1. NEWS Length of Lesson: Title of Lesson: Two class periods
Creating a Newspaper
Subject area:
Language Arts
Journalism
Length of Lesson:
Two class periods
Grade Level:
6-8

2. OBJECTIVES
This lesson provides students with the opportunity to write authentic newspaper stories. Students will enjoy this creative, exciting, and stimulating lesson in writing as they are transformed into reporters and editors. They will use the computer internet interactive site in order to publish their own classroom newspaper. Various aspects of newspapers are covered, including parts of a newspaper, writing an article, online newspapers, newspaper reading habits, and layout and design techniques.

3. STANDARDS/BENCHMARKS
Students use productivity tools to collaborate in constructing technology-enhanced publications.
Benchmark
Explores various means of accessing information including traditional and electronic media. Involve students in a broad and comprehensive manner in the human imagination, tools, and processes, to build knowledge and skills.

4. OBJECTIVES Students will Identify the parts of a newspaper
Identify the format of a news article
Write a newspaper story
Edit newspaper articles
Layout and publish a classroom newspaper
Increase skills in communication and collaboration to work as a team in producing materials.

5. MATERIALS Computer with internet access
Newspaper Planning Handout
Checklist for Production
Assessment Rubric

6. Procedure: Group Activity:
Day One: Have students become editors and create their own newspaper. Divide the class into editorial groups on subjects that interest students- say, school news, fashion, sports, money, etc.

7. NEWSPAPER PLANNING WORKSHEET
Have each group begin by proposing a list of story ideas for its newspaper. Each group complete the Newspaper planning worksheet.

8. EDITORIAL CONFERENCES
Individually students should write stories. (Editorial groups should each produce three or four stories.) As publisher the teacher should schedule 10-minute editorial conferences with each writer or team to help students get started.

9. CHECKLIST FOR PRODUCTION
Stress the 5Ws and H-who, what, when, where, why and how-and suggest possible research questions. Students use the Checklist for Production as a guide to help put your newspaper together for publication.

10. DAY 2
When articles have been turned in and have been corrected for errors by the publisher, give corrected "copy" back to student editors.

11. OBJECTIVES
Students then move to the computers in groups and go to the online interactive site and follow directions creating a newspaper. Students should share the responsibility of choosing layout design and keyboarding.

12. VOCABULARY
Editorial– An editorial is an article in a newspaper which gives the opinion of the editor or publisher on a topic or item of news. In an editorial, The Independent suggests the victory could turn nasty.
Editor – An editor is the person who is in charge of a newspaper or magazine and who decides what will be published in each edition of it. Tarmu Tammerk is the editor of the Baltic Independent.
Layout and Design – Organizes articles into standard newsletter template
Publisher – Person or firm that publishes books, magazines, or newspapers, etc.: Several publishers are competing in the same market.
Feature Stories– A special or prominent article in a newspaper or
Reporter: a person hired to rush to the scene and phone back information as soon as possible or to key the report into a word processing terminal at the newspaper office
Deadline: the assigned time for stories to be submitted in order to make the issue going to press.

13. RESOURCES
– The Wall Street Journal Online
hhtp:// - News Interactive
- USA Today, News and Information home page
- Read Write Think