100 Years of flight! Celebrate the Wright Brothers' legacy with this high-flying collection of activities, books, and Web sites

Instructor, Nov-Dec, 2003 by Lynne Burke

On December 17, 1903, the Wright Brothers ushered in the age of aviation. The first successful powered flight covered 120 feet--less than the length of the aisle on a 747--but it influenced the course of history. Show your class how two midwestern bike mechanics changed the world, with activities, books, and Web sites celebrating the centennial of their accomplishment.

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Create Timelines

Many of the books featured below include charts or timelines with important dates. As your students read and learn about the Wright Brothers, have them diagram, for example, the Wrights' lives, the evolution of the Flyer, or the history of aviation. Or have a group of students create a classroom-sized timeline that the rest of the class illustrates with drawings, diagrams, and captions.

Grades four and up might want to graph the history of flight using the information from Into the Air: An Illustrated Timeline of Flight, by Ryan Ann Hunter (National Geographic, 2003). Because this book starts with the evolution of flying insects 360 million years ago, students will strengthen their skills in evaluating both long and short time periods.

Go on the Air

Turn your class into an early 20th-century newsroom by recording a radio program about the first flight. Invite your students to put together a script; they might use Elizabeth Van Steenwyk's One Fine Day: A Radio Play (Eerdman's, 2003) as a model. Students can then act as announcers and staff the production crew. Share your program with the whole school!

Before Cellular Phones

The Wrights announced their success with a telegram, a message sent along wires using a code of short and long pulses invented by Samuel Morse. With help from the International Morse Code Chart (http://freenet.msp.mn.us/people/calguire/morse.html), have students use drums of different pitches to pound out dashes and dots. Or find out how to make a simple telegraph in Mary Kay Carson's The Wright Brothers for Kids (Chicago Review Press, 2003).

Understanding Plane Motion

To help children understand plane motion, tape a cross of two strips of paper--one for the fuselage and one for the wings--to the back of each student's hand. With their palms facing down, have children wave their hands up and down, bending only at the wrist--this movement of the plane is called pitch (controlled by the elevator). Flip the hand palm side up and back--this is roll (controlled by ailerons on today's planes). Finally, with the hand palm-side down, bending at the wrist, move the hand from left to right--this is called yaw (controlled by the rudder).

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Imagine the Future

Have students explore early investigations into flight as well as the myths surrounding it. Good choices include Leonardo da Vinci's sketches of flying machines (www.aryana.co.uk/webdesign/images/antony/leonardo.htm) and the Greek myth of Daedalus and Icarus (http://wings.avkids.com/Book/Myth/intermediate/daedalus-01.html). Discuss the Wrights' achievement in the context of these legendary and historical aspirations. What is the next frontier for flight? Have students design their own flying machines of the future.--Submitted by Gail Hennessey

RELATED ARTICLE: BEST BOOKS ABOUT THE WRIGHT BROTHERS

THE WRIGHT BROTHERS

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(Gr. K-3) By Pamela Duncan Edwards. Hyperion, 2003; 36 pages; $15.99. The story of how the Wrights got off the ground is at its most basic here. A group of mice trying to duplicate the inventions provide scientific and humorous footnotes. The accurate, muted illustrations mimic vintage photos.

MY BROTHERS' FLYING MACHINE

(Gr. 1-4) By Jane Yolen. Little, Brown, 2003; 32 pages; $16.95. Younger sister Katharine Wright's perspective brings humanity to this reminiscence that begins when the brothers are boys. Yolen's prose reads like a personal letter, giving readers an inside look at the close-knit family. Oil paintings relay more details, such as Wilbur's habit of wearing mismatched socks.

FIRST TO FLY: HOW WILBUR & ORVILLE WRIGHT INVENTED THE AIRPLANE

(Gr. 3-8) By Peter Busby. Crown, 2003; 32 pages; $19.95. This tribute's large format showcases the evolution of flight with full-page, vibrantly colored paintings, archival photos, diagrams, and explanatory sidebars that provide the historic context students need. A chart of important dates, a list of pertinent Web sites, and an index make it a good reference.

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THE WRIGHT BROTHERS: A FLYING START

(Gr. 3-6) By Elizabeth MacLeod. Kids Can Press, 2002; 32 pages; $6.95. Another solid reference that includes interesting details not found elsewhere. Its size and design make information easy to find. Includes date charts of both the Wrights' lives and the history of flight, a list and description of Web sites, and an index.

ONE FINE DAY: A RADIO PLAY

(Gr. 3-7) By Elizabeth Van Steenwyk. Eerdman's, 2003; 32 pages; $16. Written as a radio script, complete with production notes and instructions on how to make your own sound effects, this book focuses on the one day that made all the difference. Some lines of dialogue may seem a bit unrealistic, but this is still a worthwhile book for an exciting lesson.