No Brainer Ideas for Newspapers in the Classroom

 

Photo Credit: Alosh Bennett

Loads of ideas are out there for using newspapers effectively in the classroom. Following are some of my favorites, as well as some interesting ones from around the web.

Desk covers for messy projects.

I always called these work spaces, but basically they were individual sheets of newsprint that when unfolded covered basically the entire surface of a standard elementary sized student desk. Great for gluing, painting, science projects, etc.

Paper mache.

Torn into small pieces, recycled newsprint is a dirt cheap art medium. Score!

Current events.

Even lower intermediate level students can usually find something they are able to understand and write about. Bonus? It’s a standard Friday homework assignment that requires no photo copying. Love it.

Spelling word search.

Have the students make a T-chart on a piece of loose leaf paper and write their spelling words down the left column. Then, have them search for as many of those words as possible, resorting to creating them from individual letters if finally necessary.

Parts of speech search.

Divide notebook pages into sections with various category titles such as nouns, verbs, conjunctions, adjectives, adverbs, etc. Assign a specific number of each part of speech to be found in the newspaper. Students should cut out individual examples of each and glue them into sections using glue sticks.

Make an old fashioned hobo or clown style hat.

Using several sheets of newsprint laying at opposite or bisecting angles across the top of the students’ heads, have them hold the papers on their head firmly while you press down to the sides of each head and wrap your way around using wide band masking tape. Then roll up the edges of the paper and staple, creating a sort of rim. Paint.  You can also do another style of hat by placing the papers over the top of a large empty coffee can.  Then do the same type of masking tape band and trip the edges out flat. Depending on how far down the coffee can you go, you will either end up with a stove pipe or band box hat. Paint and trim as desired.

Select articles ahead of time that fit in with what you are doing in class.

The five W’s, intro-body-conclusion, whatever. Have the students cut out personal copies of the article chosen for your assignment. I remember one year when Hershey’s was choosing a new color of M&M. There sure were some fun lessons on main idea and predicting with that topic!

For weekly papers, have students create current event collages.

Using titles, excerpts and pictures, have students create a collage of the week’s events. Then assign a written summary according to the grade level you are instructing. Have the kids attach the summary to the bottom of the collage as sort of a “drop down” element of the art. Bonus? Parents dig ‘em!

Use the comic strips to practice transcribing dialogue.

Wish I had thought of this. Kudos to those who did over at I Love That Teaching Idea. Have your class work on their skills for writing dialogue correctly by using conversations between cartoon characters as a starting point.  By working this in a few times per month, your kids will have that skill hands down! It’s a skill you’ll be needing to cover anyway. This way, they can actually have a bit of fun with the drill and practice, and read something they like anyway. Bonus? The limited vocabulary in the weekly comics is great for those kids who may have a tough time completing some of the lengthier assignments. Don’t you love it when inclusion efforts flow so easily?

Other interesting newspaper idea links from around the internet?

• Simple, easy to understand student assignment ideas using classroom newspapers.

• A fun activity celebrating newspapers and nursery rhymes. This looks like a great reading buddies activity.

• An article on using newspapers in the high school classroom as the entire course text. Interesting.

• An excellent article listing ten fantastic reasons to use newspapers in the classroom.  I’m sold!

• Great overall resource for educators, including background articles and links to all sorts of print and online news media for students of varying ages.

Well, that’s all folks. If you have links to online images of projects you’ve done or have additional newspaper in the classroom suggestions, don’t forget to drop us a line.

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