Newspaper in Education
Classroom Activities
PLEASE NOTE: The activities below are from all over and were kindly curated by Aralynn McMane of Global Youth & News Media (France) and Sue Bendry of the Tampa Bay Times (Florida). Teachers cited are from Florida.
Newspapers can help children learn even the basics. We’ve included here a mix of such activities, from those that deal with basic reading and mathematics skills to those addressing critical thinking about the world around us. Several activities would work on several grade levels or even at home.
Kindergarten through Grade 5
Lots of Letters
(Basic level)
• Cut out the letters from the newspaper to make your name. Paste them on a card and tape it to yourself!
• Circle all the kinds of M’s (for Maine) on a newspaper front page and make a Monster Alphabet by connecting them.
Lots of Numbers
(Basic and higher level)
• Cut out 20 different numbers in as many styles as possible. Put these numbers in correct order, starting with the lowest number. Older learners can find ten numbers that are written as words.
• Do the same with them as you did with the numbers you cut out. Then do these assignments:
• What do all these numbers add up to?
• What is the difference (in numbers) between the highest and lowest number you found?
Lots of Pictures
(Basic level)
• Find a picture you like, paste it on a sheet and write underneath why you like it.
• With the help of an adult as needed, learners can find a number and a picture of “one” of something. Continue to do this to 10 or to as high as you can go, or something in between. Paste the number and picture on a card — then cut the card in half ... practice matching the two halves together.
• For a slightly higher-level variation, the learner can find numbers written as a numeral and the same number written as a word.
(Higher level)
• Have students select a photograph in the newspaper and pretend they are at the scene depicted. What is happening? What do they see? Hear? Smell? How are they feeling? Write down the answers to the questions. - Bonnie Hess, Burnett Middle School, Hillsborough County
• Have students look through the newspaper and find pictures whose subject could represent a question mark (?), an exclamation point (!) and a period (.) I ask them to cut out the pictures and create an imaginary story for each picture. This enhances both imagination and creative writing skills. - Jeanette Lewis, Entirety K-12, Hernando County
Civic Lessons
(Basic level)
A NOTABLE MAINER
• Find a picture of a notable person from Maine besides a sports figure.
• What job does he or she do?
• Do you admire him or her? Why or why not?
(Higher level)
GIVING A TALK
You must go to another county and give a talk about the area that you come from (your county, city, town, etc.). Cut out a photograph, an article and an advertisement that you are going to use during your speech. These items will have to say something about your area, therefore. Cut them out and paste them below. Explain your choice.
Middle School
THE CONSTITUTION AND REAL LIFE
I use the newspaper (print and e-Edition) to find articles that pertain to constitutional rights. I may ask the kids to read the article independently and identify words that may be new to them. We then discuss and define the terms together. Sometimes, I assign “GIMME 5” (find 5 facts and 5 opinions in the article). For group work, the students read the article, identify the constitutional right(s) in question, summarize the article and create a different headline. I also use the letters to the editor and the political cartoons in the editorial section when I teach about how congress works. Eventually, my students write a letter to congress and create their own unique political cartoon. - Helen Tait, Countryside High School, Pinellas County
REAL LIFE LANGUAGE
Over the course of one week, students found articles in the newspaper that demonstrate the language skills they were studying: determining an author’s purpose in a text; analyzing cause and effect; summarizing a current event; and learning new vocabulary. Students then created presentations in a variety of formats, including PowerPoints, video skits, booklets and posters, to present to the class. This project fostered inquiry and required reading to research the skills we learned. - Susan Terry, Carwise Middle School, Pinellas County
PEER TEACHING
One way I use the newspaper for a peer teaching lesson project. Each student is given a copy. They pick an interesting article and use it to teach a literary standard from the chart in our room. Students have taught vocabulary, content clues, cause and effect, inference, central idea, sequence of events, trace and evaluate the argument pros and cons. When students present their lessons, they must be able to evaluate the learning by asking questions at the end or by highlighting the information in the text. - Susan Terry, Carwise Middle School, Pinellas County
High School
GOOD NEWS
Students search for different positive news. For example: 1) Find an article about people helping others; 2) Find an article where a community was involved in a project; 3) Find an article where a student was recognized for something positive. I want the students to understand that there are a lot of positive things that happen every week even though front-page news is often negative. It helps them to understand what others are doing for their communities – and maybe inspire them to do more in their own. - Sam Harmon, Hudson High School, Pasco County
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE
I use the newspaper each week in my environmental science classes to incorporate current events pertaining to the environment, such as sustainability, human impacts on our environments and economic issues related to the environment. We use the newspaper to do research and to do think-pair-shares, read-alouds, presentations and posters, and debates. We also do hands-on activities with the newspaper. For example, I have my students create children’s books inspired by newspaper articles. Students collect information, write a short story about the information and illustrate the book with newspaper photos and/or original drawings. - Rachel Kingdom, Central High School, Hernando County
RHETORIC
Using editorials is a great way to teach effective use of rhetorical devices. After teaching students rhetorical devices, read an editorial together in class. Determine the writer’s point of view and identify evidence to support your answer. Then identify the rhetorical devices employed by the writer and evaluate their effectiveness. If no rhetorical devices were used, write one that could be added to the editorial to strengthen it. - Thomasine Kennedy, Crystal River High School, Citrus County
STATISTICS
I use the newspaper on an ongoing basis in my statistics class. I put a topic/standard on the board with an article from newspaper. Students must read the article, summarize it and describe its statistical significance. Is the information statistically sound? Students must also describe what the article infers and/or hypothesize on how readers will respond to the article. Statistics is everywhere, and I use the newspaper to validate my point. For example, statistics are used in marketing strategies, developing plays for sports, deciding where to put energy substations, and determining the success of companies and programs. My students tell me that when they hear someone say, “15% of our readers,” or “65% of American voters,” they now look to read the details with specific statistical questions in mind instead of just taking the word of the person reporting the data. - Patrice Brown, East Bay High School, Hillsborough County
IT’S POETRY
Have students create Headline Poems: Skim for headlines that interest you. Look for several headlines that could be developed into a theme or topic. For example: politics, crime, romance, natural disasters, the environment, etc. Then, decide on a theme or topic and cut out approximately 10 to 15 headlines for that topic. These cut-out headlines will be phrasal, not single words or letters and they do not need to be complete sentences. You will be re-purposing authentic materials into a poetic framework. Next, arrange the headlines in an order that makes sense or states a message and glue them on a piece of paper. You do not have to use all the headlines, but your poem should be a minimum of 6 lines. Finally, title your poem. - Virginia Oliva, Largo High School, Pinellas County
HEADLINES
I use the headlines in the newspaper to practice elaborative techniques. I give students only the headline and a picture or graphic from the article and ask them to write their reaction with a specific word count. Giving them limited information helps them brainstorm various possibilities of what could actually be in the article. The students enjoy it, especially when I reveal the remainder of the article. - Elizabeth Balcombe, Clearwater High School, Pinellas County
LEARNING FROM THE PAST
I challenge students to find examples in the newspaper of problems that may have been avoided with a better knowledge of history. Students had to submit an article about a current event and an explanation of how it connects to a part of history they have been learning about. I also post historical newspaper stories on my classroom walls (such as when women won the right to vote, Pearl Harbor, etc.) and my students suggest what current ones I should keep for the future, which shows me that they understand that they are living through history. - Sarah Hastings, Alonso High School, Hillsborough County
