Activity Plan 5-6: Class Newspaper

Extra! Extra! Read all about it! Watch skills develop as children create their own classroom newspaper!

• PRINT
• EMAIL

Ready-To-Use Teaching Idea: Social Studies

Materials:

• several copies of a local newspaper that will appeal to children (one that includes sports, comics, photographs, and advertisements)
• white drawing paper
• chart paper
• markers, crayons, and pencils
• alphabet stamps (upper- and lowercase letters) and pads
• bookbinding materials (stapler, hole punch, and binder rings or string)

Objective: Children will develop language, literacy, social, and motor skills as they work together to create a class newspaper.

ACTIVITY

1 Introduce the activity with a discussion to find out what children already know about newspapers. Create a language experience chart to record their comments.

2 Divide the class into small groups and give each group a copy of the same newspaper. Hold up a newspaper and discuss the different parts of a newspaper with them. Show them the front page and have them locate the name of the newspaper and the date. Discuss the concept of a "headline" and ask them to notice how many headlines and articles appear on each page.

3 Ask questions to help them understand why newspapers are important. Did the information in the newspaper happen recently or did it happen a long time ago? How do the headlines differ from advertisements? Talk to them about the types of jobs people have who help make the newspaper including reporters, editors, photographers, and printers.

4 Now, invite children to work together to create a classroom newspaper. Invite them to think of a name for their newspaper. Ask them to think about the different types of information that they can report on like school events, class birthdays, a new classmate, or a new baby. Some children may want to create comic, book review, sports, or movie pages.

5 Provide children with art and writing materials to develop their newspaper. Assist them in developing the layout for their newspaper and work with them to edit their final articles or advertisements. Have the "printers" make enough copies for each child in the classroom. Deliver the paper during group time and invite everyone to read together.

Curriculum Connection: ART

Funny Pages. Choose a few comic strips to share with the class. Make enough copies of the comics for each child. Engage children in a discussion about comics and encourage them to notice how the dialogue is written and how the action changes in each frame. Now, invite the class to create their own, comic strip. They can create a comic about a fictional character or they can feature themselves, family members, or friends.

Risa Young is the former director of two early childhood programs in the New York City area, the Children's Aid Society's Greenwich Village Center and the Innovative Learning Center at the Long Island College Hospital. She has been a consultant to Early Childhood Today for more than eight years.

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