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...

After analyzing and evaluating news summaries found in the New York Times "Week in Review" section, middle schoolers study the steps for summarizing a news article briefly and accurately. They write two news summaries: one on a newspaper...

Sixth graders use newspapers to investigate fractions. They work in small groups to categorize articles, measure them with the grid transparency, and calculate the values represented. Afterward, they write a reflective essay on the role...

Newspapers aren't only for reading—they're for learning skills, too! A journalism unit provides three lessons each for primary, intermediate, and secondary grades. Lessons include objectives, materials, vocabulary, and procedure, and...

Scholars find out how the government used propaganda to mobilize children to help in the war effort. Lesson exercises include analyzing a quote from Franklin Roosevelt, viewing propaganda images and posters, and participating in a lively...

Freedom of speech is not always free. Scholars investigate how the First Amendment provides for the right to express opinions. Through the court case Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier, they analyze free speech using primary documents—and hopefully...

Throughout history, newspapers have reported the events of the day as they unfolded. Using primary and secondary sources from World War I, scholars uncover how the American people learned of the events of the War to End All Wars. History...

Big news isn't necessarily newsworthy everywhere! How do journalists decide what to cover with so much happening around them? A instructional activity on media literacy examines the factors that affect the media's choice of stories to...

Extra! Extra! Read all about past and present energy use in a classroom-made historical newspaper. Useful as a cross-curricular assignment between science, history, and language arts, the project is sure to get young journalists...

High schoolers use the newspaper as a tool to make connections about what the five freedoms guarantee in the First Amendment. In this first amendment lesson plan, students analyze events in the newspaper to form conclusions about the...

Take a close look at a number of newspapers with collection of lessons and activities. Using a poster (which can be found under the materials tab), learners examine the hard copy of a local newspaper. This leads into an exploration of...

Many informational texts are written as factual, but can your learners determine when an opinion is presented as fact? Have your kids read several articles on the same topic and record the statements that contain either facts or...

Using a carousel activity, class members gain an understanding of the idea of inferences by using pictures then connecting them to mathematics. Groups discuss their individual problems prior to sharing them with the entire class....

Ninth graders investigate the country of Canada by examining their media in this geography lesson. They use the Internet to research Canadian newspapers and analyze a topic covered by both US and Canadian media sources. After comparing...

Harriet Beecher Stowe's plea for abolition is not only laid plain in her acclaimed novel, Uncle Tom's Cabin, but in her written correspondence as well. High schoolers read a letter written by Stowe to Prince Albert and Queen Victoria to...

How do events reported in mainstream newspapers, on television news, blog posts, and social network sites differ? Ask your class to investigate the way the same news item is presented in the many information sources available. Groups...

The first ten Amendments of the U.S. Constitution are vital for young people to understand. Provide the foundation of the laws that govern our country with this junior high school lesson. Groups use the newspaper to identify rights...

This traditional textbook style unit includes vocabulary, a direct explanation section, examples, practice problems that directly line up with the explanations and examples, and a unit summary review and practice problems. Learners get...

The book, Samuel's Choice is used to illustrate the decisions that African Americans who were enslaved during the Revolutionary War had to make. The series of four lessons is designed to be implemented after the book is read. The book,...

Students will examine advertisements, explore ways to inform, locate pictures of Hemingway, read sports articles, and follow directions to create a finished project - a newspaper. their newspapers are multifaceted with not only...

Young scholars collect and analyze the front pages of various newspapers and perform research on the Titantic tragedy. They choose a name for their newspaper, a headline, gather photographs, and write a front page article. Using...

Challenge geography classes to locate the major volcanoes and earthquake faults on a world map. In groups, they identify the pattern made and examine the relationship between the locations of the faults and volcanoes and tectonic...

Students look back at this year in history and evaluate important events, discoveries and people from 1998. They, in groups, create 1998: Year in Review. While 1998 has come and gone, the idea and intent for this instructional activity...