How to Use Newspapers in the Classroom

Newspapers are a great teaching resource to use in the classroom. They are cheap, plentiful and you can use them to teach just about any subject such as social studies, math, writing or reading. Many newspapers will give you a discount if you wish to order a classroom set. Alternately, you could use just one newspaper or a few and have the children work in groups. Whichever option you choose, base some of your classroom lessons on using newspapers.

Difficulty:

Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• Newspaper(s)
• Pens or pencils
• Paper

1. Use newspapers to teach current events. Newspapers are a great way to learn about what is going on in your state, country or world. Choose one article every morning to read aloud to the class and have them write a written response in a journal. Depending on the age of your students, you could choose a controversial article and have the students debate it.

2. Use newspapers to teach reading and grammar. Pass out a copy of an article or articles to each student. Have them write down any words in the article that they are unfamiliar with. Use this as a basis for teaching the students how to use the context clues in that article to figure out what the word means. Or, ask the students to read an article and then give them comprehension questions to answer that you have prepared ahead of time.

3. 

   Use newspapers to teach writing. Give the students only the headline of an article, and ask them to write the rest of it. You could also show them a picture and have them write an article based on the picture alone. Newspapers are great as examples of writing that is straightforward and without opinion. Read them an article and then read it again, inserting opinionated statements. Ask the students to describe how that changes the article.

4. Use newspapers to teach math--yes, math! The sports section is a great resource for numbers. Have the students calculate the average or median baseball score from the games played on that day or the percentage of games a basketball team has won so far in the season.

5. Use newspapers to teach about newspapers. Teach the students about the parts of a newspaper. Determine which are the most important parts, and how headline stories are probably chosen. Then, use these lessons to create your own classroom newspaper. Publish it monthly and send it home to the parents.

Tips & Warnings

• Ask parents to donate newspapers, or ask your local paper if they would donate newspapers to the school.

• Ask your local paper if they allow field trips. If they do, take your class to see how a newspaper is produced and distributed.

• Sign up for "Newspapers in Education" (see Resources).

• Make sure to censor out controversial or inappropriate stories before the students can read them. Use a black marker or simply cut the story out of the newspaper with scissors.

Resources

• Website for Newspapers in Education