ATeacher'GuidetoUingNewpaper

tonhanceLanguageArtkill
By:NewspaperAssociationofAmericaFoundation

Newspapersexpandthecurriculumwithanunlimitedamountofinformationtouseasbackgroundfor
learningactivities.Discovernewwaystousethenewspaperinyourlanguageartsstudies,withthese
activitiesfromtheNewspaperAssociationofAmerica.

Newsdevelopseveryday.Thebeautyofthenewspaperintheclassroomisthatitisalsofresheachday.It
comestoyouwiththelatestnewsandinformationand,unlikeothermedia,comesbeautifullywrittenwith
lotsofdetail.Storiesunfoldasreportersunearthmoreinformationtoreconstructwhathappened.Thereis
trulynobetterrecordoftheworld'shappeningsthananewspaper.

Forteachersthenewspaperoffersaspecialattraction.Ithasbeencalledthelivingtextbookanditlivesupto
thatname.Thenewspapercanbeusedtoenhanceskillsinreading,writing,listening,speaking,math,social
studiesandscience.Criticalthinkingisthenaturaloutgrowthofusinganewspapertolearn.Unlike
textbooks,whichareseveralyearsoutdatedbythetimetheygetintostudents'hands,thenewspapercomes
alivewithinformation.Thenewspaperexpandsthecurriculumwithanunlimitedamountofinformationto
useasbackgroundforlearningactivities.

Theseactivitieswillhelpstudentsimprovetheirskillsinreadingandwriting.Theseskillsareamongthe
onestheywillpractice:howtofindthemainidea,howtoincreasevocabulary,howtocomparereadings,
howtoformsentences,howtoaskagoodquestionandhowtowriteagreatsummary.Theywillemploy
manycriticalthinkingskillsastheyarerequiredtointeractwiththeauthenticmaterialfoundinthe
newspaper.

SportsGlossary
Skill:Studentusesavarietyofstrategiestoanalyzewords.
HavestudentsselectanarticlefromtheSportssection.Astheyskimthestory,theycanmakealistof
vocabularywordsthatareusedinthesport.Thentheyshouldwriteadefinitionforeachwordanddrawa
picturetoillustratewhatthewordmeans.Theycanaddanyotherwordstheycanthinkofthatalsohaveto
dowiththesport,butthatdonotappearinthearticle.Nowtheyhaveasportsglossary!

MonthlyMagazine
Skill:Studentusesavarietyofreadingmaterialstodeveloppersonalpreferencesinreadingmaterialsand
locatesandorganizeswritteninformation.

Tellstudentsthattheyareinchargeofplanningacoverforanimportantmonthlymagazine.Theycanlook
throughtoday'spaperforthefivearticlesthattheythinkwouldbebestfortheirmagazine.Theywilldesign
thecover,includingtitlesthatwillmakepeoplewanttoreadthearticlesandpicturesthatwillcatchtheir
attention.

ComicsandYou
Skill:Studentidentifiesdetailsandusesinformationtoconstructmeaningandmakeinferences.

Havestudentslookthroughthecomicstripsintoday'snewspaperforacharacterwhoismostlikethem.
Theycanmakealistofthethingstheyhaveincommonwiththiscomiccharacteraswellasthedifferences.

FunwithNouns
Skill:Studentcorrectlyidentifiespartsofspeechnouns.

Reviewthedefinitionofanounwithyourclass.Thenhavethemselectastoryfromthefrontpageoftoday's
newspaperandfindthenouns.Theycanunderlinethepeopletheyfindinred,theplacesinblueandthe
thingsingreen.Thenmakealistofnounsyoucanfindlookingaroundyourclassroom.

PictureStories
Skill:Studentorganizesideasandinformationforcreativewriting.

Thegoalistousepicturesfromthepapertotellastory.Thisactivitygivesstudentsachancetoexplorehow
photographscantellstories.Havestudentslookthroughthephotosintoday'spaper.Studentsthenchoose
threephotosandcutthemoutwithoutcaptions.Theycanpasteeachpictureonaseparatesheetofpaperand
staplethesheetstogetherintheordertheywillappearinthestory.Finally,theyshouldwriteouteachstory
intheformofcaptionsbeloweachpicture.

BeforeandAfter
Skill:Studentcreatesastoryinwhichideasanddetailsareinalogicalorder.

Havestudentsfindaphotographinthenewspaperthatintereststhem.Instructthemtothinkaboutwhatis
goingoninthepicture.Havethemexplainwhattheythinkhappenedjustbeforethepicturewastakenand
predictwhattheybelievewillhappenafterwards.Theyshouldwritedowntheirexplanation.Then,for
creativewritingfun,havethemcomeupwiththewildesteventstheycanthinkofforwhathappenedbefore
andafter.

OnSale
Skill:Studentuseswritingprocesseffectivelyforpersuasion.
Displayadsarefoundthroughoutthenewspaper.Theyaredifferentfromclassifiedadsbecausetheyare
largerandoftenhavepicturesandlargeletters.Havestudentsfindadisplayadthatcatchestheirattention.
Havethemwriteaparagraphtellingwhetherornottheythinkit'sagoodad.Howdiditcatchtheireye?
Whatwouldtheychangeaboutittomakeitevenbetter?Haveeachstudentcreateadisplayadtosell
somethinginhis/herdesk.

PicturePunctuation
Skill:Studentunderstandscorrectusageofpunctuationmarks.

Themessageofphotosissometimeslikethemessageinawordsentence.Havestudentslookthroughtoday's
newspaperandfindpictureswhosesubjectcouldrepresentaquestionmark(?),anexclamationpoint(!),and
aperiod(.).Havethemcutoutthepicturesandwriteanoriginalsentenceforeachpicturetellingwhythey
madethischoice.

SecretPal
Skill:Studentdraftswritingthatconveysasenseofcompleteness.

Havestudentspretendtheyhaveasecretpalintheclassandusethewordsfromheadlinesintoday's
newspapertocreateafriendlymessagefortheirpal.Theycancutoutthewordsandpastethemessageona
pieceofpaper,ortheycanjustchoosethewordsandwritethemessageonthepaper.Afterthat,theycan
givethemessagetothepal.

SearchingthePaper
Skills:Studenteffectivelyskimsandscansforinformation.

Haveyourstudentsfindeachofthefollowinginthenewspaper:

someonewearingglasses
map
animal
televisionlisting
thenameofyourcity
athlete
actionword
televisionstar
cartoon
storyaboutanothercountry
letterfromareader
movierevieworad

AdoptaPet
Skill:Studentusescreativewritingstrategiesappropriatetothepurposeofthepaper.

Petsareofteninthenewspaper.Sometimestheymakenewsbydoingsomethinglikesavingtheirowner.
Oftentheyarefoundinads.Havestudentsturntotheclassifiedadsandfindthepetssection.Havethem
readthedescriptionsanddecideifoneofthesepetswouldbeagoodpetforthem.Theycanthenwritea
convincingargumentthatincludesallthereasonstheyshouldhavethatpet.

SomethingGoodandNew
Skill:Studentwritesaconcisesummary.

Thenewsisoftenaboutthetroublesintheworld.Isthereanygoodnewsaswell?Encouragestudentstofind
astoryofgoodnews.Whatmakesthenewsgood?Doesthestoryhaveanyimpactontheirlives?Havethem
writeabriefsummaryofthegoodnewsandshareitwithyourclass.

MoviePromoting
Skills:Studentorganizesinformationbeforewritingandusescreativewritingstrategies.

Havestudentsimaginethattheyaremoviepromotersanditistheirjobtogetpeopletocomeseetheir
movie.TheycanlookthroughtheEntertainmentsectionintoday'spaperforoneoftheirfavoritemovies.
Theywilldesignanadvertisementthatwillpromotethisfilm.

ComicPlayers
Skill:Studentspeakswithunderstandingandforvariousaudiencesorpurposesincludinginformal
presentations.

Thecomicstripsarereallylikelittleplays.Studentscanpracticereadingaloudwithexpressionbyreading
thedialogueinthecomics.Assignpartsandhavethestripsreadaloudinyourclassroom.Havefunand
encouragestudentstoreallyhamitup!

MindMapping
Skill:Studentdeterminesthemainideaandrelevantdetailsinapassage.

Assignstudentstochooseanarticlefromthenewspaperthattheythinkisinteresting.Theycanwritedown
themainideainafewwordsinthecenterofapieceofpaper.Thentheywillwritedownsomedetailsthat
supportthemainidea.

WinningIsn'tEverything
Skill:Studentwritesinformalletterexpressingmood.

StudentsshouldreadthroughtheSportssectionintoday'snewspaperandfindanarticleaboutagameor
event.Instructthemtoimaginethattheyareafanofthelosingteamandtowritealetterexplainingthe
impactoflosingandsomelessonsonecanlearnfromlosing.

NewspaperAssociationofAmericaFoundation,(2007).NewspapersMaintaintheBrain.ATeacher'sGuide
forUsingtheNewspapertoEnhanceBasicSkills,511.Vienna,VA:NewspaperAssociationofAmerica
Foundation.

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