ARKive
Galapagos Conservation
The Galapagos Islands inspired Darwin to develop his theory of evolution. These wonderful islands will also be the topic of a lesson on habitat and conservation. In small groups, learners will collect and synthesize information regarding...
Curated OER
Investigating the Swissair Flight 111 Tragedy
Middle schoolers read two articles about the same event: "Plane from J.F.K Crashes off Canada" from the New York Times and "No Survivors from Crash of Swissair Jetliner Off Nova Scotia" from the Associated Press. They then compare the...
Curated OER
Struggle for Equality
Students read and discuss a selection of news clippings, sermons, and narratives that depict the continued struggle for equality and mistreatment of African American citizens. They present a "60 Minutes"-style news program with the...
Curated OER
Demanding Celebs: Business Studies
Celebrities and economics? Business or economics classes discuss how different celebrities' stocks have been affected by supply and demand. They track the news to identify factors that impact value, discuss and justify their choice of...
Learning to Live
Attributes of a Civil Society
What makes a society civil? High school freshmen search for examples of justice, kindness, peace, and tolerance in news media and brainstorm how they can promote these attributes in their schools, communities, and world. The well-rounded...
Hawaiʻi State Department of Education
Reporting on History
Have fun with history and turn your kids into news reporters of the past. Each group will research, script, and deliver a news report on a historic event they are studying in class. They'll identify the main characters of the historical...
Curated OER
Stop the Fighting and Start Uniting
Research current and proposed peace talks around the world with this New York Times activity, Using the Darfur peace talks in Abuja, Nigeria as a starting point, middle schoolers create a news program on the subject. They propose a...
Media Education Lab
Defining Propaganda
21st century learners live in a media world. Help them develop the skills they need to be able to analyze the barrage of propaganda they face daily, with a resource that introduces them to the type of persuasive appeals found in...
Curated OER
Nellie Bly's Newspaper Club: Introducing the Art of Writing
Young scholars use video and the Internet to research the life of Nellie Bly, a famous female reporter from the 19th century. They research a writer and present their information to the class in the style of a news reporter.
Curated OER
Local Motives
Investigate current local elections across the United States with this New York Times reading lesson plan. Using informational text, middle and high schoolers research local elections and create their own news reports about what...
Curated OER
Persuasive/Argumentative Essay vs. Opinion writing
Reinforce persuasive and argumentative writing skills with this lesson, which utilizes SchoolNet News Network's website/SNN Monthly magazine. Young writers review journalism writing styles that help them explain that writing a persuasive...
Curated OER
Islamic Faith and Discrimination
After the events on 9/11 many Muslim-Americans experienced discrimination because of their ethnicity and faith. Help break the cycle of ignorance by educating your students on the history, religion, and beliefs of a different culture....
Curated OER
Tuning Out Telemarketers
Students research laws for telemarketers in their state, examine whether there are effective laws in other states, explore concept of national telemarketing legislation, and write news features about telemarketers and impact they have in...
Curated OER
Careers in Television
Students discuss and research how a news program is produced. They watch a web based video before working in small groups to produce a news program. They role play different jobs as they produce the program to share with at least one...
Curated OER
What Weather When and Where?
Students learn the difference between hard news and feature writing. They choose one of these news styles to write a compelling weather-related article based on interviews with local sources.
Curated OER
Fun With Plants: Can You Find?
For this plants worksheet, students find plants with specific plant parts and press and dry them to the sheet. Students find 14 different plant parts.
Curated OER
School Newspaper
Students analyze the different parts of a school newspaper. In this newspaper lesson, students complete a semantic web activity for newspapers and explore a newspaper in groups. Students create a write a report for the information....
Curated OER
The Basics of Photography
Students identify the importance of photography as an entry into the news, good photo taking skills, and the appreciation of photo aesthetics. In this photography lesson, students identify the 'Rosetta Stone' of photography skills and...
Curated OER
So What's New?
Young scholars write a story telling the news to someone who has not been around for three years.
Curated OER
Hidden Rainbow Pictures
Students use colors of the rainbow and color patches on the paper remembering to press hard. In this art lesson, students use the black crayon anc color all over the paper covering all of the first layer of color. Students then use the...
Curated OER
Mixing Metaphors with Politics
Students discuss different literary devices and use them to write summaries of New York Times articles dealing with international news. They reflect on the effectiveness and appropriateness of sports metaphors in the political arena.
Curated OER
The Daily News
Students use headlines to recall and write about important events in the school day. This activity can be done with the whole class at circle time, at the beginning or end of the school day, individually in daily news journals. Students...
Curated OER
Human Rights in the News
Students, in groups, review recent newspapers and news media. They construct a poster using items from the newspaper grouped under four categories: rights being practiced or enjoyed, rights being denied, rights being protected, and...