27-1 (05)
release dates: July 2-8
TM
TM
Distributed by Universal Press Syndicate
© 2005 The Mini Page Publishing Company Inc.
By BETTY DEBNAM
from The Mini Page by Betty Debnam © 2005 The Mini Page Publishing Company Inc.
The Marvelous Mineral
A Salute to Salt
What is salt?
photo courtesy Salt Institute
Salt is the only rock we eat. In its
natural state, salt is a rock crystal, or
mineral. Before it reaches our tables,
it is refined into tiny crystals.
This familiar salt is also known as
sodium chloride because it is made of two
different elements, sodium and chlorine.
This is sodium chloride in its natural state.
In its mineral form it is known as “Halite”
(HAY-lite). This photo shows many cubeshaped crystals stuck together.
This is a salt crystal
as it looks under a
microscope. Salt
crystals are clear and
colorless. Scientists
shine colored lights
on the crystals to
make the structure
stand out better.
photo courtesy Salt Institute
One of the most valuable materials
in the history of the world is probably
on your kitchen shelf.
Today we take this important
substance, ordinary table salt, for
granted. But throughout history it was
not so ordinary. Sometimes it was
worth its weight in gold.
We could not live without salt. All
animals, including humans, need some
salt for their bodies to work properly.
Seasoning our food is only
one of the reasons that
common salt is so important.
Experts say there are more
than 14,000 uses for it.
Kinds of salt
Salt of life
There are many kinds of salt. A salt
is a mineral that comes completely
apart once it is put in water. It
separates into the different materials
it is made of. For example, in water,
sodium chloride separates into sodium
and chloride (a form of chlorine).
Sodium chloride is the most wellknown and the most plentiful of all
salts. It is often called
“common salt” or “table salt.”
Other salts include:
• sodium
bicarbonate, better
known as baking soda
• calcium carbonate, which
in tap water
can make it hard to
get soap suds
• ammonium
nitrate, used in
fertilizers.
Even though humans need salt to
make their cells work properly, some
studies have shown that too much salt
may not be good for us. Most people
today get enough salt from their diets
without adding more.
Today each American eats an
average of 402 pounds of salt a year.
Wild animals can get some salt from
the plants they eat. They also graze in
salty areas or lick salt deposits in the
ground.
Farmers and
ranchers often
put out blocks of
salt for livestock.
In ancient
times, people
would discover where salt deposits
were by watching where the animals
went.
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®
27-2 (05); release dates: July 2-8
Distributed by Universal Press Syndicate
from The Mini Page by Betty Debnam © 2005 The Mini Page Publishing Company Inc.
Salt Talk
from The Mini Page by Betty Debnam © 2005 The Mini Page Publishing Company Inc.
Mini Spy . . .
This pile of solar salt came
from seawater in Mexico.
Solar salt is salt that has
been obtained by
evaporating seawater. The
mounds are left in the sun
to further dry the salt and
drain any water still left.
photo courtesy Salt Institute
Salt has been so important to
people throughout history that many
sayings have developed about it.
Here are some examples.
• The salt of
the Earth. This
phrase is used to
describe someone
who is especially
good. It comes
from the New
Testament of the
Bible (Matthew 5:13) when Christ
is preaching to the crowds.
• Take it with
a grain of salt.
When people
say this, they
mean you
should doubt
what was said
or written. It
might not all be true.
• An old
salt is a
longtime
sailor. For
thousands
of years,
people have
known seawater is salty.
• Back to the salt
mines is a way
people say they are
going back to a job they
don’t like.
• Worth one’s
salt means
someone always
does a good job to
earn his or her
salary. It also can
mean a person who is a decent
human being, or one who earns his
or her way.
• To salt away means to put
money aside in
savings. This comes
from the practice of
packing food with salt
to preserve, or save, it
for future times.
TM
Mini Spy and her friends are swimming at a salty beach.
See if you can find: • man in the moon • caterpillar
• alligator
• toothbrush
• number 8
• comb
• fish
• letter D
• word MINI
• snake
• number 7
• tooth
• olive
• number 3
• Rubbing salt
in the wound
means to make
something hurt
even more than it
already does.
from The Mini Page by Betty Debnam © 2005 The Mini Page Publishing Company Inc.
Brown
Basset ws
The Ned’s
Houn
TM
TRY ’N
FIND
Salt
Words that remind us of salt are hidden in the block below. Some
words are hidden backward or diagonally. See if you can find: DYE,
MINERAL, CRYSTAL, VALUABLE, SEASONING, FOOD, ANIMALS,
PRESERVE, SODIUM, CHLORIDE, HALITE, SEA, WATER, ROCK,
CHEMICALS, ICE, MINE, WAR, TRADE, SALARY, BODY, KITCHEN.
SALT IS
AMAZING!
V
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A
B
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I
B
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K
D
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A
A
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O
O
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V
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K
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T
S
L
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S
F
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T
I
A
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A
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W
M
C
S
T
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L
S
Y
A
I
T
M
S
S
Please include all of the appropriate registered trademark symbols and copyright lines in any publication of The Mini Page®.
I
E
D
R
N
I
I
Y
A
T
R
Y
Y
A
K
N
R
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C
S
®
27-3 (05); release dates: July 2-8
Distributed by Universal Press Syndicate
TM
Go dot to dot and color this common
kitchen item.
Rookie Cookie’s Recipe
Picnic Casserole
You’ll need:
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 8 hot dogs, cut into small pieces
• 1 small can chili
• 1 (24-ounce) can baked beans
• 1 tablespoon hot mustard
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup ketchup
What to do:
1. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and mix well.
2. Spoon into a casserole dish.
3. Bake in a preheated 350-degree oven for 35 minutes.
4. Remove from oven, cover, and share with friends at a
summer picnic. Serves 6.
Note: You will need an adult’s help with this recipe.
from The Mini Page by Betty Debnam © 2005 The Mini Page Publishing Company Inc.
Meet Matt Dillon
photo courtesy Richard Cartwright
© Disney Enterprises, Inc.
Matt Dillon plays the character Trip
Murphy in the movie “Herbie: Fully
Loaded.”
Matt just stumbled into acting.
Talent agents were at his high school
looking for young kids who might
become actors. They spotted him for
his good looks and invited him to come
to an audition. Matt gave it a try and was a success. He
was offered a part in his first movie in 1979. From that
he got other roles and quickly became a teen star.
Matt, 41, grew up in New Rochelle, N.Y. He has four
brothers and a sister. His favorite actor, and someone he
looks up to, is Gene Hackman.
from The Mini Page by Betty Debnam © 2005 The Mini Page Publishing Company Inc.
from The Mini Page by Betty Debnam © 2005 The Mini Page Publishing Company Inc.
The Mini Page
Rookie Cookie Cookbook
Easy, everyday recipes designed especially for kids!
• snacks
• soups
• salads
• sandwiches
• breads
• beverages
Ingredients:
1) Step-by-step
directions
2) Measuring tips
3) Utensil guide
4) Cooking terms
5) How to set a table
6) Table manners guide
from The Mini Page by Betty Debnam © 2005 The Mini Page Publishing Company Inc.
• casseroles
• main
dishes
• microwave
dishes
• desserts
Encourages kids to read and follow directions!
To order, send $9.95 plus $3.25 postage and handling for each copy. Send check or money order (U.S. funds only) payable
to: Andrews McMeel Universal, P.O. Box 6814, Leawood, KS 66206 or call toll-free 1-800-591-2097.
Please send ______ copies of The Mini Page Rookie Cookie Cookbook (Item #4206-8) at $13.20 each,
including postage and handling. (Bulk discount information available upon request.) www.smartwarehousing.com
Name: ________________________________________________________________________
Address: _______________________________________________________________________
City: _______________________________________________ State: _________ Zip: __________
TM
All the following jokes have something in common. Can
you guess the common theme or category?
Hal: What do fish use to travel up and
down in the ocean?
Harriet: An eel-evator!
Hugo: Did you hear how the elevator
operator feels?
Heidi: He has his ups and downs!
Herbert: What did one elevator say to the
other elevator?
Hannah: “I think I’m coming down with
something!”
Please include all of the appropriate registered trademark symbols and copyright lines in any publication of The Mini Page®.
®
27-4 (05); release dates: July 2-8
Distributed by Universal Press Syndicate
from The Mini Page by Betty Debnam © 2005 The Mini Page Publishing Company Inc.
More About Salt
The many uses of salt
For thousands of years, salt has
been used to preserve food. Salting
food helps to keep it safe for eating
because salt removes water from
food. Without water, most of the
harmful bacteria in the food dies.
Refrigeration, even
with ice, has been
available to the public
only for about 150 years.
Safe canning with glass
or metal containers has
been around only for
about 200 years.
Imagine what it would be like
without refrigeration or canned food.
How would you keep your food from
going bad?
Without salt, people in earlier
times would not have been able to
preserve most
foods. Everyone
would have had
to grow or hunt
their own food.
People could not have explored
new lands without salt to preserve
food as they
traveled. They
could not have
lived in cities,
because everybody
would have needed
their own farmland.
In times of
drought or insect
plagues, more
people would have
starved because
little food could have been stored.
Modern methods of preserving
food have made salt less important.
But people still use salt to preserve
certain foods such as ham.
Although sodium chloride is best
known for its use as a seasoning,
only about 6 percent of salt used in
the United States is used to flavor
food.
The biggest use for
salt is in the production
of chemicals. Another
top use of salt is to
melt the ice on roads.
The Mini Page thanks Susan Feldman,
technical director, Salt Institute, for help
with this issue.
Site to see: www.saltinstitute.org
photo © Salin-R. Sprang, courtesy Salt Institute
Preserving food
This French salt farmer is gathering
crunchier sea salt crystals into a pile.
This salt pile was formed by evaporating
seawater.
Worth its weight in gold
All salt comes from saltwater. Even salt
that is found on dry land is there
because salty seas covered the area
millions of years ago. When those seas
evaporated, the salt was left behind.
It is used to make:
• rayon
• soap
• glass
• chlorine
• glazes for pottery
• dyes for cloth
• dough to play with
How we get salt
photo by Captain Albert Theberge, NOAA Corps.; courtesy NOAA
In earlier times, wars were fought
over salt. Without salt to preserve
food, armies could not travel.
During Roman times,
soldiers were paid partly
in salt. The word “salary”
comes from the Latin
word for salt.
During the U.S.
Civil War, battles
were fought to gain areas that
had salt.
In some areas an ounce of salt
was as valuable as an ounce of gold.
In countries such as China, salt was
used as money.
Many early roads were built as
trade routes for salt. Many cities
were built around sources of salt.
Common salt is also used to:
• polish pills to make them
smooth
• help make
bread rise
• age cheese
• tan leather
Salt is common and fairly
inexpensive to obtain. There are
three main ways to obtain salt:
• Collecting seawater, then letting
the wind and sun evaporate the
water. When the water is gone, the
salt will remain. This works best in
sunny climates with strong breezes.
• Digging mines underground and
drilling salt out of the rocks.
• Digging a hole in the ground
and pouring water down it. The salt
dissolves in the water. Miners pump
out the salty water and then let it
evaporate.
Next week The Mini Page is all about
scrapbooking.
Look through the grocery ads of your
newspaper. How many of the foods shown
do you think have salt in them?
Please include all of the appropriate registered trademark symbols and copyright lines in any publication of The Mini Page®.
photo courtesy Salt Institute
It’s a salute
to salt
in
®
Distributed by Universal Press Syndicate
by Betty Debnam
Appearing in your
newspaper on ____________.
from The Mini Page by Betty Debnam
© 2005 The Mini Page Publishing Company Inc.
(Note to Editor: Above is cameraready, one column-by-41/4-inch ad
promoting Issue 27.)
release dates: July 2-8
27-5 (05)
from The Mini Page by Betty Debnam © 2005 The MIni Page Publishing Company Inc.
®
Distributed by Universal Press Syndicate
Standards Spotlight:
A Salute to Salt
TM
from The Mini Page by Betty Debnam © 2005 The Mini Page Publishing Company Inc.
Mini Page activities meet many state and national educational standards. Each
week we identify standards that relate to The Mini Page’s content and offer
activities that will help your students reach them.
Supersport: Kyle Harrison
This week’s standards:
• Students understand the properties of Earth materials. (Science: Physical
Science)
Activities:
1. Draw a poster that shows at least five different ways salt is useful.
2. Look through the newspaper to find examples of how salt is used. Include
foods, medicines and bath products. Circle each item. How many different
ways did you find?
3. Look at the nutritional labels of seven different kinds of food in your kitchen.
See how much salt is in each item. Include canned and frozen foods, butter or
margarine, chips or other snack foods, and baked items. Which item has the
most salt? Which has the least? Why do you think there is so much salt in
some items?
4. Describe the way salt has been or is important in each of these areas:
(a) transportation, (b) exploration, (c) clothing, (d) cities, and (e) wars.
5. Use resource books and the Internet to learn about desalination processes and
plants. Use these questions to guide your research: What do desalination
plants or machinery do? How widespread is the use of such plants? Where are
they located? What are the benefits of desalination? What are the drawbacks?
Height: 6-0
Birthdate: 3-12-83
Weight: 185
Hometown: Baltimore, Md.
Kyle Harrison isn’t a doctor, but the Johns
Hopkins University graduate knows how to operate
with a stick.
The talented midfielder helped lead Hopkins —
long renowned as a leader in medicine — to a perfect 16-0 record
and its eighth national lacrosse title.
Harrison, an African American in a mostly white sport, scored a
team-leading 44 points on 20 goals and 24 assists. He also is a twotime first-team All-American who has been promoted as the “most
popular” college lacrosse player.
The Blue Jays star has contributed much off the field as well. He
spent time visiting sick children at Johns Hopkins Children’s
Center, and in the summer of 2004 taught lacrosse to inner-city
youth in New York.
(standards by Dr. Sherrye D. Garrett, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi)
(Note to Editor: Above is the Standards for Issue 27.)
(Note to Editor: Above is copy block for Page 3, Issue 27, to be
used in place of ad if desired.)
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