Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
tonhanceLanguageArtkill
By:NewspaperAssociationofAmericaFoundation
Newspapersexpandthecurriculumwithanunlimitedamountofinformationtouseasbackgroundfor
learningactivities.Discovernewwaystousethenewspaperinyourlanguageartsstudies,withthese
activitiesfromtheNewspaperAssociationofAmerica.
Newsdevelopseveryday.Thebeautyofthenewspaperintheclassroomisthatitisalsofresheachday.It
comestoyouwiththelatestnewsandinformationand,unlikeothermedia,comesbeautifullywrittenwith
lotsofdetail.Storiesunfoldasreportersunearthmoreinformationtoreconstructwhathappened.Thereis
trulynobetterrecordoftheworld'shappeningsthananewspaper.
Forteachersthenewspaperoffersaspecialattraction.Ithasbeencalledthelivingtextbookanditlivesupto
thatname.Thenewspapercanbeusedtoenhanceskillsinreading,writing,listening,speaking,math,social
studiesandscience.Criticalthinkingisthenaturaloutgrowthofusinganewspapertolearn.Unlike
textbooks,whichareseveralyearsoutdatedbythetimetheygetintostudents'hands,thenewspapercomes
alivewithinformation.Thenewspaperexpandsthecurriculumwithanunlimitedamountofinformationto
useasbackgroundforlearningactivities.
Theseactivitieswillhelpstudentsimprovetheirskillsinreadingandwriting.Theseskillsareamongthe
onestheywillpractice:howtofindthemainidea,howtoincreasevocabulary,howtocomparereadings,
howtoformsentences,howtoaskagoodquestionandhowtowriteagreatsummary.Theywillemploy
manycriticalthinkingskillsastheyarerequiredtointeractwiththeauthenticmaterialfoundinthe
newspaper.
SportsGlossary
Skill:Studentusesavarietyofstrategiestoanalyzewords.
HavestudentsselectanarticlefromtheSportssection.Astheyskimthestory,theycanmakealistof
vocabularywordsthatareusedinthesport.Thentheyshouldwriteadefinitionforeachwordanddrawa
picturetoillustratewhatthewordmeans.Theycanaddanyotherwordstheycanthinkofthatalsohaveto
dowiththesport,butthatdonotappearinthearticle.Nowtheyhaveasportsglossary!
MonthlyMagazine
Skill:Studentusesavarietyofreadingmaterialstodeveloppersonalpreferencesinreadingmaterialsand
locatesandorganizeswritteninformation.
Tellstudentsthattheyareinchargeofplanningacoverforanimportantmonthlymagazine.Theycanlook
throughtoday'spaperforthefivearticlesthattheythinkwouldbebestfortheirmagazine.Theywilldesign
thecover,includingtitlesthatwillmakepeoplewanttoreadthearticlesandpicturesthatwillcatchtheir
attention.
ComicsandYou
Skill:Studentidentifiesdetailsandusesinformationtoconstructmeaningandmakeinferences.
Havestudentslookthroughthecomicstripsintoday'snewspaperforacharacterwhoismostlikethem.
Theycanmakealistofthethingstheyhaveincommonwiththiscomiccharacteraswellasthedifferences.
FunwithNouns
Skill:Studentcorrectlyidentifiespartsofspeechnouns.
Reviewthedefinitionofanounwithyourclass.Thenhavethemselectastoryfromthefrontpageoftoday's
newspaperandfindthenouns.Theycanunderlinethepeopletheyfindinred,theplacesinblueandthe
thingsingreen.Thenmakealistofnounsyoucanfindlookingaroundyourclassroom.
PictureStories
Skill:Studentorganizesideasandinformationforcreativewriting.
Thegoalistousepicturesfromthepapertotellastory.Thisactivitygivesstudentsachancetoexplorehow
photographscantellstories.Havestudentslookthroughthephotosintoday'spaper.Studentsthenchoose
threephotosandcutthemoutwithoutcaptions.Theycanpasteeachpictureonaseparatesheetofpaperand
staplethesheetstogetherintheordertheywillappearinthestory.Finally,theyshouldwriteouteachstory
intheformofcaptionsbeloweachpicture.
BeforeandAfter
Skill:Studentcreatesastoryinwhichideasanddetailsareinalogicalorder.
Havestudentsfindaphotographinthenewspaperthatintereststhem.Instructthemtothinkaboutwhatis
goingoninthepicture.Havethemexplainwhattheythinkhappenedjustbeforethepicturewastakenand
predictwhattheybelievewillhappenafterwards.Theyshouldwritedowntheirexplanation.Then,for
creativewritingfun,havethemcomeupwiththewildesteventstheycanthinkofforwhathappenedbefore
andafter.
OnSale
Skill:Studentuseswritingprocesseffectivelyforpersuasion.
Displayadsarefoundthroughoutthenewspaper.Theyaredifferentfromclassifiedadsbecausetheyare
largerandoftenhavepicturesandlargeletters.Havestudentsfindadisplayadthatcatchestheirattention.
Havethemwriteaparagraphtellingwhetherornottheythinkit'sagoodad.Howdiditcatchtheireye?
Whatwouldtheychangeaboutittomakeitevenbetter?Haveeachstudentcreateadisplayadtosell
somethinginhis/herdesk.
PicturePunctuation
Skill:Studentunderstandscorrectusageofpunctuationmarks.
Themessageofphotosissometimeslikethemessageinawordsentence.Havestudentslookthroughtoday's
newspaperandfindpictureswhosesubjectcouldrepresentaquestionmark(?),anexclamationpoint(!),and
aperiod(.).Havethemcutoutthepicturesandwriteanoriginalsentenceforeachpicturetellingwhythey
madethischoice.
SecretPal
Skill:Studentdraftswritingthatconveysasenseofcompleteness.
Havestudentspretendtheyhaveasecretpalintheclassandusethewordsfromheadlinesintoday's
newspapertocreateafriendlymessagefortheirpal.Theycancutoutthewordsandpastethemessageona
pieceofpaper,ortheycanjustchoosethewordsandwritethemessageonthepaper.Afterthat,theycan
givethemessagetothepal.
SearchingthePaper
Skills:Studenteffectivelyskimsandscansforinformation.
Haveyourstudentsfindeachofthefollowinginthenewspaper:
someonewearingglasses
map
animal
televisionlisting
thenameofyourcity
athlete
actionword
televisionstar
cartoon
storyaboutanothercountry
letterfromareader
movierevieworad
AdoptaPet
Skill:Studentusescreativewritingstrategiesappropriatetothepurposeofthepaper.
Petsareofteninthenewspaper.Sometimestheymakenewsbydoingsomethinglikesavingtheirowner.
Oftentheyarefoundinads.Havestudentsturntotheclassifiedadsandfindthepetssection.Havethem
readthedescriptionsanddecideifoneofthesepetswouldbeagoodpetforthem.Theycanthenwritea
convincingargumentthatincludesallthereasonstheyshouldhavethatpet.
SomethingGoodandNew
Skill:Studentwritesaconcisesummary.
Thenewsisoftenaboutthetroublesintheworld.Isthereanygoodnewsaswell?Encouragestudentstofind
astoryofgoodnews.Whatmakesthenewsgood?Doesthestoryhaveanyimpactontheirlives?Havethem
writeabriefsummaryofthegoodnewsandshareitwithyourclass.
MoviePromoting
Skills:Studentorganizesinformationbeforewritingandusescreativewritingstrategies.
Havestudentsimaginethattheyaremoviepromotersanditistheirjobtogetpeopletocomeseetheir
movie.TheycanlookthroughtheEntertainmentsectionintoday'spaperforoneoftheirfavoritemovies.
Theywilldesignanadvertisementthatwillpromotethisfilm.
ComicPlayers
Skill:Studentspeakswithunderstandingandforvariousaudiencesorpurposesincludinginformal
presentations.
Thecomicstripsarereallylikelittleplays.Studentscanpracticereadingaloudwithexpressionbyreading
thedialogueinthecomics.Assignpartsandhavethestripsreadaloudinyourclassroom.Havefunand
encouragestudentstoreallyhamitup!
MindMapping
Skill:Studentdeterminesthemainideaandrelevantdetailsinapassage.
Assignstudentstochooseanarticlefromthenewspaperthattheythinkisinteresting.Theycanwritedown
themainideainafewwordsinthecenterofapieceofpaper.Thentheywillwritedownsomedetailsthat
supportthemainidea.
WinningIsn'tEverything
Skill:Studentwritesinformalletterexpressingmood.
StudentsshouldreadthroughtheSportssectionintoday'snewspaperandfindanarticleaboutagameor
event.Instructthemtoimaginethattheyareafanofthelosingteamandtowritealetterexplainingthe
impactoflosingandsomelessonsonecanlearnfromlosing.
NewspaperAssociationofAmericaFoundation,(2007).NewspapersMaintaintheBrain.ATeacher'sGuide
forUsingtheNewspapertoEnhanceBasicSkills,511.Vienna,VA:NewspaperAssociationofAmerica
Foundation.
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"Onceyoulearntoread,youwillbeforeverfree."FrederickDouglass