Reading collection
Gratitude Reading Passages
Explore this topic through Gratitude Reading Passages.
Open collectionDecember 7 reading ideas
Finding reading ideas for this date…
Finding reading ideas for this date…
Use December 7 to write for an audience, compare NASA’s 1972 Blue Marble photograph with a fictional Moon view, and explore International Civil Aviation Day through flight reading and a paper model.
Special date
Letter Writing Day is an informal December 7 observance. Compare a persuasive letter, a thank-you note and a simple card-making procedure.
9 reading resources
Explore this topic through Gratitude Reading Passages.
Open collectionExplore this topic through Communication Skills Reading Passages.
Open collectionExplore this topic through A Thank-You Letter for Aunt Sarah.
Read passageExplore this topic through Ink and Impact: How Letters Stand Up for Human Rights.
Read passageIdentify the audience, reasons and requested action in an example conservation letter.
Read passageRead a sample thank-you note and identify its greeting, specific thanks and closing.
Read passageUse a holiday-card procedure to plan and sequence a short written message.
Read passageExplain how ZIP codes help letters reach their destinations.
Read passageOn this date in history · 1972
Apollo 17 astronauts photographed the Blue Marble on December 7, 1972. Compare NASA’s real photograph of Earth with an explicitly fictional Moon-base story, noticing the difference between visual evidence and an imagined experience.
5 reading resources
Use Explore the Solar System: Planets for Kids! as related background or for comparison.
Open collectionCompare NASA’s real 1972 Earth photograph with a fictional character’s view from a Moon base; distinguish observed details from an imagined setting.
Read passageBuild a wider cosmic perspective alongside the real Blue Marble photograph; this passage is background reading about the universe.
Read passageExplore Earth’s place in the solar system as background for viewing the real 1972 Blue Marble photograph.
Read passageAlready shown above: A Letter From Luna.
Special date
International Civil Aviation Day falls on December 7. Pair an explanation of jet propulsion with a paper-airplane procedure, distinguishing a model-making activity from the systems that power a passenger aircraft.
7 reading resources
Explore this topic through Transportation Reading Passages.
Open collectionExplore this topic through How Airplanes Fly.
Read passageExplore this topic through The Wright Brothers: Taking Flight.
Read passageExplore this topic through Soaring into the Unknown: What the Comet Taught Aviation Engineers.
Read passageTrace how air moves through a jet engine and explain how the engine produces thrust.
Read passageRead and sequence the folding steps, then test a paper model; its flight distance is something to observe, not a guaranteed result.
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.
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Read the thank-you note and the conservation letter. Identify the audience and the purpose of each writer, then use the holiday-card procedure to plan a message of your own.
Compare NASA’s Blue Marble photograph with Journey to Moon Base Artemis. The photograph is a real Apollo 17 image from 1972; the Moon-base setting and characters are fiction. Discuss what each helps a reader notice about Earth.
For International Civil Aviation Day, follow a paper-airplane procedure and sequence its steps. Pair the model activity with the jet-engine explanation; a folded model does not have the engine described in the information text.
