Count on Character – Kindness

Posted on April 29, 2011 by Sue

Kind might sound like plain old nice, but it doesn’t end there. Kindness includes friendly, helpful, and even sacrificing. Acts of kindness have one thing in common: You do them to help someone without expecting anything in return. How much do you count on kindness as an important character trait?

ACTIVITIES

1. On a sheet of paper, write down five examples of kind acts that you have given or received in the last few weeks. Which makes you feel better: giving or receiving kindness?

2. Look through the newspaper to find photographs of kindness in action. How are these people being kind?

3. Now, find a photograph or news story about a person or group being unkind. Write down the consequences of their unkindness. How could an act of kindness changed the story or the photo?

4. List five things you can do in the next 24 hours to show kindness to others. Be as specific as you can.

5. Plan a day of kindness by looking in the newspaper for clubs or organizations that do kind things for other people. Make a list of ways you could help during one 8-hour day.

Information and activities are from KRP’s Count on Character NIE tab distributed by the NIE Institute.

Nominate High School Students for Outstanding Community Service

Posted on April 28, 2011 by Sue

PARADE and GenerationOn are teaming up to find this year’s All-America High School Service Team! For the 2nd year, they’ll recognize outstanding high school students who’ve made a significant contribution to their communities through health, education, the environment, economics or human rights. Deadline for nominations is May 17th. For more information visit: www.parade.com/service.

Food for thought

Posted on April 27, 2011 by Sue

Jeff Tiedeman, Herald food editor and my colleague, recently spoke to a group of students in Manvel, N.D. about growing vegetables and gardening. He was joined by Steve Sagaser, a Grand Forks County extension agent who specializes in horticulture.

Manvel, N. D. students

L-R: Steve Sagaser, a Grand Forks County extension agent who specializes in horticulture is pictured with Herald Food Editor Jeff Tiedeman.

Here is the link to Chef Jeff’s column in Wednesday’s paper http://www.grandforksherald.com/event/article/id/201562/

NEWSPAPER ACTIVITIES

1. Even comic strip characters have to eat. Clip any food-related comic strips from the newspaper, discuss the role food plays in the comic’s story, and then design a bulletin board to display the comic strips by theme. Extend this activity by using the grocery ads to plan a special dinner for your favorite comic strip character.

2. Pick any fruit or vegetable from newspaper grocery ads and find out where it comes from. Trace its origins on a map or globe.

3. Arrange a field trip to a nearby farm. Before you go, prepare a list of questions you’d like to ask the farmer about his work. After your visit, write a feature story describing how the farm operates.

4. Many people think packaging should be kept to a minimum so that excess waste isn’t created. As an example, individual bags of potato chips packed in a plastic-wrapped box use material that wouldn’t be necessary in a single bag of potato chips. Look through your newspaper’s food advertisements for examples of efficient and inefficient packaging. Pick one package that you consider inefficient and redesign it.

5. A product’s packaging sometimes influences us. From newspaper ads, select pictures of several packaged foods and discuss with your class whether the packaging for these products is appealing.

Activities are from KRP’s Food for Thought NIE tab distributed by the NIE Institute.

FYI … most of the food advertisements appear in the Sunday edition of the Grand Forks Herald.

Finley-Sharon 4th and 5th Graders

Posted on April 21, 2011 by Sue

Wednesday, April 20, 4th and 5th graders from Finley-Sharon School visited the Grand Forks Herald production plant. They are pictured above in the paper storage room with the giant rolls of newsprint. In the afternoon they went to the Northlands Rescue Mission and presented them with personal care items they had collected. They concluded their Grand Forks trip with a visit to the Circle of Friends Humane Society. Their teacher is Stephanie Dale.

Word Search Puzzle

Posted on April 15, 2011 by Sue

Do you like word search puzzles? Here’s one I put together using words related to the newspaper. Enjoy!

Click on the following link to download and print http://legacy.grandforksherald.com/pdfs/BROWSER’S%20WORD%20SEARCHr1.pdf

Desktop Publishing Students

Posted on April 14, 2011 by Sue

We had visitors from Mr. John Gruenberg’s desktop publishing class on Thursday, April 14. These students from Grand Forks Central had a chance to see how desktop publishing is used in the workplace – both in print and online.

Newspaper Jumble

Posted on April 6, 2011 by Sue

Here is a quick and easy word activity for your students…the Jumble puzzle in the newspaper. I was reminded of this when Mrs. Olsen and her high school mass communications students from Roseau were here for a tour last week.

Mrs. Olsen uses the Herald as a teaching tool in her classroom. She was telling me how some of her students complete the Jumble every day. After they complete the puzzle, they cut them out and post them on a bulletin board. They have over 50 of them on the bulletin board in her classroom. Here is the photo and email she shared with me.

From Mrs. Carla Olsen, High School English Teacher from Roseau, Minn: Attached is a photo of my students who complete the Jumble every day. They are Natalie Huff, Tanner Warne and Colin Anderson.

Thanks to Mrs. Olsen and her students for sharing this newspaper activity! If you have any newspaper activities you’d like to share, just send me an email and photos, if available.

Mrs. Olsen’s Mass Communications Class

Posted on April 1, 2011 by Sue

We had visitors on Thursday, 3/31/11 from Roseau, Minn. Each year Mrs. Olsen brings her mass communications students in grades 10-12 to the Grand Forks Herald to learn about the newspaper. The students receive the Grand Forks Herald each day during the school year through our Newspapers in Education Program. Mrs. Olsen uses the newspaper as a teaching tool. On the tour, the students learned how the newspaper is produced each day from start to finish. They also had the chance to visit with employees in each department of the Herald. The group also planned on touring WDAZ TV and Studio One in the afternoon.

Mrs. Olsen (left side of photo) and her mass communications students from Roseau, Minn. are pictured in the Herald newsroom with myself and Tom Dennis, Editorial Page Editor (right side of photo).

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Monthly Archives: April 2011