Newspapers in

Education

Literacy Teaching IdeasPresented by:Kathy Conville SimsSimsboro High School

Newspapers in Education

Newspapers are the most widely used of the media as a teaching instrument in the classroom.

Newspapers are a cost effective way to educate.

Newspapers teach all sorts of valuable skills including reading comprehension, writing for meaning, media literacy, critical thinking, word meaning and sequencing.

Reasons Teachers Use Newspapers In Education

An adult medium that students of all ability levels can be proud to be seen reading.

Deals with what’s happening now, providing motivation for reading/discussion.

Extremely flexible and adaptable to all curriculum areas and grade levels.

Bridges the gap between the classroom and the “real” world.

Builds good literacy habits that last a lifetime.

Can be cut, marked, clipped, pasted, filed, and recycled.

Gives everyone something to read – news, sports, comics, weather, editorials, etc.

Makes learning fun. Contains practical vocabulary

and the sound models of clear, concise writing.

Newspapers Impact Literacy in All Classrooms Language Arts Math Science Technology Social Studies Critical Thinking Life Skills Character

Education

Language Arts Ideas

Remove and display headlines from news stories. Students take stories and match to appropriate headlines. Excellent group activity!

On newspaper page draw circles around various parts of speech. List examples.

Build bulletin board of articles written in and labeled present, past and future tense.

Find words with prefix/suffix. Locate base word and meaning. Change prefix/suffix to create new words. Use words in a sentence.

Cut apart comic strips with multiple frames. Have students sequence comics in correct order. Students may create their own comics strips.

Using Newspapers in Math

Write a word problem using an grocery advertisement as its basis.

Read a page in the newspaper and underline words and phrases referring to time (annual, bicentennial, hourly, etc).

Race through the newspaper. Circle all the number words you can find!

Refer to the “Living” section. Choose several kinds of entertainment you enjoy. After determining the cost of each, journal about an imaginary weekend of entertainment including specifics.

Science and Technology Ideas Find article about severe weather. Use dictionary to

define unknown terms. Write essay on preparation for weather emergences.

Find article discussing world problem. Write about an invention to solve the problem.

Begin vocabulary list of science/technology words from newspaper. Record spelling, meaning and use of words.

Collect advertisements for products not available 20 years ago. Identify scientific/technological advances these products have made possible. Journal on ideas.

Find articles on animals. Identify genus, species, etc. Research animal for project written report.

Social Studies Ideas

Travel by means of newspaper. Journal about things you might do or see in a different country. Share your ideas.

Read an editorial or article. Draw political cartoon representing information.

Place news stories (photos) of each state on large outline map of the US. Read and summarize articles from different states.

Use news stories to teach new words related to geography, government, etc. Discuss the meaning of words used in newspaper stories.

Critical Thinking Idea # 1

Choose a story from the front page. Find answers to the following:

Who? What? When? Where? Why?

Note organization of story details. Which detail is most important? Less? Where is this detail found in article? Does the headline highlight an

important fact? If not, where did information for

headline appear in story?

Critical Thinking Idea #2

Choose editorial from newspaper. Underline each fact. Circle each opinion. Discuss logic of the ideas. Discuss the organization and

development of arguments. Have students journal about their

opinion(s) on this issue based on fact.

Life Skills Ideas Take a scavenger hunt and circle certain names

and phrases with certain meanings or emphasis. Prepare menus using food advertisements

including food from all 4 food groups. Collect articles about accidents. Journal about how

these accidents could have been prevented. Select a job in the classified section. Write a letter

to the Human Resource director stating what qualities make you perfect for the job.

Find a comic strip in the newspaper that shows a conflict. Rewrite it depicting a better way for the situation to be handled. Use a thesaurus to find synonyms for words. Recreate the cartoon.

Newspapers in Character Education

Make a “Hall (Wall) of Fame” by clipping articles of people who exhibit good character traits.

Make a “Survival Vocabulary List” of words (including legal terms) a person would need to know to be a responsible citizen.

Read an article about an honest individual and consider the consequences of the act.

Make a poster of a family crest with examples of what is good about you and your family. Cut words out of newspaper that remind you of your family.

Find articles of individuals, groups, or nations in conflict. Write about resolutions and solutions to conflict.

My Favorite Newspaper in

Education Activities

Political CartoonsBill of Rights

Spotlight on News

How I Use Political Cartoons in My Classrooms

To stimulate discussion on certain topics To gauge prior or recently developed knowledge

and/or values To gain student’s interest In some cases, just for humor As a form of formative or summative assessment To develop skills involved in interpreting

cartoons To increase opportunity and motivation for

students with lower literacy levels to participate

Political Cartoon Activity

Discuss political cartoon and reason behind it.

Use current or past political cartoons.

Analyze dates, captions, people, etc.

Have students write a evaluative paragraph about the cartoon.

Have students draw their own political

cartoon.

Identify people, places, time periods, vocabulary and symbols of cartoons.

Compare drawings of people in cartoon to actual photographs.

Use Venn diagram to show similarities and differences between two cartoons.

Develop an essay, based on the Venn diagram exercise.

Bill of Rights Brainstorm basic rights students possess as

Americans. List student responses on board. Distribute copies of Bill of Rights. Identify which rights were omitted during

brainstorming. Find articles in newspapers relating to

individual rights. Analyze which rights the topic of the article

relates to. Determine if rights were upheld or violated.

“Spotlight on News” Read the chosen article. Look for important details on topic. Summarize those details based on

the facts presented in the article. If possible, compare the news story

in one newspaper to the same story in another newspaper.

Write a written report of summary. Make an oral report to the class.

Newspaper In Education Activities:

Support literacy in numerous ways. Stimulate student interest in current

events. Support learning across the

curriculum. Promote higher level thinking skills. Stimulate independent reading and

writing. Support character development. Provide a lifelong desire to read and

learn.

Many of these ideas came from the “Newspaper in Education Web site. To find more information on “Newspaper in Education” classroom activities visit: http://nieonline.com .