TIME for Kids G4 Student Reader

IM Not So Bad Wired World

Researchers who study kids and the These are the countries with
Internet say instant messaging isn’t the most Internet users.
getting in the way of real life. They
note that new technology often 200
makes people worry. “It’s similar
to what was said in the 1980s about Number of Users 150
video games and in the 1960s about (in millions)
television,” says Nalini Kotamraju. 100
She’s coauthor of a study on young
people’s use of IM, e-mail, cell 50
phones, and other technology.
“There was this worry that kids 0 India
would do nothing else.”
United China Japan Germany
Even parents and teachers who States
dislike IM have to admit that at
least kids are writing. And their Country
typing skills are improving. Is it
at the expense of proper English? Source: Computer Industry Almanac, Inc.
Not if kids learn the difference
between formal and conversational Get the Message!
English, says Naomi Baron. She’s a
professor at American University in Here are some IM abbreviations.
Washington, D.C. bfn: bye for now
g2g: got to go
“Language has always changed, jc: just chilling
and it always will,” Baron says. “It l8r: later
must change as the things we do and lol: laughing out loud
the things we encounter change.” n2m: not too much
What a relief! G2G. L8R. sry: sorry
ur: your
wass^: what’s up?
wuz: was

Issue 12 • 99

Telephone
Talk

By X. J. Kennedy

Back flat on the carpet,
Cushion under my head,
Sock feet on the wallpaper,
Munching raisin bread,

Making easy whispers
Balance on high wire,
Trading jokes and laughing,
The two of us conspire,

Closer than when walking
Down the street together,
Closer than two sparrows
Hiding from wet weather.

How would my shrill whistle
Sound to you, I wonder?
Give a blow in your phone,
My phone makes it thunder.

Through the night, invisibly
Jumping over space,
Back and forth between us
All our secrets race.

100

(c) Richard Borge; (tr) The Granger Collection, New York Constitution
Day

Listening In

Should the government monitor e-mails
and phone calls to protect Americans?

Why we now celebrate NARA

Constitution Day each year ↑ The U.S. Constitution celebrated
its bicentennial in 1987.
By Martha Pickerill

On September 17, 1787, 39 men put

their names on one of history’s most
important documents: the Constitution
of the United States of America. They
had spent nearly four months in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, finding
the best way to organize the U.S.
government. Finally, they signed the
document that is the master plan
for how our government works.

Thanks to the Constitution,
we have a federal system of
government that unites the
states while sharing power with
them. All powers not given to the
federal government are given to
the states. This balance of power
makes our nation great!

George Washington and other
colonial leaders met to write
the U.S. Constitution. →

The Granger Collection, New York

102 • Time For Kids

State Your Constitution Charles Hess/National
Constitution Center
The Constitution allows states to have
their own constitutions. Having several
constitutions is not unusual because
different states have different needs.
In Florida, for example, these needs
include answers to health-care and
environmental problems caused by fast
population growth. State constitutions give
states a way to meet their needs.

A Reason to Celebrate ↑ Kids sign a Constitution at
the National Constitution
In 2005, President George W. Bush signed
a law that made September 17 Constitution Center in Philadelphia.
Day. The law says that publicly funded schools
must have programs about the U.S. Constitution
on this day.

Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia wrote the
law. He is an expert on the Constitution. “Some events
define and shape history,” Senator Byrd said. “On
September 17, 1787, just such an event occurred.”

Who Has Here is a table of how the Constitution divides
the Power? some powers between the two levels of
government. There are powers that are for one
level only and powers that are shared by both.

Power Is It a National Is It a State
Government Power? Government Power?
Print money
Declare war Yes No
Give out licenses Yes No
Create public schools No Yes
Collect taxes No Yes
Build roads Yes Yes
Make laws Yes
Yes Yes

Yes Issue 13 • 103

A top spy agency is listening and looking for
clues in phone calls and e-mail messages.

By Kathryn R. Satterfield

Imagine that your older brother has

been reading your IMs and listening to
your phone calls for months. Now
he knows about everything, from
your secret hiding spots to the time
you blamed the dog for breaking
your mom’s vase. How would you
feel? You would feel angry, probably.

That’s how many people felt when a
newspaper reported that the National
Security Agency (NSA) had been
listening in on some Americans
without legal permission. The NSA
had been listening to overseas
phone calls and reading e-mails
of certain people in the United
States since 2001.

Americans were troubled
by the news. Everyone dislikes
people snooping in their lives.
Isn’t that against the law in a free
country like ours? Usually, it is.

Dean MacAdam

104 • Time For Kids

Americans Spying on Americans

It is unlawful to listen to people’s phone calls or read their
e-mails without getting permission. But after the attacks
on the country in 2001, President George W. Bush went
around the law. He allowed the NSA to snoop on anyone
whom they thought would harm the United States.

In the past it was not so simple for an American to be
spied on. First, government lawyers had to see a judge.
The lawyers had to prove that they had good reason to
believe that the person was working against the United
States. The judge could then give them permission.
However, some people argued that these steps take too
long in today’s world. They said smart, timely spying
helped save lives.

Issue 13 • 105

Is Snooping Breaking the Law? Dean MacAdam

Those who think spying is a mistake say the current law
must be obeyed. They say our laws already give the
President the power he needs to protect Americans.
When asked, most Americans said the government
should get permission first. “They’re trying to do it
without using the courts,” says Robert Ray of Kentucky.
“I just don’t trust them.”

The White House, however, believed that Congress
gave the President the power to spy without
permission. This idea is based on what Congress
had said earlier, on September 14, 2001, three
days after the September 11 attacks. It said
that Bush, as Commander in Chief, could
use “all necessary” force against people
responsible for the attacks. “There is
no doubt in my mind that it is legal,”
Bush said.

The Supreme Court decides on whether laws Brooks Kraft/Corbis
passed by Congress are constitutional. ↓

106 • Time For Kids

A Question of Power The seat of Texas’s state
government in Austin.↓
The writers of the Constitution wanted to create
a strong national government. They also wanted
to make sure that one person or group did not
have too much power. That’s why they separated
the government’s powers triangularly. The three
branches of government are: the Executive Branch,
Legislative Branch, and Judicial Branch. This makes
a system of “checks and balances.” Each branch has
certain powers to “check” the other branches and
make sure that power is balanced among them. This
helps keep our nation unified.

Those who believe this new kind of spying is Kelly-Mooney Photography/Corbis
wrong say it is unconstitutional. They say it upsets
the balance of power spelled out in the Constitution.
It gives the Executive Branch—the President’s
office—too much power. Some say this spying is just
plain illegal. “The issue here is whether the President
of the United States put himself above the law, and
I believe he did so,” said Democratic Senator Russ
Feingold of Wisconsin.

Strong Branches

The table below shows how the branches of the federal government
compare with those set up by the Texas Constitution.

Federal LEGISLATIVE EXECUTIVE JUDICIAL

Congress members write The President signs bills The Supreme Court is the
bills and then vote to into law. He also can veto, highest court in the country.
make them laws. or turn down, bills. Its members decide if laws
agree with the Constitution.
Texas Working in either the The governor enforces
Senate or House of state laws. The Supreme Court of Texas is
Representatives, Texas the highest court in the state.
legislators make state laws. Its nine judges decide if state
laws agree with the Texas
Constitution.

Issue 13 • 107

Who ever thought that a kid’s cell phone could be a parent’s
best friend? That’s the case with a feature on some cell phones.
Now moms and dads can use Global Positioning System (GPS)
technology to find out exactly where their kids are. Actually, the
system tells them where their kids’ cell phones are. This diagram
shows how it works.

1

Parent sends message
to phone company
asking for location.

2 Phone company

Phone company 4 sends cell phone
contacts GPS device
in cell phone. location to parent.

GPS gets information
from satellites and sends

3 location information to

phone company.

Dean MacAdam

108

(c) OSF/Hill,M./Animals Animals/Earth Scenes; (tr) Courtesy Kayla Carpenter Saving
Salmon

Clouded in

Mystery

Scientists are learning more
about the clouded leopards
found in Southeast Asia and
on the islands of Borneo
and Sumatra.

Distant Cousins?

Leopards once thought to be related ASIA
turn out to be from completely
different families. AFRICA Pacific
Ocean
C louded leopards are medium-size wildcats
that live on mainland Southeast Asia and Borneo
the islands of Borneo and Sumatra. Their
name comes from the cloudlike spots that Equator
help conceal them in the jungle. Because they
live alone and like to hide from people, we Indian
know very little about clouded leopards. Now, Ocean
though, we know more.
INDONESIA

AUSTRALIA

For more than 100 years, scientists believed that the clouded
leopards found in Southeast Asia and on Borneo and Sumatra were
the same species. But researchers compared their genes. They found
that the two big cats belong to entirely different species.

This clouded leopard lives on the The mainland clouded leopard is a
islands of Sumatra and Borneo. ↓ separate species from its island cousin. ↓

WWF/Canon/Alain Compost Peter Weimann/Animals Animals - Earth Scenes

110 • Time For Kids

Wayne Lawler/CorbisHome Jungle Home

The forests of Sumatra and Borneo ↑The countries
are home to many unique animals on the island of
and plants. In one recent year, Borneo have
52 new species were discovered in agreed to protect
the tropical rain forest at the center the clouded
of Borneo. To protect these animals leopard’s habitat.
and plants, the governments of the
three countries on Borneo agreed Issue 14 • 111
to protect the habitat. This
agreement will help the clouded
leopard survive.

Why a Meat-Eater
Needs Plants

Clouded leopards don’t eat plants,
but without the plants in their
rain forest habitat, they could not
survive. Every animal is part of
a food web that includes other
animals as well as plants. All parts
of the food web are important, but
without plants, it would quickly
fall apart.

It starts with energy from the
sun. Plants use the sun’s energy to grow. Squirrels,
monkeys, deer, and wild pigs are plant-eaters. They get
energy when they eat fruit, berries, grass, leaves, and
roots. Then the clouded leopard and other predators eat
these plant eaters. The energy passes on to the predators.
This flow of energy is what keeps a food web going. The
forest’s trees are important to clouded leopards
in another way. These leopards are the best climbers in
the cat family. Up in a tree the clouded leopard waits.
When its prey comes by below, the leopard pounces, and
dinner is served!

Salmon Run

Teenagers take action to ↑ Kayla and Erika
save part of their heritage.
Making a Difference
When they were 14, Kayla Carpenter
“As Indian people and as
and Erika Chase saw 64,000 salmon young people, our future
die. The fish died in the Klamath River in depends on the defense
California. Kayla and Erika knew the river of our natural resources.
well. Friends since fourth grade, they had We can all make a
grown up fishing there. Kayla and Erika difference. All it takes
are Yurok and Hupa Indians. Salmon is the spirit to act.”
have sustained their communities for —Kayla Carpenter and
thousands of years.
Erika Chase
Kayla and Erika describe the way their
community felt about the death of the Courtesy Kayla Carpenter
salmon this way: “Young and old cried in
sadness and despair. We fear that with a
few more years like this, our generation
will see wild salmon become extinct in
our rivers.”

Water for Farming or Fish?

For more than 40 years, upstream dams
have slowed water flow in the Klamath
River. Dams make it possible to split up
the river water. Much of the water goes
to strawberry and cotton fields in the
desert. Only a small amount is left for
fish. It’s not nearly enough.

112 • Time For Kids

Wide World Photo/Wide World Photo/AP Images

↑ Dams like this one on the Klamath River threaten the salmon.

The Salmons’ Journey

When they are ready to spawn, Joe LeMonnier
salmon swim up river to lay their
eggs. The next generation then
returns to the ocean. Here is one
possible migration route.

Issue 14 • 113

The First Salmon Run Relay Courtesy Kayla Carpenter

In 2003, a year after the salmon died, Kayla and
Erika organized the Salmon Run Relay. They
wanted to educate and unite their communities,
encourage local political involvement, and inspire
exercise and healthier eating.

Volunteer runners carried a wooden fish 41 miles.
The wooden fish symbolized salmon that swim in
the river. The salmon come up the river to lay eggs.
When the eggs hatch, the young fish swim to the
ocean. The runners started at the mouth of the
Klamath River and followed the route of the wild
salmon. “The runners took on the salmon’s struggle
to call the world’s attention,” Erika says. It worked.
The Salmon Run Relay is now an annual event.

The Award

In 2005, Kayla and Erika received the Earth Island
Institute’s Brower Youth Award. This is the highest
environmental award for young people in the
United States. — Susan Moger

↑ The Salmon Run Relay

114 • Time For Kids

The Hupa, Yurok,Catherine Karnow/Corbis
and Karuk Indians

These northern California Indians have lived
along the Klamath and Trinity Rivers for
thousands of years. Salmon have always been
important in their cultures. Salmon were caught
in the spring and fall as they returned to the
rivers to spawn. Ceremonies were held to
conserve this natural bounty.

The Yurok, Hupa, and Karuk traditions are
alive and well. The Salmon Run Relay includes
a salmon ceremony based on the ancient rituals
of these Northern California Indians.

Life Cycle of Salmon

Eggs

Spawner Alevin

Adult Fry

Smolts

Parr

Mike Maydal

Issue 14 • 115

Top 5

Ten places in the United States are designated as National
Seashores by the federal government. These beautiful and
fragile coastal areas will be protected and preserved for future
generations. In all, almost 480,000 acres are protected under
this program. Here are the five largest National Seashores.

Name Location Size Visitors/
1. Gulf Islands National Seashore 137,458 acres Year
The Gulf of Mexico, off the coasts
of Mississippi and Florida 4,900,000

2. Padre Island National Seashore The Gulf of Mexico, 130,434 acres 800,000

southeast of Corpus Christi, Texas

3. Cape Cod National Seashore The Atlantic Ocean, 43,604 acres 5,000,000
off Cape Cod, Massachusetts

4. Assateague Island National Seashore The Atlantic Ocean, along the 39,727 acres 2,000,000
Maryland/Virginia border

5. Canaveral National Seashore The Atlantic Ocean, 37,662 acres 1,000,000
near Titusville, Florida

Bill Heinsohn/Alamy

116

(c) Robert Fried; (tr) J. Scott Applewhite/Wide World Photo/AP Images Honoring
a Legacy

Stone Face

A giant monument to a Native
American chief is taking shape.

Hail
to a

Chief

The world’s biggest
statue is being carved
out of mountain rock.

By Bill Doyle

(tl) Nik Wheeler/Corbis; (tr) Siede Preis/Getty Images

↑ When finished, the monument will be 641 feet long
by 563 feet high. A model of it is pictured above.

For more than 50 years, an In 1939 the Sioux chief Standing
Bear asked Korczak Ziolkowski
amazing statue has been taking to design a huge statue. Together
shape in the rocky Black Hills of they chose a site on Thunderhead
South Dakota. It is a memorial to Mountain. This is within ten miles
Chief Crazy Horse, and it stands of Mount Rushmore, where the
as a symbol for Native Americans faces of four U.S. Presidents are
everywhere. When it is finished, it carved into rock.
will be by far the largest sculpture
in the world. Crazy Horse did not allow
people to take pictures of him, but
Crazy Horse was a Native Native Americans who had known
American chief who fought bravely him described what he looked like
for the rights and freedoms of his to Ziolkowski. Then Ziolkowski
people. After Crazy Horse died in painted a giant outline of the
1877, Native Americans searched leader riding his horse, with Crazy
for a way to honor their hero. Horse’s arm pointing across the
lands he loved.
118 • Time For Kids

The mountain was ready to be made over.
Ziolkowski began to blast away the rock with
explosives. Sadly, the artist died suddenly
in 1982, but his family and others
continue to carve his dream. During the
summer 13 people work full-time on the
carving. If the weather isn’t too icy in
winter, carving takes place then, too.

One Humongous Horse!

How big will the statue be? All four Bettmann/Corbis

faces of the Presidents on nearby Mount

Rushmore could fit inside Crazy Horse’s

head, which is 87.5 feet high. One nostril of

the big horse will be wide and deep enough ↑ Chief Crazy Horse is a hero
to hold a five-room house! to Native Americans.

The statue may not be finished until the Photodisc/Getty Images

year 2040 or beyond. But the awesome site already

attracts visitors. Talk about a big attraction!

Top Chiefs

History is full of great Native American leaders.
These are some from the past and present.

1804 1831 1923

Osceola, Seminole Sitting Bull, Betty Mae Jumper,
war chief, born Lakota chief, born Seminole tribal
chairperson, born

1800 1850 1900 1950

1829 1933 1943

Geronimo, Apache Ben Nighthorse Campbell, Billy Cypress,
chief, born U.S. Congressman of Miccosukee tribal
Cheyenne heritage, born chairperson, born

Issue 15 • 119

Celebrating American
Indian Heritage

November is National Katherine Fogden/National
American Indian and Alaska Museum of the American Indian
Native Heritage Month.

By Jill Egan

During the month of November,
Americans celebrate National American
Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month.
We take this month to think about
the culture and history of American
Indians (who are also known as Native
Americans) and Alaskan Natives.

Honoring Heritage ↑ The National Museum of the
American Indian looks like a
The celebration of American Indian rock formation. It is a symbol of
heritage started in 1916. At that time American Indian culture.
Americans celebrated for only one day.
Each year in May, the nation would Chuck Place/Alamy
observe American Indian Day. In 1990
President George H. W. Bush signed
the first proclamation that declared
November National American Indian
Heritage Month.

In 2004 the federal government ↑ In November we celebrate and honor
focused more attention on Native American Indian history and culture.
Americans when it opened the National
Museum of the American Indian in
Washington, D.C. This Smithsonian
museum honors the history, arts,
and lives of Native Americans.

120 • Time For Kids

American Indian and J. Scott Applewhite/
Alaska Native History Wide World Photo/
AP Images
Native Americans and Alaska Natives
lived in what is now North and South ↑ The American Indian artist
America for thousands of years before Rick Bartow created this mask.
explorers arrived in the 1400s. When It is displayed in the National
Christopher Columbus reached the Museum of the American Indian.
islands off southeastern North America
in 1492, he called the people he met
Indians. That’s because he wrongly
thought he had sailed to India.

Before Europeans arrived, there were
between 12 and 15 million American
Indians and Alaska Natives. After
Europeans began to colonize the land,
disease and war killed hundreds of
thousands of American Indians.

Prima Ballerina AP Photo/
The Cleanliness Bureau
Maria Tallchief is an American Indian ballet dancer.
She is one of the greatest ballerinas of all time. Maria Tallchief
She was the first U.S. born dancer to be named
top ballerina at the New York City Ballet. Here
are some highlights of her life.

1925 Born in Fairfax, Oklahoma 1942 Joined the Ballet Russe de 1965 Retired from ballet
on an Indian reservation Monte Carlo in New York City

1920 1940 1960 1980

1933 Moved with family 1947 Became the prima ballerina 1981 Founded the Chicago
to California for the New York City Ballet City Ballet

Issue 15 • 121

Historian Kevin M. McCarthy writes that Florida

was home to nearly 50,000 American Indians

about 12,000 years ago. By the eighteenth A Seminole man from south
century, thousands of them had disappeared. Florida wears the group’s
Many were forced off their land and killed in traditional clothes. ↓

battles with the Spanish. Others died of diseases

brought to the New World by the Europeans.

Indian groups in Florida included the Calusa
of southwest Florida, the Apalachee near what is
now called Tallahassee, the Tequesta near Miami,
and the Timucua, who lived in the area
between Daytona Beach and Jacksonville.

Today, American Indians and Alaska
Natives make up about 1.5 percent
of the U.S. population, or about
4.1 million people. They include two
Florida groups, the Miccosukee and
the Seminole.

There are more than 550 federally
recognized American Indian groups in
the United States.

The largest Alaska Native group is the Tlingit,
with about 17,200 people.

538,000 American Indians and Alaska
Natives live on reservations.

122 • Time For Kids Pat Canova/Silver Image

A Lasting Legacy American Indian and Alaska
Native Heritage Month is celebrated
The legacy of American Indians is all with community gatherings and
around us and in the words we use. In festivals. Many schools celebrate
fact, 27 states and many cities, rivers, the month by learning more about
and lakes have names that came the history of these great people.
from American Indian languages. For Students also learn about their
example, Texas is from the Caddo contributions to education, art,
Indian word taysha meaning “friend literature, government, sports,
or ally.” Waco, Texas is named after science, and technology. It is a story
the Waco band of the Wichita that that is worth telling—and listening to.
originally lived in the area.

What’s in a Name?

Many U.S. states have been named using American
Indian words from different groups. Here are a few
examples and their meanings.

Place Name Meaning

Arizona little or young spring
Connecticut beside the long tidal river
Kansas people of the south wind
Kentucky land of tomorrow
Michigan great or large lake
Minnesota sky-tinted water
Mississippi Father of Waters
Ohio great river
Utah people of the mountains

Source: O Brave New Words! Native American Loanwords in Current English,
by Charles L. Cutler

Issue 15 • 123

When the statue of Chief Crazy Horse is finished, it will be
563 feet high. Though it will tower over most structures, it
won’t be the tallest monument in the United States. Here
are the tallest American monuments.

Monument Height Construction
(in feet) Time
St. Louis
(t) David R. Frazier/ Gateway Arch 630 1963–1965
Photolibrary/Alamy;
(cl) Eyewire/Photodisc/ (Missouri)
PunchStock; (cr)
Wolfgang Kaehler/
Corbis; (b) Max W.
Hunn/SuperStock

San Jacinto
570 1936–1939

Monument (Texas)

Washington Monument 555 1848–1884 (bkgd) Scenics of America/PhotoLink/Getty Images
(Washington, D.C.) 1912–1915
1917–1924
Perry’s Victory and 352
International Peace

Memorial (Ohio)

Jefferson Davis Obelisk 351
(Kentucky)

St. Louis Gateway Arch in Missouri

124