How To Start A School Newspaper
Learning Sequence
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Introduction
During this short course, we are going to introduce the concept of a school newspaper into your community. Your children are going to look into the latest news stories and work democratically to decide who will play the various roles in establishing your newspaper.
The children will then participate in creating their very own articles and together, they will create a school newspaper which will be sent out to families and other important people in the wider community.
Once established, the whole school will be involved in writing for the newspaper and the whole community will be reading it. Eventually, advertising space can be sold within the newspaper which will be donated to a charity of your choice.
This will allow your students to create a worthy news source that will help make the world a better place in many ways!
This week we are going to learn all about how your school can start your very own school newspaper.
The newspaper will allow the children in your school to have a voice in the community and help get your stories and goals out to a bigger audience whilst allowing you to raise money for charity and change the world.
The news is usually a place where we hear all the bad things that are happening in the world, but with your new ability to write and create your very own newspaper we will shower the entire world with positive stories of hope, community and love!
So, let’s write a newspaper and change the world!
Weekly Keywords
Introduce the spelling word list and choose from this list of tasks that can be repeated and expanded upon if necessary.
Copy the words into a spelling list/vocabulary book for later reference.
Put each of the new words into a sentence and underline the new vocabulary in red pencil
Place the words in alphabetical order in a list.
Use a dictionary to define each of the words and place them into a vocabulary book.
Try to represent each of the words using a picture or a symbol and play the guessing game. (which image is matched to which word)
Write a paragraph containing all of the new vocabulary.
Make a vocabulary wall containing all of the new words.
Use a thesaurus to find synonyms for the words and create a synonym list.
These words will help you during this course. You may already know some of these words however practice makes perfect!
First, read the words and then try to define them as simply as possible.
An example has been completed for you. You can write these into your books, and draw a picture to match or simply complete the task card.
Watching the News: Watch and Learn
During this episode of Behind the News, the students will start to learn about what makes an engaging news story. We want your children to start thinking about the types of news stories they are going to include each week and decide what role they will play in including their voices in the weekly newspaper.
The teacher may wish to stop the news show at intervals and discuss the items included.
Watch this episode of ‘Behind the News’ and listen very carefully to the stories that are presented.
The secret to creating a newspaper or news show that will keep people interested is by creating meaningful stories that will keep people engaged in your segments.
Watch the news show, take some notes and start to think about what kind of stories you might want to produce for your school newspaper.
Were you Paying Attention?
Allow the children to work in pairs or groups to answer the following questions about the most recent news story. The score is not important but it is important that the children work collectively to discuss the answers before committing. This allows them to compromise and actively listen whilst discussing this.
Take this simple quiz to see how much information you were able to gather from the news segment above. When news is interesting and engaging, we tend to learn and understand a lot more about what is happening in the world around us!
Deciding on your Newspaper's Name
Once your children have had a chance to think creatively on their school newspaper name, allow them to share these with the rest of the school and cast votes on which name the community likes the most.
This is a really great opportunity to teach your children about democracy and the power that a fair and just vote can have on big decisions such as this one.
Once the ballot box has been counted and the votes are in, it is time to decide what your newspaper will be called!
Take a look at the list of common newspaper names opposite. As a school, you will need to decide on your school newspaper name. That is the perfect opportunity to use democracy to make such a big decision.
At this point you must create a newspaper name that you think will suit the people and the area in which you live. For example, if you live in a village, you may wish to include the name of your village in the title. If you plan on releasing your newspaper monthly or weekly, you may want to include these words in the title.
For example – The Glebe Gazette
Or
The Mountain Monthly
Once you have decided on the name of your choice, ask the rest of the class or school to vote and when everyone has had a chance to cast their vote, this will be the name of your newspaper forevermore!!
Democracy wins again!
Select Your News Team: Democracy
Allow your class to worth through this process democratically. There may be several people who all wnat the same job and that is totally fine.
Teams of children can work on the same aspect of the newspaper and similarly, there can be more jobs added to this list depending on the requirements of your class cohort.
This task card is just a starter to get your newspaper going, but this section of the learning sequence is all about negotiation, communication and compromise.
To write a school newspaper there are many jobs that need to be done.
Take a look at the task card opposite which shows you some of the jobs that need to be filled to get your newspaper started. As your newspaper grows, you will need to add more journalists to the list opposite. This list is just to get you started!
Please read the job descriptions carefully and decide on a job that best suits your skills and interests.
Remember that you can change jobs as the newspaper grows and you can work in teams to create articles. Choose your job carefully and make sure that once decided you listen carefully to the chief editor!
Writing an Article - Follow the Guide
Now your students have been assigned their role in the newspaper curation, It is time for them to compose an article, which they will then submit to the editor and designer to be included in the next edition.
Ask your students to follow the template opposite, and then use the example to compose their own article, which they will then send out to the subscribers of the school newspaper you are distributing.
This may be a great opportunity to improve on some of the writing techniques of your students by introducing topics such as emotive language, persuasive devices and powerful verbs.
Over time, the quality of the news articles written by your students will improve and the students will enjoy the process more once they see the impact that their words have on the lives of those who read them.
Now you have chosen the specific role you will play in the newspaper, it is time for you to create your very own newspaper article ready for publication.
Remember your story should be a good news story, it should have a catchy title and it should be well-researched and written.
Follow the guide opposite and start to curate your very own newspaper story. The guide may not be perfect for every newspaper story, but gives you a great example of the kinds of things you should be including in your newspaper article.
You must check with your Chief Editor about the due date and the number of words they require before you start writing. You don’t want to waste your time writing words when they may not be used!
Remember that there’s no news like good news! Make your story joyful and positive to improve the lives of those who are about to read it.
How to Take a Good Photo - Capture the Scene
As the children start to curate their news stories, it is important to allow them to also tell the story through the lens of a camera.
Thai activity allows children to use simple technology to take compelling photographs and also upskill themselves in the area of photography.
Talk through the process of taking a good photo and allow the children to use various types of technology to refine their skills over time. Before you know it you’ll have a class filled with documentary filmmakers and photographers.
Including a photo with your featured newspaper article is a great idea to get the attention of the reader.
Before you submit your articles to your Chief Editor each week or month, make sure that you capture a photo that tells the story too.
Take a look at the following slide deck and read all about how to take an amazing photo. Use these tips to improve the quality of your photographs and try to include at least one with each of your articles or featured stories.
Remember a picture tells a thousand words!
Raising Money for Charity - Democratic Vote
As your children may be selling adverting space within the school newspaper, it is important that they understand where the money is going.
We have partnered with 12 of the most amazing charities in the world. Your students need to be given the opportunity to research each of the charities and decide which one matters to them.
Once they have made their decision, it is time to hold a democratic vote in your classroom and decide where the proceeds from your newspaper will be going.
This is the perfect opportunity to teach democracy and the power of voice and voting. Once everyone has had a chance to vote, it is time to count the votes and announce the winner!
Your newspaper will not only change the world through the amazing stories that you are about to tell. You will also be able to raise money by selling advertising space within your publication.
Your advertising team and designer will need to organise this, but when somebody decides to pay for an advertisement, you will need to decide where to send the money.
We have partnered with 12 amazing charities that do work around the world. Your job is to hold a class vote and decide which charity you would like to send your money to.
Charity page link here: www.upschool.co/charities
There are two steps to take before you can decide on which charity matters to you:
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Take a look at the list of charity partners by clicking the button below.
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Hold a class vote and decide which one is the most popular.
Once you have decided it is time to start selling your advertising space and putting your newspaper together, get ready for the first edition to roll out!
Pulling it all Together - Your First Edition
This template can be used to allow children to get a feeling of what the newspaper may look like. The example is simply to inspire them to think about the overall look and feel of their newspaper.
As the newspaper grows more and more pages will be added and the layout may vary on each page. It may be a very good idea to allow children to look at real newspapers from your local area to decide what their newspaper will actually look like.
Your ultimate goal is to have everyone in your class contributing to the newspaper somehow!
Now that you have gathered all of the articles and photographs together, it is time to start putting them all together to create your very own newspaper.
The journalists within the school will need to send their newspaper articles to the editor and designer (it is a good idea to do this using email or USB).
The Chief Editor and designer can use the template opposite to start creating the look and feel of your newspaper.
Remember that your newspaper will be much longer than the example here. Keep the pages similar but not the same. Change the layout and the position of things but keep the colours and the style the same throughout the entire newspaper.
Download and edit the template by clicking the links below.
Distributing the News: Share it!
This is the perfect opportunity for your students to use their persuasive techniques to get their new publication to as many people as possible.
Allow them to try many ways to spread their news and take time to evaluate which methods worked and which didn’t.
Experimentation is key at this point!
Once your newspaper is ready to go, it is time for you and your classmates to think of as many ways as possible to get your newspaper around the world.
Use the task card opposite to give you some ideas of ways you can spread the word. Remember to be persuasive and polite if you want people to engage with your content!
Over time your newspaper will grow so big that the entire world may be coming to read their daily news from you and your school.
The team here at Upschool would also like to share your news with our community, so please click the button below and share your news with us too!
You are changing the world!!!
Selling Advertising Space
This part of the learning sequence allows your class to think about monetising their publication to help one of the Upschool charity partners.
The children are encouraged to have an open discussion about local businesses that may be willing to advertise, whilst also deciding how much they want to charge a business for the pleasure of featuring in the newspaper.
This is where our children get to think about business and entrepreneurship. They will consider how much the service is worth and then decide who they think would be willing to pay for it.
Allow the children to use trial and error at this point and when the head of advertising wants to contact local businesses, you will need to allow them to have access to the relevant technology for this to happen.
Remember – Children must be supervised when using the telephone to call outside of the school network!
Now that you have a charity in mind, it is time to start thinking about local businesses that may be willing to pay to advertise their business in your publication.
As a class start to brainstorm all of the local businesses you know and write a list.
The job of the advertiser is to contact these businesses and ask them if they would like to pay for a spot in your school newspaper! It is also important that as a class you decide how much you want to charge to have a business featured in your newspaper.
Follow the instructions on the task card opposite and start making money from your hard work and change the lives of people very far away!
