An old photograph may solve the mystery of what happened to Amelia Earhart (usually pronounced “air-heart“), the famous pilot who disappeared on a round-the-world flight 75 years ago.
Earhart was the first woman to fly alone across North America and back, and the first woman to fly alone across the Atlantic Ocean without stopping.
In 1937, she and a navigator, Fred Noonan, set out to fly around the world. They had travelled more than two-thirds of the way when their plane disappeared over the Pacific Ocean. Ships and airplanes searched the area, but they were unable to find any trace of the plane or its crew.
What happened to them has remained a mystery. One theory is that the plane ran out of fuel and was forced to land on a tiny island called Nikumaroro, about halfway between Australia and Hawaii.
An organization called The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR; pronounced “tiger“) has been searching for Earhart’s plane. The group has an old photograph of Nikumaroro that was taken about three months after the plane disappeared.
Recently, they used new technology to make the picture clearer. Now they believe that a dark shape in the picture, sticking up out of the water, may be part of Earhart’s plane.
In July, members of TIGHAR will travel to the island to search the area shown in the photo. The team will use robotic submarines with video cameras to search in the water, hoping to find the plane and solve the mystery.
Related websites
Here is a link to news organization CNN, for a picture of the photo that has recently been clarified. CNN is not a kid-friendly news site so please be sure to have an adult’s help before going to the CNN website.
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS
By Kathleen Tilly
Writing/Discussion Prompt
Hilary Clinton, who is the U.S. Secretary of State, is supporting TIGHAR’s search to solve the mystery of Amelia Earhart’s disappearance. Clinton described Earhart as a “fearless optimist.” What do these words mean? (You may need to look in a dictionary or online). Do you think these words accurately describe Amelia Earhart? Why or why not?
Reading Prompt: Reading Fluently
Good readers read fluently. Reading fluently means that you read with expression, speed and confidence.
Read this article aloud to a friend or classmate. When you practice reading fluently, make sure you pay attention to the expression in your voice, your reading speed and your confidence.
Junior
Read appropriate texts with expression and confidence, adjusting reading strategies and reading rate to match the form and purpose (OME, Reading: 3.3).
Intermediate
Read appropriate texts with expression and confidence, adjusting reading strategies and reading rate to match the form and purpose (OME, Reading: 3.3).
Grammar Feature: Antonyms
An antonym is the opposite of a word. For example, the antonym of ‘off’ is ‘on’ and the antonym of ‘up’ is ‘down’.
Read the following passage below and insert antonyms for each of the underlined words.
An old photograph may solve the mystery of what happened to Amelia Earhart (usually pronounced “air-heart”), the famous pilot who disappeared on a round-the-world flight 75 years ago.
