What's in a newspaper?

Teaching Pre K-8, Mar 2003 by Moorefield, Leah A

Plenty! Your students may be surprised at just how far your local daily paper stretches across the curriculum

Growing up on a farm in the Midwest, I remember only one type of news: the weather. The weather usually made the front page of our newspaper, since farmers live by the weather. It was a tragedy when forecasters predicted "70 degrees and sunny" but then it poured rain. So imagine my surprise when I realized there was a whole world's worth of news out there - very little of it having to do with weather.

I now read the entire paper every day, and I share articles with my students. Only now do I see how much I missed by not reading the newspaper. Newspapers teach interdisciplinary lessons on each page.

When to use newspapers? The short answer is: all the time! The comprehensive, current information in newspapers enhances every subject. Current events are a great way to teach writing for an audience, and the skills of newspaper writing are applicable in other ways as well. The organization of news articles is easy to teach and learn. The inverted pyramid of news writing, with the most important information first, can be diagrammed when reading or writing.

Newspapers epitomize the opportunity to use authentic teaching materials to ensure comprehension and connections with students. Through reading and utilizing newspapers, students find a resource for all of the disciplines - a resource that can be used forever.

Breaking the news. Current events almost teach themselves when you use student-driven teaching methods. For example, I ask students to bring in a news article that includes a paragraph about how an event affects the world, our community and our families. This encourages students to make connections between their lives and the lives of others. I then put students into groups of three or four to discuss their articles. Finally, each group chooses one article and shares it with the rest of the class.

We choose one article from all those presented and post it on our "Current Event of the Week" bulletin board. Through this activity, students practice discussion and listening skills, make connections to their own lives, practice presenting to groups and use critical reading skills. Newspapers definitely have much more than words and facts to offer our students.

Leah Moorefield teaches sixth grade language arts and social studies in Plymouth, MA.