Category Archives: Activities Using the Newspaper

Cinco de Mayo

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Cinco de Mayo is a national holiday in Mexico, but it is also widely celebrated by Mexican-Americans in the United States. The holiday, which in Spanish means the “Fifth of May,” commemorates the Battle of Puebla, when Mexican patriots stopped a French invasion. It often is  confused with Mexico’s Independence Day, which is Sept. 16.
The Battle of Puebla victory was significant in that the smaller, less well-equipped army toppled the bigger, stronger one.

To honor the day, people throughout Mexico, as well as many cities throughout the United States, celebrate with festivals and fiestas, enjoying traditional Mexican food and special music and dances. People often don clothes of red and green — two of the colors of the Mexican flag (along with white).  -McClatchy Newspapers

ACTIVITIES from the KRP Ultimate Holiday Activity Guide

While most Mexican-Americans celebrate the traditional American holidays, many also continue to observe the major holidays of their homeland, such as Cinco de Mayo. Often, they do so with fiestas. Explain to students that fiesta means festival, a colorful celebration that can include fireworks, dancing, the ringing of bells, parades, and plenty of food and drink. Another Mexican tradition, the pinata, is also usually present. Pinatas, which are commonplace in many American celebrations, are usually made of papier-mache and are shaped like animals. Find a papier-mache “recipe” and old newspapers and help your students make a pinata for Cinco de Mayo. Display their work throughout the school.

Discuss other ways Mexican-Americans have had an influence on American society and your community. Ask students to find and clip newspaper stories and photos that illustrate this influence. They can create a bulletin board display in honor of this important Mexican national holiday.

Mexico is an important American neighbor. Things that happen in Mexico often affect the United States and vice versa. Have students look for a news story about an event or happening in Mexico that will have an impact on the United States. Allow them to discuss their conclusions. Then have them look for a U.S. story that might have an effect on Mexico.

Celebrate Earth Day with these Newspaper Activities

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Every day is Earth Day for people who care about the environment. But for one day each year, people all over the world join forces to call attention to the beauty of the Earth and the ways in which we can protect it.

Here are a number of activities to help you call attention to this special day.  These activities are from KRP’s Ultimate Holiday Activity Guide distributed by the NIE Institute.

1. Talk about environmental problems in your community. Have students find a newspaper story about one of those problems. Ask them how they would solve the problem, then have them write a letter to the editor of the newspaper expressing their thoughts.

2. Have students look through the newspaper’s advertisements for products that are promoted as environmentally friendly or safe for the environment. What conclusions can they draw from their findings? Encourage discussion.

3. Ask students to pick one product advertised in the newspaper and discuss the effects that product might have on the environment.

4. Instruct students to look through the newspaper for items that can be recycled. Ask them to list the items and find out if each can be recycled in your community. Conclude by having students come up with their own ways to recycle the newspaper (use as wrapping paper, line the bird cage, etc.). Encourage them to be creative.

A Curriculum Guide to Teach Environmental Education 

Click here to download the guide

Here is a 53 page guide you can download from the EGBAR Foundation titled “THE EGBAR Clean-Up Challenge.”  This curriculum was developed to help educators effectively and easily integrate environmental education into their classroom teaching. This curriculum guide covers a variety of environmental issues such as: sources of pollution, hazardous wastes, recycling, energy, renewable and non-renewable resources, global warming, and environmental laws. Each lesson is designed with a student objective, grade level recommendation, list of materials, discussion of teaching strategies for the lesson, and an opportunity to extend the lesson through additional activities. For each lesson there is an accompanying student activity sheet. The activity sheet is ready for you to copy and can be used as an independent assignment or cooperative learning activity.

Cool it: the good, the bad and what you can do about global warming

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Is there anything better than a warm, sunny day? All winter, we wait for the weather to warm up so we can throw off our sweaters and pull on our shorts. Warm days let us play in the parks and playgrounds, ride our bikes or head for the swimming pool.

But could our weather be getting too warm? Scientists think so. Environmental scientists and geoscientists study the Earth and its history. They measure and track all kinds of information so they can help us protect the environment. Scientists tell us what may happen in the future and give advice on taking care of our wonderful planet.

This NIE tab, Cool it: The Good, the Bad and What You Can Do About Global Warming was produced by KRP and distributed by the NIE Institute.

Download the tab by clicking here

Note: if you are going to print this pdf, you will need to adjust your print setting to fit on page. The pdf is bigger than 8.5 x 11 (normal print size.)

April lesson plans using the newspaper

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Here is a calendar with daily lesson plans using the newspaper for the month of April. The calendar is from the NIE Institute.

To download a printable copy, click on the following link:  April Lesson Plans

Spring Holidays

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From KRP’s The Ultimate Holiday Activity Guide. Here are some holidays that are observed in March and sometimes in April.

The Christian observances of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter, and the Jewish Passover are important religious holidays that fall in March or April. The Eastern Orthodox Easter, called Pascha, also falls into this time period.

Spring holy days provide many opportunities for you to discuss such concepts as tolerance and respect for each other’s beliefs. Begin a discussion of tolerance by explaining to students that tolerance means to put up with practices and beliefs that are different from your own. Then ask them to find five items in the newspaper: stories, photos and comics that are examples of tolerance or intolerance. Conclude by asking them to describe the effects of the acts of tolerance or intolerance in each example.

Instruct students to find a newspaper photo that shows diversity among a group of people. Ask: What differences do you see between the people pictured? Have students discuss the level of tolerance or intolerance portrayed in the photo.

April Fools’ Day Activities

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Information and activities are from A Plan For All Seasons: Using newspapers in grades 3-8 to make the most of holidays and seasonal events.  Written by Ann West, NIE Consultant and distributed by the NIE Institute.

April Fools’ Day is often celebrated with harmless pranks and foolish happenings.  In real life, many of us feel foolish on occasion about something we may have said or done without thinking.

The pages of the newspaper often contain news of people who have been foolish in some way.  Some people in the news may have not thought before they acted; others may have gotten caught doing something they should not have done, leaving them feeling foolish.

Create an April Fools’ Day Hall of Shame by selecting photos or names of people in the newspaper who have said or done something foolish.  These people may be famous people or they may not be so well known.  You may even want to find comic strip characters who have done or said somthing foolish.

Clip from the newspaper one or two examples of foolish people and mount the names or faces on a sheet of construction paper.  Explain the following items.

1.  WHO the person is

2.  WHAT the person said or did

3.  WHEN this person said or did it

4.  WHY you think this person deserves a place in the Hall of Shame

Grand Forks high school students teach respect & caring at elementary schools

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Red River High School drama students (L-R) Jacoba Woodard, Nic Rolph, Morgan Yound, Seth Cline and Erin Lesch present their annual Character Education performance for children at Century Elementary School Wednesday. Photo by Eric Hylden/Grand Forks Herald

Be sure to check out this story by Jennifer Johnson, Herald staff writer, in the Thursday, March 21 Grand Forks Herald.

With skits, Grand Forks high schoolers teach respect, caring at elementary schools

Here is an activity page on Respect to use with younger students.  Download by clicking on the following link:  RESPECT

Art Activities Using the Newspaper

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In celebration of the Art Wise Elementary Art Show March 19-21 in Grand Forks, here are some art activities to use with the newspaper from the NIE Institute.

Download and print the activities by clicking here

Art activities using the Newspaper:

1. Study the figures from the sport’s section. Note the position of a body when playing ball, running or jumping. Draw some of the figures in different positions.

2. Illustrate a news story noting place, persons, events, spectators, etc.

3. Using the expressions of the comic characters draw faces showing emotion; surprise, sad, happy, etc. Find photographs illustrating a variety of expressions.

4. Using cut-outs from ads, create a new ad considering: arousing attention, pleasing balance, pleasing colors and overall effect.

5. Use the comics to:

• Illustrate some of the comic characters.

• Discuss how artists communicate the idea of motion i.e. raised feet, body position, curved motion lines, etc.

• Color black and white comics.

• Analyze emotions; happy, sad, frightened, angry, etc. Discuss how the artists communicate emotion.

• For a study in shapes color all squares in red, rectangles in blue, circles in green, etc.

6. Use a photograph as a still life model.

7. Re-design a house in the classified ads. Enlarge or modify, re-design the outside by adding a patio, porch, second story, etc. Color a picture of a house in different colors to study how color affects appearance. Design the interior as described in the ad.

8. For a discussion of textures have students cut out pictures of things in the paper that have different textures. Paste on poster board or sheet of paper. Next to the picture write one word that describes the texture such as soft, furry, scratchy, smooth, etc.

9. Draw a caricature (a drawing of a person that makes a certain feature stand out) of someone in the news.

10. Create a person’s face by drawing features from a variety of faces; eyes, shape, hair, etc.

11. Find examples of different font styles in the paper. Select one style you like and try writing your name in this style.

12. Using animal photos in the newspaper, create an animal scene such as a zoo, circus, farmyard, jungle, etc.

13. Illustrate a newspaper ad that has no picture with it.

14. Younger students can make an alphabet book using headline and advertising letters. Use newspaper pictures to illustrate each letter.

15. Cut out a picture of a person in a sport’s scene. Have students draw a crowd watching the event and of other players in different positions surrounding the player.

16. Draw a comic strip based on a news story.

17. Create newspaper scrapbooks for a variety of themes; transportation, holidays, landscapes, buildings, plants, etc.

18. Collect and study photographs with regard to perspective, proportion, balance, shading, use of color, etc.

19. Watch the newspaper for stories of art related articles; art sales, shows and exhibits, art form, etc.

20. For a study of architecture have students design house plans based on descriptions of houses listed in the real estate ads.

21. Make a silhouette using the classified section as the paper for the head. Have students cut out words from the paper that describe them. Cut out the silhouette and paste it on a piece of construction paper with the describing words pasted around the head.

22. Illustrate a letter to the editor as a political cartoon.

23. Draw a map of the places mentioned in the front page news.

St. Patrick’s Day Newspaper Activities

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In Ireland and Northern Ireland, St. Patrick’s Day is a religious holiday in honor of the patron saint of Ireland. But in the United States, it is primarily a secular, or non-religious, holiday in which people don green attire and lucky shamrocks in celebration of Irish heritage. Parades are also a big part of St. Patrick’s Day in more than 100 U.S. cities.

Here are some activities from KRP’s Ultimate Holiday Activity Guide.

1. The shamrock a plant with three leaflets is a national symbol in Ireland. Find information on the shamrock, then, in the days leading up to St. Patrick’s Day, collect shamrocks found in newspaper ads.

2. Pretend you are going on a trip to Ireland to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. First, do research on Ireland to find out what the weather is like and which places you would like to visit. Then pack your bags using items found in the newspaper ads.

St. Patrick’s Day Newspaper Scavenger Hunt 

Find as many of these items as you can in the newspaper:

1. An advertisement for an item that would take a “pot of gold” to buy.

2. A recipe for preparing corned beef and cabbage.

3. A feature story about lucky people or events.

4. A city that might be able to see a rainbow due to their weather.

5. A list of all the different shades of green named in the paper.

6. Four lucky things you wish for, that you could write on each leaf of a four leaf clover.

7. Somewhere hosting a St. Patrick’s Day parade, party or dance.

8. Something Irish.

9. A photo of someone celebrating St. Patrick’s Day.

10. A story about someone who is helping others, like St. Patrick helped his fellow Irishmen.

11. Find a classified help wanted listed that would be a good job for a leprechaun.

12. A list of Irish names found in the obituary listings.

13. The name of a sport’s team whose colors are green & white.

14. A comic strip about St. Patrick’s Day.

The Saint Patrick’s Day Newspaper Scavenger Hunnt was provided by Diane Goold, Newspaper In Education Director, St. Joseph News-Press, St. Joseph, MO and Dale Miller (Essex County Newspaper)

Celebrate NIE Week with this FREE Resource!

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March 4-8 is Newspapers in Education Week.  To celebrate, we are offering this free newspapers activity guide, “I Know I Read it in the Newspaper.”

What was the final score of the game last night? Is it supposed to rain on Friday? What movies are playing?  Wouldn’t it be fun to have all the answers? It’s easy when you read the newspaper every day. “I Know I Read It in the Newspaper” takes you through the newspaper from front to back. It covers the different types of news, sports, features and advertising. It even includes a newspaper scavenger hunt. This guide was produced by KRP and distributed by the NIE Institute.

Click on the following link to download the guide

 I Know I Read it in the Newspaper

Newspapers are great for kids of all ages. Here are some activities from the Newspaper Association of America Parent Newspaper Guide to get you started:

1. Play a game with the index section of the newspaper. Read it with your child, or have your child read it to you. Have your child locate each section as you call out the page numbers. How are newspaper page numbers different than those in textbooks?

2. Walk your child through the entire newspaper. Discuss what kind of information can be found in the different sections.

3. After reading news stories, have your child tell you the Five Ws (who, what, where, when, why) and the H (how).

4. See if your family can predict the content of a newspaper story by only reading the headline.

5. Find news articles, pictures and advertisements in the newspaper that you think would tell about life today. Imagine that you and your child are responsible for preparing a scrapbook that you will give to your grandchildren and great grandchildren. Include things that you have in your home – or that are common in people’s homes today.