objective:

Foxes are doglike animals with a bushy tail and a sharp snout. Foxes belong to the same family of animals as coyotes, dogs, jackals, and wolves. True foxes include the Arctic fox, the gray fox, and the red fox. Foxes and foxlike animals live throughout the world, except in Antarctica and Southeast Asia and on some islands. Most foxes are about the same size. Gray foxes and red foxes, the most common kinds in the United States and Canada, grow from 23 to 27 inches (58 to 69 centimeters) long. The tail measures an additional 14 to 16 inches (36 to 41 centimeters). Most of these animals weigh from 8 to 11 pounds (3.6 to 5 kilograms). Foxes eat almost any animal they can catch easily, especially mice and other kinds of rodents. They also hunt birds, frogs, insects, lizards, and rabbits. In addition, foxes eat many kinds of fruit and the remains of dead animals. Foxes hunt mostly at night and remain active the year around. The Behind the Headlines news story and related World Book articles explore foxes and other animals.

Words to know:

• California
• Channel Islands National Park
• Endangered species
• Extinction
• Fox
• Wildlife conversation

Discussion Topics:

1. Ask your students to name some endangered animals. (Students might name American crocodiles, Asiatic lions, blue whales, California condors, cheetahs, giant pandas, orangutans, rhinoceroses, sea turtles, tigers.)

2. Ask your students what they know about California. (Students might say that it is the most populous state in the United States; Los Angeles is its largest city and Sacramento is its capital; it is the home of Hollywood and Disneyland; the San Andreas Fault and most of Death Valley are also in the state; a gold rush took place in the state in the late 1840’s.)

3. Ask your students to debate “Scientists should clone animals that are endangered.”

4. Ask your students to use World Book’s Timelines feature to view or add to the Animal Extinctions Since 1600 timeline.

Current Event: The Maya Snake Dynasty

Archaeologists recently discovered a large Mayan tomb that was decorated with stone panels that told the story of the rise and fall of powerful kings known as the “Snake Dynasty.” The 1,300-year-old tomb was discovered at Xunantunich, an important Maya ceremonial and administrative city on the Mopan River in what is now Belize. Inside the tomb, archaeologists found the skeleton of a male, probably between 25 and 30 years of age. Grave goods around the skeleton indicated that the person buried was of high social status. But the most interesting artifacts in the tomb were a pair of stone panels engraved with Maya hieroglyphics. Scholars believe the panels were ordered by K’an II, the king of Caracol known as the Snake Lord, to commemorate his military victory over Naranjo, just west of Xunantunich, around A.D. 642. The panels describe how the defeated lord of Naranjo participated in a ceremonial ball game before being sacrificed to the gods. The panels go on to record details of a tumultuous period for the conquering family—the Snake Dynasty—marked by deaths, fights over royal succession, and marriages of alliance with royals from nearby cities. By about A.D. 680, the people of Naranjo had rebelled against and defeated the Snake Dynasty of Caracol. Xunantunich and the surrounding cities went into a sudden decline about A.D. 900, marking the end of the Classic Period of Maya civilization. Eventually, the cities were abandoned and overgrown with forest.

Ruins of an ancient Maya temple stand at Palenque in the state of Chiapas. The temple was built about A.D. 650, during a period when great indigenous (native) civilizations thrived in Mexico. (© Ales Liska, Shutterstock)

Objective:

The Maya were an American Indian people who developed a magnificent civilization in Central America and south Mexico. The Maya produced remarkable architecture, painting, pottery, and sculpture. They made great advancements in astronomy and mathematics and developed an accurate yearly calendar. They were one of the first peoples in the Western Hemisphere to develop an advanced form of writing. The Maya lived in an area of about 120,000 square miles (311,000 square kilometers). Today, their territory is divided among Mexico and several Central American countries. The Maya civilization was at its peak from about A.D. 250 to 900. During that time, known as the Classic Period, it was centered in the tropical rain forest of the lowlands of what is now northern Guatemala. By about 900, most of the Maya abandoned the Guatemalan lowlands and moved to areas to the north and south. In the early 1500′s, Spanish conquerors invaded the Maya territories. By the mid-1500′s, they had overcome almost all the Maya. The Behind the Headlines news story and related World Book articles explore the Maya and other ancient civilizations.

Words to know:

• American Indian
• Archaeology
• Belize
• Central America
• Guatemala
• Hieroglyphics
• Maya
• Mexico

Discussion Topics:

1. The Maya lived in Mexico and Central America. Ask your students to name the countries of Central America. (The seven Central American countries are Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama.)

2. The Maya developed one of the most important American Indian cultures in Latin America. Ask your students if they can name other important American Indian cultures in Latin America. (They might say Aztec, Inca, Toltec.) Ask your students if they can name other ancient civilizations. (They might say Assyria, Babylon, Egypt, Greece, Persia, Rome.)

3. Archaeology is the scientific study of the remains of past human cultures. Have your students debate the topic, “It is important to learn about people from the past.”

4. Ask your students to use World Book’s Timelines feature to view or add to the History of the Maya timeline. (Students may wish to use World Book’s Maya article for help.)