The activities in Creating a Classroom Newspaper are based on current research findings
in reading and writing. Students who understand the structure of the text they are using, read
with more understanding. Newspaper text structure is predictable. It is concise and well written.
It can become a model for student writing. Students who write, read. Newspaper in Education
activities help students practice skills they learn in language arts programs. Newspaper activities
provide many opportunities for students to collaborate with the classmates. Students working
together to achieve a common goal develop social skills as they learn to accept and appreciate
differences in others.
Here are some pointers to help make your NIE Week program more meaningful:
• Allow time for free reading of the newspaper every day
• Instruct students in the use of writing folders to store and organize their newspaper
writing activities
• Collect examples of styles of newspaper writing
• Refer to the writing styles and genre of the newspaper frequently in your teaching
• Read interesting news stories to your students every day
• Talk with your students about the news: follow one story for several days with them
• Use the newspaper as a stimulus for stories your students write
• Invite newspaper personnel to visit the school and talk to your students
• Acquaint students with the use of journals so that writing becomes a part of the
classroom routine
• Provide a safe, predictable environment where students can write every day• Newspapers can be used as an integral part of the instructional program throughout
the year, not only during NIE Week.
Organization of the Lessons
This guide is designed for five days of instruction. It allows your class to practice,
prepare and create its own newspaper. Each day’s work has been organized with a teacher’s
lesson plan, student worksheets labeled Reporter’s Notebook and ideas for additional activities
call “On Assignment.” These components are described below:
• Teacher’s lesson plan
Each lesson introduces the teacher to the newspaper element to be studied. Student
objectives are stated next, followed by a list of pre-organizing strategies. Next,
learning activities outline steps to help students learn about newspaper writing or
design. The final section directs students to take information they have studied and
apply it to their own classroom newspaper.
• Reporter’s Notebook – Student worksheets
Student worksheets accompany each lesson plan. The instructions are written at three
levels of complexity, so you can use the worksheet that is most appropriate for your
students. The differentiated worksheets allow you to use the activities with special
education students as well as those in gifted and talented programs, and with
elementary, intermediate and advanced students. The level of each worksheet is
indicated by the number of pencils shown in the lower right-hand corner of the
worksheet.
• On Assignment – Content-related activities
Activities presented here provide additional experiences for your students as news
gatherers. Each activity can be used to help students create portions of the
newspaper. The levels are only a guide for your. You may have students of varying
proficiency levels in your class. We urge you to adapt these ideas to meet your
students’ needs.
• Checklist for Production
Suggestions for putting your classroom newspaper together are presented in checklist
form. Alternative ideas for production also are listed.
• Newspaper Glossary
A list of newspaper terms is included. Copy this page for your students’ newspaper
writing folder. Use these terms as appropriate to the daily newspaper lesson. List
them on charts to describe the newspaper. Learning the language of the newspaper is
essential and can be fun.
Lesson #1 Planning the Newspaper
Teacher Background:
Your daily newspaper provides information on many topics in a variety of ways. News
stories tell you what’s happening on local, state, national and international scenes.
Feature stories expand your knowledge of social issues and events. Opinion columns and
editorials provide arguments and debate on controversial topics. Advertising, which is
space paid for by stores and businesses, provides important information about goods and
services available in your area. Newspapers have several objectives: to inform, interpret
and entertain.
Purpose: Students will
1. identify the purposes of a newspaper
2. define vocabulary related to newspapers
3. discover different kinds of information found in the newspaper
4. name the sections in a newspaper
5. determine the format for the classroom newspaper
Before you start:
Note: Before every newspaper lesson, students should have newspapers to read. They
should be allowed time to browse through their newspapers, to read what they like.
Have students become familiar with the newspaper by going on a newspaper scavenger
hunt.
1. Prepare a list of items students will have to locate in the newspaper, e.g., a
headline, a sale price, a comic strip with children as characters, a sports score,
something to eat.
2. Let students spend 10-15 minutes with their newspapers. Divide them into
groups; give each group a scavenger list and tell each to locate and circle the
scavenger hunt items in their newspaper. The first group to locate all the
items correctly can win a prize.
Learning Activities:
Level
1. Give students marking pens and direct them to write on the first page of their
newspapers, labeling the following parts of the page. Explain the terms as
you identify them (see glossary, page 30)
Flag Dateline Cutline or caption
News story Byline Index
Headline Photo
2. Divide the students into groups. Have each group discuss the purposes of
newspapers. List ideas on the board.
3. Explore the sections of the newspaper with your students. Help them
categorize the types of ?????
Levels II & III
1. Introduce the vocabulary of the newspaper by having students circle and label
the following terms on the front page (see glossary, page 30).
Flag Ear (if applicable) Headline
News story Dateline Byline
Jump Cutline Wire service
2. Have students name as many different kinds of information as they can that
can be found in the newspaper.
3. Have students list on the board sections with special titles, such as, Sports,
Daily Record, Business/Finance, Daily Log, Police Log, Editorial Page.
Putting it all together:
1. Introduce the idea of creating a class newspaper for NIE Week. Generate
enthusiasm for the project.
2. Plan the sections you will have in your newspaper and who will be the editor
for each section.
3. Discuss a name for your newspaper. You might hold elections to determine
the newspaper name.
4. Establish the details of newspaper production: format, story responsibility,
deadlines, etc. by completing the Reporter’s Notebook page for your level.
5. Note: Primary teachers may want to make a wall chart detailing the class
newspaper plans. The Reporter’s Notebook page for Level II could be used as
a model for a wall chart.
Reporter’s Notebook – Planning the Newspaper
To the newspaper writer:
You will design your class newspaper.
Your assignment:
Decide what your newspaper will be like.
Fill in the blanks below.
Our newspaper will have _____ pages.
These people will write stories:
_______________ _______________ ______________ _______________
These people will draw pictures:
_______________ _______________ ______________ _______________
Our newspaper will be ready by:
The name of our newspaper will be:
Reporter’s Notebook – Planning the Newspaper
To the newspaper writer:
You will design a classroom newspaper
Your assignment:
Your job is to decide what your newspaper will look like, what news you will include and
who will do the different jobs to create your newspaper. In teams of no more than four
people, plan the answers to the following questions. Write your answers in the spaces
below.
What will we call our newspaper?
Who will we give our newspaper to?
(Your class alone? The entire school? Parents of teachers? School staff?)
Who will decide where to put the stories on the pages?
Who will check our stories for spelling, grammar and punctuation?
How big will the pages be? 8 ½ x 11 8 ½ x 14 Other
How many pages will we have?
How many columns will we put on a page? 2 3 Other
How will we get our stories ready for the newspaper?
Write them by hand Type them on a typewriter
Use a computer and printer
How many pages will contain “news”?
How many pages will contain ads?
DEADLINE TIME!
Our stories and ads must be finished by:
Who will write news
stories?
Who will write feature
stories, puzzles or editorials?
Who will make up ads?
PLANNING OUR NEWSPAPER HOW WILL OUR NEWSPAPER LOOK?
SPECIAL ASSIGNMENTS
Who will do the artwork for stories and ads?
Reporter’s Notebook – Planning the Newspaper
To the newspaper writer:
You will design and organize your own newspaper.
Your assignment:
Your job is to establish the specifications of your newspaper before you begin gathering the news. Complete
the following information about the organization of your newspaper.
Name of your newspaper:
What is the nature of your market? Who will be reading this newspaper?
(Your class alone? The entire school? Parents or teachers? School staff?)
Editor(s)-in-Chief (Responsibilities include designing
the layout of newspaper and deciding what stories to run,
where to place ads, etc.)
Copy Editors (Responsibilities include proofreading
Stories for spelling, grammar and punctuation, writing
Headlines.)
PRODUCTION/DESIGN DECISIONS
Page size (for example: 8 ½ x 11”, 8 ½ x 14”, 11x17”)
Number of pages:
Number of columns:
Type of production: Typewritten Word-Processed Photocopied Printed
Who will prepare materials for production? (typing, word-processing)
Who will be responsible for reproduction? (photocopying, printing)
Editorial/advertising ratio: % editorial % advertising
EDITORIAL DECISIONS:
Type of news sections: Writers assigned
ADVERTISING DECISIONS:
Type of advertising Ad designers assigned
Products/stores
Classified
ART/DESIGN DECISIONS
Task Art designers assigned
Design newspaper flag
Locate or design art for stories
DEADLINES!!!!!
Date advertisements must be completed
Date news and feature stories must be completed
Date news and feature stories will be prepared for printing
Date newspaper will be sent to printer
Date newspaper will be distributed
ON ASSIGNMENT…PLANNING THE NEWSPAPER
Level I
Use the index to locate information and to practice number order. Make up a scavenger
hunt using the index – ask other students to locate specific section page number. Find
sections of the newspaper and write down the page numbers in each section in proper
order. Discuss with other students how to find information in a newspaper and how
many pages are in each section. Make an index for your classroom newspaper. (Math,
study skills)
Look at the weather information in your newspaper. Locate where you live on a weather
map and find the temperature for the day in your area. Make a weather map for your
newspaper. (Science, math, study skills, language arts)
Cut out the heading or section name – sports, style, etc. – for each section of your local
newspaper. Name other words that describe what is included in each section. Make
headings for the sections you want in your newspaper. (Newspaper, language arts)
Level II
Collect several headlines from the newspaper. Then add words to the headlines to
change them into narrative sentences. Next, work with one or two other students to
practice writing headlines. Each of you should write three sentences about something
that happened in school. Then, exchange papers and let another student rewrite your
sentences in headline form.
Skim the newspaper for specific information. Create a five-item scavenger hunt for your
classmates using the index of your newspaper. Plan an index for your classroom
newspaper. (Study skills, math)
Survey the newspaper for datelines and list all the places named: Include city and
country. If the country name is not available in the story, look up the information.
Create a chart listing all the datelines and where they are located. Mark them on a map.
Write datelines for stories in your classroom newspaper. (Social studies, study skills)
Level III
Measure the number of column inches of space devoted to international news in your
newspaper (one column inch = one newspaper column wide by one inch). Next, measure
the number of column inches given to national and local news. Determine the percentage
of news of each type based on the total column inches. Then decide the percentage of
space your classroom newspaper should allocate for international, national and local
news. (Math)
Take a survey of your classmates to see what kinds of special interest columns or features
they would like to see in the newspaper – music reviews, television information, movie
reviews, food stories, etc. Ask each student to suggest three feature ideas. Total the
number of votes for each feature. Select the top five for your newspaper. Design a
section heading or logo for each section. (Math, social studies, art)
Estimate the amount of time and material it will take to produce your classroom
newspaper. Calculate the pieces of paper you will use (pages per issue times number of
issues). Calculate the number of student-hours required (determine the number of hours
each student will use: add all the student-hours together). The results of these
calculations could be used as a news story in the classroom newspaper. (Math)
