Media Smarts
Looking at Newspapers: Introduction
A scavenger hunt introduces class groups to the different sections of newspapers and the different types of articles found in each section.
Curated OER
School-Home Links/Book Links
Get youngsters reading at home and their parents involved with this at home reading assignment. This resource consists of a ready-to-use handout for documenting at-home reading. Formatted as a letter home to parents, this activity calls...
Curated OER
A Tale of Two Schools
Students create different photographs using photographic techniques of camera angles, lighting, and composition. They write non-fiction stories about people they interview and create two school newsletters that portray a fictional...
Curated OER
Past School Practices
Learners research the history of a school system. In this school system lesson, students list the grade levels and subjects taught in their school and interview their teachers and administrators. Learners collect past photographs of...
Newspaper Association of America
Cereal Bowl Science and Other Investigations with the Newspaper
What do cereal, fog, and space shuttles have to do with newspapers? A collection of science investigations encourage critical thinking using connections to the various parts of the newspaper. Activities range from building origami seed...
Curated OER
Identify the Parts of a Newspaper features of informational text, newspaper format
Young readers make sense out of the wealth of information in newspapers with this helpful reference document. Pointing out basic features like headings, articles, bylines, and captions this resource is a great tool for introducing...
Teaching Heart
100th Day News!
Can you believe there have already been 100 days in the school year? Help your learners document their time in your class with a newspaper format. They write about the 100 Day celebrations, as well as drawing what they will look like in...
Curated OER
Elementary School Uniforms
Fifth graders debate the pros and cons to wearing school uniforms. In this uniforms lesson plan, 5th graders identify, research, and present pros and cons in a debate setting.
Curated OER
Newspaper Unit: Reading Lesson Plan
Work on identifying the different parts of a newspaper with your English learners. After reviewing newspaper terminology, pupils pair up and complete a scavenger hunt, looking for specific things in the newspaper and recording their...
Curated OER
Cruise the News
Students utilize newspapers as a resource to complete various tasks. They read articles, write summaries, investigate the classified section, write commercials, and circle spelling words.
Curated OER
Newspaper Crafts
Here are a couple of unique ways to utilize old newspapers in school in the form of an arts and crafts project. The first is a smile umbrella made out of newspaper, the second requires learners to look through newspapers or magazines to...
Newspaper Association of America
Game On: Constitution Activities for Elementary through High School
Who would've guessed that a document written over 200 years ago would still have a lot to teach us today? A set of folder games incorporates parts of a newspaper to teach about the Constitution and how it still applies to life today. The...
Online Publications
Become a Journalist
Explore the newspaper as a unique entity with a detailed and extended unit. The unit requires learners to consider the newspaper's role in democracy, think about ethics, practice writing and interviewing, and examine advertising and news...
Curated OER
Writing Summaries
Practice summary writing with informational texts. Young readers create summaries after reading magazine articles, newspaper articles, or other forms of informational texts. Readers use the GRASP strategy (read text, write what you...
Curated OER
Sidewalks to Success in Middle School
Middle schoolers write a brochure that educates incoming middle school students on how to succeed.
Newspaper Association of America
By the Numbers: Mathematical Connections in Newspapers for Middle-Grade Students
A cross-curricular resource teaches and reinforces mathematical concepts with several activities that use parts of a newspaper. Scholars use scavenger hunts to find the different ways math is used in the paper along with using data...
Newspaper Association of America
Using the Newspaper to Teach the Five Freedoms of the First Amendment
Of all the amendments found in The Bill of Rights, the First Amendment contains some of the most important freedoms for American citizens. A unit plan on the First Amendment features interactive lesson plans designed to teach about those...
Newspaper Association of America
Community Connections with Geography and the Newspaper
Understanding geography and government begins at the local level. Using maps and the parts of a newspaper, a unit plan introduces the concept of community. It starts with the creation of classroom and school maps, and then moves through...
Teaching Tolerance
Community Newsletter
What does it take to develop and publish a newsletter? Young academics create a newsletter with original artwork for their school or community. They explore social justice themes and spread messages of tolerance and inclusion. Scholars...
Teaching Tolerance
Journalism for Justice
Roll the presses! Or at least have your class members participate in the time-honored tradition of the student press by creating their own newspapers or journalist pieces on a social problem. After conducting research and collaborating...
Curated OER
Newspapers in the Digital Age
Is journalism more or less reliable with the influx of Internet sources? Learners investigate the issues of freedom of speech, journalistic ethics, and social responsibility in the age of Twitter and Facebook. After examining the...
Newseum
Journalists Code of Ethics
Journalists are supposed to adhere to a Code of Ethics. To determine the degree to which reporters follow this code, individuals select three recent stories with photographs from newspapers, magazines, online news sites, or television...
Curated OER
Gandhi's Ashrams and School Sustainability
Explore philosophy and religion by researching Gandhi. Lead your young students to investigate the life and accomplishments of Mahatma Gandhi by reading the assigned text. Your class will define sustainability and create a sustainable...
Newseum
Photo Ethics: What Is Newsworthy?
Do not try this at home! At school! Or any other place! Groups of young journalists discuss the ethics of publishing photos of school peers performing dangerous stunts. They share their decision with the class and explain their reasoning.