Middle School
biography
Marie Curie: A Pioneer of Science
Explore this topic through Marie Curie: A Pioneer of Science.
Read passageDecember 10 reading ideas
Finding reading ideas for this date…
Finding reading ideas for this date…
December 10 is the date of the Nobel Prize award ceremonies, and Ada Lovelace was born on this day in 1815. Read about Nobel laureates Dennis Gabor and W. B. Yeats, then explore what Lovelace proposed in notes about Babbage’s Analytical Engine. Mississippi’s statehood anniversary offers a separate geography connection through a fictional visit to Jackson.
Special date
December 10 is the date of the Nobel Prize award ceremonies.
9 reading resources
Explore this topic through Marie Curie: A Pioneer of Science.
Read passageExplore this topic through The Brilliant Life of C.V. Raman.
Read passageExplore this topic through Wangari Maathai: A Life Rooted in Green.
Read passageExplore how Dennis Gabor’s work on recording light waves led to the idea of holography.
Read passageRead how W. B. Yeats drew on place and imagination in a literary career recognized with the Nobel Prize.
Read passageExplore Maria Goeppert-Mayer’s work on atomic structure and connect her scientific contributions with Nobel recognition.
Read passageDiscover how Santiago Ramón y Cajal used observation and drawing to study the nervous system.
Read passageTrace how Tu Youyou combined a historical clue with experimental research in the discovery of artemisinin, then connect this work with her Nobel recognition.
Read passageTrace the Toronto team’s insulin research, distinguish the January 11 and January 23 treatments, and connect the discovery with Nobel recognition.
Read passageSpecial date
Ada Lovelace was born on December 10, 1815. Read about her published notes on the Analytical Engine and the potential she saw for machines to work with symbols and music.
6 reading resources
Use Inventions Reading Passages as related background or for comparison.
Open collectionUse Scientist Biography Reading Passages as related background or for comparison.
Open collectionUse Charles Babbage: The Visionary Father of Computing as related background or for comparison.
Read passageRead a biography of Lovelace and explain what her 1843 notes proposed for a programmable machine.
Read passageRead Ada Lovelace and the Vision of Computing as a companion to this topic.
Read passageRead Five Inspiring Women Who Changed the World as a companion to this topic.
Read passageOn this date in history · 1817
Mississippi became the twentieth U.S. state on December 10, 1817. Use a fictional visit to present-day Jackson and its State Capitol as a place-based reading connection; the story does not describe the 1817 admission.
5 reading resources
Explore this topic through The Hidden Gem of the Gulf: Why the Mississippi Shoreline Deserves Recognition.
Read passageExplore this topic through The King of the Blues: B.B. King and the Mississippi Delta.
Read passageSequence a fictional family’s visit to Mississippi’s capital and State Capitol; locate the setting and distinguish the modern story from the 1817 statehood event.
Read passageRead about Mississippi’s crops as a present-day geography connection to its statehood anniversary.
Read passageMore reading for this time of year, alongside today’s special dates.
6 reading resources
Christmas reading for the December 1–25 teaching window, alongside the day’s own date-specific topics.
Explore themeChristmas reading for the December 1–25 teaching window, alongside the day’s own date-specific topics.
Open collectionChristmas reading for the December 1–25 teaching window, alongside the day’s own date-specific topics.
Open collectionChristmas reading for the December 1–25 teaching window, alongside the day’s own date-specific topics.
Open collectionChristmas reading for the December 1–25 teaching window, alongside the day’s own date-specific topics.
Open collectionChristmas reading for the December 1–25 teaching window, alongside the day’s own date-specific topics.
Open collectionYour topic. Your level.
Have another idea for today’s lesson? Let Pico create an AI-assisted passage with questions and an illustration. Choose the topic and reading level in the creator.
December 10 is the date of the Nobel Prize award ceremonies, and Ada Lovelace was born on this day in 1815. Read Dennis Gabor’s biography and trace how work with light waves led to holography. Then compare it with W. B. Yeats’s biography, which describes his 1923 Nobel Prize.
Compare it with Ada Lovelace’s biography. Focus on what her 1843 notes proposed for Babbage’s Analytical Engine, rather than reducing the history of computing to a single inventor. Students can explain how each text shows a person developing or communicating an idea.
Mississippi joined the United States on December 10, 1817. Read A Day in Jackson for a modern, fictional visit to the state capital and State Capitol. Locate Jackson and sequence the outing; use the historical date as a separate context, rather than treating the story as an account of statehood.
Explore Ada Lovelace and the Vision of Computing, Five Inspiring Women Who Changed the World, Mississippi. Choose a text or collection that fits your readers and the day’s topic.
