Lots of professional hockey players have recently come down with the mumps.
“The mumps” is an illness that makes people feel tired and sometimes achy. People who get it usually look like they have a swollen (puffy) face and throat area. It used to be quite a common childhood disease, but then a vaccine was invented to prevent mumps and it became much less common.
This year there has been an unusual outbreak among hockey players.
The mumps can be spread from person to person through sneezing or coughing, or when someone shares food or a drink with someone else. In the case of the hockey players, they are often together on the ice and in their team’s dressing room and may share water bottles.
More than a dozen players, on several NHL teams, have caught the mumps. One of the latest is Sidney Crosby, captain of the Penguins.
There are professional hockey players with the mumps on the teams from Anaheim, Minnesota, New Jersey, Pittsburgh and New York.
Some NHL (National Hockey League) teams are giving their players “booster” shots–that’s an additional vaccine that they hope will prevent others from getting the mumps.
Teams in the NHL are taking precautions to prevent the spread of mumps, such as sterilizing towels and telling players not to share water bottles.
In the meantime, there’s not much that can be done for players who have the mumps except rest–which means staying off the ice. For now, fans will just have to wait until their favourite players recover and gets back on their skates.
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS
By Jonathan Tilly
Writing/Discussion Prompt
Fans who buy tickets to games spend their money with the expectation of seeing their favourite athletes play. Do you think the league should offer customers a refund on tickets to games in which stars are held out due to the mumps? Why do you think so?
Reading Prompt: Making Inferences / Interpreting Texts
When people get sick they often miss out on their school, work, or time to relax. Can you recall a time when you missed out on something because you were sick? Compare stories with your classmates and try to empathize with them.
Primary
Make inferences about texts using stated and implied ideas from the texts as evidence (OME: 1.5)
Junior
Use stated and implied ideas in texts to make inferences and construct meaning (OME: 1.5)
Intermediate
Develop and explain interpretations of increasingly complex or difficult texts using stated and implied ideas from the texts to support their interpretations (OME: 1.5)
Language Feature: Proper Nouns
A proper noun is the specific name of a person, place, or thing. Today’s article contains the names of several cities, and cities are proper nouns.
Name 7 other cities that have a hockey team.
When writing them down, remember to use capital letters!
