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LET’S CHAT NEWS! A Compilation of Ready-to-Use Activities

Teaching Current Events

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CONTENT

SOCIAL STUDIES MATH

• Sort and classify

• News Mapping

• More News Mapping

• Headline Match

• Local, National, or International

• Understanding the Media

• Creating Historical Newspapers

• Read a Map

• Play Current Events Game

• Voice Your Opinion

• Explore geography

• Culture Shot

• Around the globe with the New York Times

• Connecting the New York Times to Your World

• Censoring the press

• Debatable Issues

• Geography Bingo

• Branching out

• Page 1 meeting

• Page one bingo

• Mix and Match

• World history bingo

• The Decade that was: 50 fill ins

• Figuring an Average

• More Add Math

• Add Math #3

• Guess-timating

• Hunt for classified math

• Furnish a home

• News scavenger hunts

• The Shapes of The Times

• A graphic interpretation

• Picking stocks using the New York Times

• Around the world with different currencies

LANGUAGE ARTS SCIENCE

• A to Z Adjectives

• Listening for details

• Sequencing the Facts

• A Five W Variation

• Abbreviation/Acronyms Search

• Read and write for meaning

• You be the editor

• Arrange in sequence

• Why is it news?

• The five Ws

• Sort and classify

• Expand your vocabulary

• Scanning the page

• Reading and Reacting to Teenagers in the Times

• New York Times Reading Log

• One Question Interview

• Supporting Opinions with Facts

• A graph is worth a thousand words, or at least 50

• Postcards

• Venn Diagram

• Telling a Times Story

• Saying what’s said

• Punctuate This!

• Reading hard news with a soft touch

• Problem-solution

• List, group, label

• New York Times Vocabulary Log

• Play-by-play sports descriptions

• Double entry chart for close reading

• The Five Ws and an H

• Let it Flow

• Literature Bingo Quote

• Grammar, Punctuation, Spelling, and Usage Bingo

• The New York Times Scavenger Hunt

• Primary Document Analysis Questions

• Comparing Two or more Texts

• The One-Pager

• KWL Chart

• Fact/Questions/Response Chart

• Identifying Cause and Effect

• Multiple Points of View

• Science, Health, and Technology Bingo

• Weathering the Storm with The New York Times

• Charting the Weather

• Lab Experiment

• Plan a Healthy Menu

ARTS

• Make Papier-mâché

• Preserving the News

• Arts Section Bingo

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SOCIAL STUDIES

Section One

Sort and classify

Label each of seven shoe boxes with one of the following newspaper

categories: News, Editorials, Features, Humor, Advertising, Sports, and

Entertainment. Ask students to cut out the newspaper stories they read

each day and put each one in the appropriately labeled shoe box. At the

end of the week, have students skim as many of the stories as possible

and write an adjective describing each on index cards attached to each

box. You might suggest adjectives such as factual, sad, inspiring,

opinionated, misleading, silly, serious, and biased. Discuss and compare

the adjectives. What conclusions can students reach about each category

based on those words? (source: Education World)

News mapping

Post a map (a community, state, country, or world, depending on the

focus of your current events curriculum) on a bulletin board. Post

stories around the map and string yarn from each story to the location

on the map where the story takes. (source: Education World)

More news mapping

Take a look at the front page of the local newspaper each day/ Plot on

the map the location of each of the news stories on that page. Invite

students to use the scale of miles on the map to figure out how far each

place in the news is from your community. If longitude and latitude is a

skill your students are expected to master, students might plot each

location’s longitude and latitude to the nearest degree. (source:

Education World)

Headline match

Collect ten news stories and separate the story text from the headline.

Number each headline from 1-10. Assign a letter, from A-J, to each

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story text. Invite students to match each headline to the correct text.

(source: Education World)

Local, national, or international

To develop your students’ understanding of a news story’s “place”,

create a bulletin board divided into three sections. Invite students to

bring in from home news stories that might fit into each of the three

sections. News of the community or state will be posted in the “local”

section. News of interest around the country will fit in the “National”

section. And world news will be posted in the ‘international” section.


Understanding the media

Distribute advertisements cut from newspapers, and ask students to list

the products in order, according to the appeal of the ads. Create a chart

showing how students rated each product. Then distribute a list of the

following propaganda techniques:

• Bandwagon - the implication that “everybody else is doing it.

• Plain folks - the implication that “users of this product are just like

you.”

• Card stacking - distorting or omitting facts.

• Name-calling - stereotyping people or ideas.

• Glittering generalities - using “good” labels, such as patriotic,

beautiful, exciting, that are unsupported by facts.

• Testimonial - an endorsement by a famous person.

• Snob appeal - the implication that only the richest, smartest, or most

important people are doing it.

• Transference - the association of a respected person with a product

or idea.

Discuss each ad and determine the propaganda techniques used. Ask:

Which techniques were most effective? Which were the least effective?

What factors, such as gender, geographic location, or age might have

influenced the effectiveness of each technique? As a follow-up to the

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activity, you might ask students to design their own ads using one of the

propaganda techniques studied. (source: Education World)

Creating historical newspapers

Challenge students to create a newspaper about a period of time they are

studying. If students are studying US history, they might include stories

such as “Pilgrims and Indians Gather for Feast” and “Lincoln Wins

Elections.” The stories relate the facts as students have researched them.

Students should include each of the five Ws in their first paragraphs.


Read a map

Arrange students into groups and assign each group one international

story in the news. Have students explore Maps of the World and choose

a map related to their assigned story. Ask students to use the map to

answer some or all these questions:

A. In what city did the story take place?

B. What country is that city in?

C. What is the capital of that country?

D. What language is spoken there?

E. What continent is the country part of?

F. What countries or bodies of water border the country on the

north, south, east, and west?

G. What physical characteristics of the country might have

contributed to the events in the story?

H. What effect might the event or series of events have on the

physical characteristics of the country? (source: Education

World)

Play current events game

Make a list of five categories that might be created using the newspaper,

such as Countries, Weather Events, Mathematical Symbols, Movies,

and Technology Terms. Ask students to search the newspaper for

information related to each category and to write a question based on

the information they find. (Remind students to make a note of the

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answers to their questions). Arrange students into teams and use the

question-and-answer combinations to play a Jeopardy type of current

events game. (source: Education World)

Voice your opinion

Set up a tape recorder in a convenient location in the classroom. Pose to

students an opinion question and let them think about it for a few days.

When students are ready, they can take turns expressing their opinions

to the recorder. This can be a little less threatening for some students

than talking in front of a class would be. Later in the week, once all

students have had a chance to express their opinions, you might begin a

class discussion of the question by playing back the tape or by sharing

select opinions that you cull from it. (source: Education World)

Explore geography

Ask each student to search the newspaper for stories that illustrate each

of the five themes of geography -- location, place, human interaction

and the environment, movement and communication, and regions.

Display the stories on a classroom bulletin board labeled with the five

geography themes. (source: Education World)

Culture shot

Students clip and write about a Times photo that represents a

“snapshot” of American culture. (source: The New York Times)

Instructions (see end of unit for student worksheet)

• Along with your students, define “culture.” Ask them to

brainstorm the images that come to mind when they think of

“American culture” specifically.

• Invite students to each choose one New York Times photograph

from today’s Times that could represent present-day American

culture.

• Once students have selected their photographs, have them explain

their selections on the “Culture Shot” sheet and then clip them

out and display them on the front board in a class collage of

American culture.

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• As a class, identify commonalities and differences between

students’ visual perspectives on American culture.

Around the globe with The New York Times

A world map, labeled by region (not continent), for identifying where

Times coverage is focused. (source: The New York Times)


• Explain that an article’s “dateline” is located at the beginning of

the article, telling readers where a story was written.

• Model identifying a dateline from the front page of today’s New

York Times.

• Using just the front page and the “International” pages of the

front section of today’s New York Times, have small groups of

students examine the cities and countries listed in the datelines of

various articles.

• Have groups then turn to the “Around the Globe with The New

York Times” sheet and tally the number of dateline locations that

belong to each of the six regions included on the world map.

Students should write the tally numbers in the blank boxes

provided next to the labeled world regions. (If resources are

available, students could consult an atlas, globe, or the Internet to

help them determine the appropriate world region for each

dateline city and country.)

• If time permits, have groups compare their tally numbers for each

world region and discuss which regions are “hot” news spots and

why.

Connecting The New York Times to your world

Students reflect on how a Times article relates to their lives, experiences

and learning. (see end of unit for student worksheet) (source: The New

York Times)

Censoring the press

Chart for identifying articles published in The Times that would be

censored in other countries. (source: The New York Times)

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• Explain to students that the First Amendment to the United States

Constitution states that “Congress shall make no law … abridging

the freedom of speech, or of the press.”

• Ask students to imagine what it would be like to live in a country

where the government does not guarantee its citizens a “free press.”

To what types of news stories or articles would they be denied

access?

• Have students skim today’s issue of The New York Times and pick

out articles or images that they feel would probably not be published

in a country without a law guaranteeing freedom of the press.

• Invite students to compare their entries on the “Censoring the Press”

sheet and to reflect on how censorship like this might change the

society we live in.

Debatable issues

Chart for listing arguments on two sides of a controversy covered in

The Times. (see end of unit for student worksheet) (source: The New

York Times)

Geography bingo

Students play bingo to see how the National Geographic Standards can

be met by reading The Times. (see end of unit for student worksheet)

(source: The New York Times)

Branching out

Organizer for collecting Times articles about each of the three branches

of the United States government. (source: The New York Times)


• Review with the class that the United States government is divided

into three distinct branches: the legislative branch, the executive

branch and the judiciary branch.

• Have students turn to the “Branching Out” sheet to read brief

descriptions of the three branches of government.

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• Organize the class into small groups and have each group look

through today’s New York Times to find articles that address each of

these three branches of government. Students should write the

headlines of the relevant articles in the three boxes that represent the

three branches. For example, an article about the vice president

would be listed in the “Executive Branch” box, while an article

about a recent Supreme Court case’s decision would be listed in the

“Judiciary Branch” box.

• If time permits, hold a brief class discussion about particular articles

that highlighted the interaction or the “checks and balances” between

two or three of the branches.

Page 1 meeting

Students use a list of Times articles to determine which are most

important and deserve front-page placement. (source: The New York

Times)


• Before class and before students see the front page of today’s New

York Times, write the front-page headlines on the board in a random

order.

• Explain to the class that several times each day the top editors of The

Times have a “Page 1 meeting” where they decide which articles

planned for the next day’s newspaper are the most important and

should therefore start on the front page.

• Have students individually read the list of front-page headlines on

the board and decide which three headlines represent the three most

important news stories for today. Which one do they think was

considered the most important story today? Students should write

those headlines on the “Page 1 Meeting” sheet.

• Distribute copies of today’s New York Times and let students see

where their “top three stories” are positioned on today’s front page.

Explain to students that the Times editors position the paper’s lead

article in the upper right column of the page, and that the next two

top stories are placed to the left of that one.

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• Explain that there is almost always a special feature on Page 1 in

addition to the main news of the day. It might be a human-interest

story, a report on a new trend, an in-depth look at a topic or just an

article on something amusing or unusual. n If time permits, have a

brief discussion about how their “top stories picks” compared with

the Times’s choices and why they think the Times editors prioritized

their lead articles in the way that they did.

Page one bingo

Students play bingo by identifying and analyzing aspects of the front

page of any day’s Times. (see end of unit for student worksheet)


Mix and match

A news literacy game for students to try to identify which headlines

correspond to which articles. (source: The New York Times)


• Before class, clip or print out six articles from today’s New York

Times and make five photocopies of each article.

• With scissors, separate the headlines from their articles and place the

headlines in one batch of envelopes and the articles in another batch

of envelopes.

• Divide the class into five groups and hand each group a “headline”

envelope and an “article” envelope. Hold a contest to see which

group can correctly match headlines to articles in the shortest

amount of time.

• What reading strategies did the winning group use to quickly come

up with the right pairings? What did they learn about how headlines

are written? Have students complete the “Mix and Match: A Contest

to Match Headlines to Their Articles” sheet after the conclusion of

the contest.

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World history bingo

Students play Bingo to see how the Global History standards can be met

by reading The Times. (see end of unit for student worksheet) (source:

The New York Times)

The decade that was: 50 fill ins

A game to help you remember some key people, events, issues, and

inventions from the first decade of the 21st century, through filling in

the blanks in sentences from Times reporting on key stories. (source:

The New York Times)

https://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/18/the-decade-that-was-50-

fill-ins/

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LANGUAGE ARTS

Section Two

A to z adjectives

Each student writes the letters from A-Z on a sheet of paper. Challenge

students to search the day’s front page (or the entire newspaper if your

students are older) for an adjective that begins with each letter of the

alphabet. Students cut the adjectives from the newspaper and paste them

on their list. (source: Education World)

Listening for details

Students can do this activity individually or in a small group. Ask

students to listen carefully as you read aloud a story from the day’s

newspaper. Then hand out to students a sheet with questions about the

details from the story. The higher the grade, the harder (more detailed)

questions you can ask. Invite students or groups to respond to the

questions. Who caught the most detail? (source: Education World)

Sequencing the facts

Select a news story that includes a clear sequence of events. Write each

of the facts of the story on a separate strip of paper. Invite students to

order the sentence strips to tell the story in its correct sequence.

(Option: Once you’ve done this activity, you might invite students to do

the same thing. They can retell the events of a story in five simple

sentences, each written on a separate strip of paper. Then each student

shares the activity he/she created and a copy of the original story with

another student, who gets to try the activity.) (source: Education World)

A five W variation

Provide each student with a news story. The student lists on a separate

sheet of paper the who, where, when, what, and why of the story. Then

the students’ papers are collected and redistributed so no student has his

or her own sheet. Each student looks at their five W list and writes the

opening paragraph of a news story based on that information. At the end

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of the activity, students share their stories and the original stories to see

how they compare. How accurate were the students’ stories? (source:

Education World)

Abbreviations/acronyms search

The names of many common organizations are shortened to their

acronym from when used in news stories. For example, the American

Broadcasting Corporation becomes ABC, the National Organization for

Women becomes NOW, and the National Aeronautics and Space

Administration becomes NASA. Also, abbreviations are commonly

used for state names and some titles, such as Tex. (for Texas) or Sen.

(for Senator). Invite students to work in groups to find and create a list

of acronyms and abbreviations they find in the daily newspaper. (Note:

you might include the classified ad section in your students’ search.

Many abbreviations can be found there.) (source: Education World)

Read and write for meaning

Remove the headlines from several news stories. Display the headline-

less stories on a classroom bulletin board. Provide students with the

headlines and ask them to match each one of the stories. As students

replace the missing headlines, ask them to point out the words in the

headlines that helped them find the correct story. Then distribute

headlines from less prominent stories and ask students to choose one

and write a news story to go with it. When the stories have been

completed, provide each student with the story that originally

accompanied the headline. Ask: How close was your story to the

original? How effectively did the headline convey the meaning of the

story? You might follow up this activity by asking students to write

headline for their favorite fairy tale. (source: Education World)

You be the editor

Rewrite a news story to include ten errors of punctuation, capitalization,

or grammar. (Emphasize skills your students are working on in class

wherever possible.) Invite students to “edit” your story free of errors.


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Arrange in sequence

Cut up some popular comic strips, provide each student with one

complete strip, and ask students to put the comics back in the correct

order. Or arrange students into groups, provide each group with several

cut-up strips from the same comic, and ask them to separate the panels

into strips and arrange the strips in the correct order. Then introduce

older students to a series of stories about an ongoing news event and ask

them to arrange the stories in the order in which they appeared.

Encourage them to use the stories to create a news timeline. (source:

Education World)

Why is it news?

1. Each day, newspaper editors around the world must make decisions

about which stories they will publish. Stories make it into

newspapers for many different reasons. Invite students to look at the

stories that have made the front page of a local newspaper during the

last few days and to talk about why each of those stories made

headlines. Among the reasons students might come up with are

these:

A. Timeliness - News that is happening right now, news of interest

to readers right now.

B. Relevance - The story happened nearby or is about a concern of

local interest.

C. Magnitude - The story is great i size or number; for example, a

tornado that destroys a couple houses might not make the news

but a story about a tornado that devastates a community would be

very newsworthy.

D. Unexpectedness - Something unusual, or something that occurs

without warning.

E. Impact - News that will affect a large number of readers.

F. Reference to someone famous or important -News about a

prominent person or personality.

G. Oddity - A unique or unusual situation.

H. Conflict - A major struggle in the news.

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I. Reference to something negative - Bad news often “sells” better

than good news.

J. Continuity - A follow-up or continuation to a story that has been

in the news or is familiar.

K. Emotions - Emotions (such as fear, jealousy, love, or hate)

increase interest in a story.

L. Progress - News of new hope, new achievement, new

improvements.

In the days ahead, study each front-page story and talk about why

editors decided to put the story on page one. Which reasons on the

students’ list would explain the newsworthiness of the story? (source:

Education World)

The five Ws

Introduce students to the 5Ws found in most news stories. Often, the

five Ws are introduced in a story’s opening paragraph. Create an

overhead transparency of a major news story. Invite students to talk

about the who, where, when, what, and why of the story. Circle or

highlight and label the area of the story that tell each of the five Ws.

Then provide each student or group of students with a news story and

ask them to report to the class the who, where, when, what, and why of

the story. Students might underline each of the five Ws with a different

colored crayon. (source: Education World)

Sort and classify

Label each of seven shoe boxes with one of the following newspaper

categories: News, Editorials, Features, Humor, Advertising, Sports, and

Entertainment. Ask students to cut out the newspaper stories they read

each day and put each one in the appropriately labeled shoe box. At the

end of the week, have students skim as many of the stories as possible

and write an adjective describing each on index cards attached to each

box. You might suggest adjectives such as factual, sad, inspiring,

opinionated, misleading, silly, serious, and biased. Discuss and compare

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the adjectives. What conclusions can students reach about each category

based on those words? (source: Education World)

Expand your vocabulary

Assign each student a letter of the alphabet. Ask students to browse

through the newspaper, find five unfamiliar words beginning with the

assigned letter, and look up the definition of each. Then have each

student create and illustrate a dictionary page containing the five words

and their meanings. Combine the pages into a classroom dictionary. In a

variation of this activity, you might ask students to look in the

newspaper for any of the following:

• words with a particular suffix or prefix

• words containing a particular vowel sound or consonant blend

• compound words

• words in the past, present, and future tenses

• possessives

• plurals

Older students might look for examples of similes, metaphors, irony,

hyperbole, and satire. (source: Education World)

Scanning the page

Provide a copy of a news story for this activity that teaches the skill of

“skimming for information”, or let all students work with their copy of

the front page of the same daily paper. Provide a list of words from the

story/front page and invite students to skim the page to find as many of

those words as they can. Set a time limit. Who finds the most words

before time runs out? (source: Education World)

Reading and reacting to teenagers in the times

Students can react, keep notes, pose questions and record ideas while

scanning our monthly. Teenagers in The Times featured Student. (see

end of unit for student worksheet) (source: The New York Times)

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New York times reading log

Students read a Times article and then record what they learned and

what it means to them. (source: The New York Times)

One question interview

Students interview classmates or others on a topic related to a Times

article, then draw conclusions. (source: The New York Times)


Materials: Newsprint, markers, tape, one-question interview form

• Tape newsprint to the blackboard or wall.

• Tell students that they are each to think of a question related to

the idea of your theme (e.g., community). Or you can ask them to

think of a question they have about a topic in today’s New York

Times.

• Each student must offer one question. It helps if you offer a

question first as a model (e.g., How many different ethnic groups

live in your community? Or, if you are using The Times: What is

the most important news today about a foreign country?).

• Once you have generated a list of questions, tell students to

choose a question they are most interested in asking.

• If you don’t have the time to do this, you can generate a list in

advance. n Write student’s initials next to the question they

chose.

• Distribute the one-question interview form.

• Tell students to write their question at the top of the page. Then

tell them that they will have to get up and ask everyone in the

room their question. They must take notes on the person’s name

and response to the question.

• When everyone is finished, tell students to sit down.

• Students must then analyze the information they collected by

noting how many people they interviewed, what responses they

recorded and what conclusions they can draw.

• Have a discussion with students about the idea of being a

researcher and the value of interviews to gather information

firsthand.

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• You may ask students to find a partner and share the results of

their interviews with that partner. Or see if any students would

like to share with the whole class. This activity may take a long

time. Allow for it. It is a wonderful opportunity for students to

practice speaking, listening, note-taking and getting to know each

other. Further, if you are teaching your students about research, it

is a way to hook them in before you start. They have so much fun

doing the activity, they don’t realize that they have just

completed research.

Supporting opinions with facts

Students pull viewpoints and supporting facts from a Times opinion

article, then develop a counterpoint. (source: The New York Times)


• Establish that although The New York Times features many

factual or objective news articles, it also contains subjective

pieces or persuasive writing such as editorials, op-eds, reviews

and essays.

• Direct students to read a particular editorial or op-ed from today’s

New York Times and to select one opinion and one related fact

from the article to write on the “Supporting Opinions with Facts”

sheet.

• After students have listed an opinion and a related fact, have

them speculate about what another person could say in opposition

to the opinion and supporting fact presented in the article.

Students should write these counter-arguments on the

“Supporting Opinions with Facts” sheet as well.

• If time permits, have a brief discussion about the subject of the

article, calling on students to detail the relevant opinions,

supporting facts and potential counter-arguments.

A graph is worth a thousand words, or at least 50

Students write a textual explanation of a graph clipped from The Times.



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• Assist students in locating any charts or graphs found in today’s

New York Times, and in helping them identify each type of

graph. For example, students may have found line graphs, bar

graphs, or circle graphs (also known as pie charts).

• Have each student clip out one of the graphs found in today’s

paper and paste it onto the “A Graph Is Worth a Thousand

Words, or at Least 50 …” sheet.

• Challenge students to complete the sheet by explaining in writing

what their chosen graphs represent.

• Emphasize that students need not describe in writing each aspect

of the graph; they may instead make generalizations based on the

figures (e.g., “As time progressed, the price of gasoline in the

United States increased.”).

Postcards

Students write mock postcards to and/or from a subject in a Times

article. (see end of unit for student worksheet) (source: The New York

Times)

Venn diagram

Classic Venn Diagram for comparing two topics, issues, etc. covered in

the The Times. (see end of unit for student worksheet) (source: The

New York Times)

Telling a Times story

Students create storyboards with captioned “scenes” corresponding to

events in a Times article. (see end of unit for student worksheet)


Instructions

• Explain to students that filmmakers create storyboards to help

them visualize particular scenes before they begin to actually start

production on a movie or show.

• Ask students to choose an article from today’s New York Times

that they could retell in pictures using the storyboard format

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provided on the “Telling a Times Story: Reinterpreting News

Through a Storyboard” sheet.

• First, have students decide how they wish to organize their

chosen article into six graphic frames. Students could use the

storyboard format like a visual outline of the article, where each

image sequentially corresponds to a specific line or paragraph

from the article. Or, students could choose to use the storyboard

frames to tell the chronological events of the event described in

the news article.

• Then, invite students to draw images in each of the six frames to

graphically represent different sections of the article or to retell

the event described in the article.

• Finally, students should provide a caption for each of the frames

that “captures” the essence of each image; these captions could

be original or quotations from the text of the article.

Saying what's unsaid

Students add speech and thought bubbles to New York Times

photographs. (source: The New York Times)


• Have each student clip a photograph from today’s New York

Times that is related to a particular article and that features at

least one person. The photograph can be pasted on the “Saying

What’s Unsaid: Adding Speech and Thought Bubbles to New

York Times Photographs” sheet or on a larger sheet of blank

paper.

• Invite students to read the related article and to draw comics-style

speech or thought bubbles on the photograph to communicate

something they learned about the subject of the photograph by

reading the article. For example, if the photo depicts two election

candidates shaking hands but the article discusses their

differences of opinion, a student could create thought or speech

bubbles that express their true feelings or “hidden agendas.

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Punctuate this!

Students “scrub” punctuation marks out of a Times article, then put the

needed marks into a partner’s “scrubbed” article. (source: The New

York Times)


• Instruct students to each secretly choose one or two paragraphs

(not exceeding four or five sentences total) from an article in

today’s New York Times. Instruct students to rewrite the

paragraph or paragraphs on the “Punctuate This!” worksheet

without any punctuation.

• Invite each student to swap his or her unpunctuated paragraph or

paragraphs with another student in the class.

• Have students add punctuation to their partners’ paragraphs that

will make the writing clearer and easier to read.

• Have students compare their punctuation additions to the original

punctuation used in The Times. Did the students’ punctuation

choices alter the original meaning of the paragraphs in any way?

Reading hard news with a soft touch

Students generate feature article ideas based on hard news stories in The

Times. (source: The New York Times)


• Explain that news articles can be classified as “hard news” or as

feature stories, also known as “soft news.” Hard news refers to

articles that cover breaking news and usually begin with a first

paragraph filled with the most important information about a

current event. Features or soft news refers to articles that are not

necessarily tied to breaking news and are written with more of a

human-interest focus.

• Give a brief example of how hard news stories can often inspire

journalists to write feature articles. For example, a hard news

article might focus on a battle during a particular conflict, while

news of this event could inspire a journalist to write a feature

about how those fleeing the conflict are struggling to live in

refugee camps.

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• Have students read a hard news article from today’s New York

Times and then list particular facts and related feature ideas on

the “Reading Hard News with a Soft Touch” sheet.

• Alternatively, students could select and clip a hard news article

from today’s New York Times and tape it to the center of a larger

blank page of paper. Then, in the blank area around the article

itself, students could write ideas for possible feature stories based

on this article.

Problem solution

Students list both the problems and the solutions suggested in a Times

article about a particular issue; they then brainstorm their own additions

to both lists. (see end of unit for student worksheet) (source: The New

York Times)

List, group, label

Students sort a list of words pulled from a Times article by discerning

patterns and word associations, then guessing the topic of the article.



• Choose an article from The New York Times that you would like

to evaluate with your class.

• Before class, type a separate list of twenty words or short phrases

from the article that represent an interesting mix of concepts that

don’t completely “give away” the content of the article but hint at

it. (Choose a mix of “easy words” everyone will know, harder

vocabulary appropriate to the subject, and a mix of parts of

speech — including verbs, adjectives, and both proper and

common nouns.)

• Make as many copies of the words as you estimate there will be

small groups of 4–5 students in your classroom. Cut the sets of

words up into individual words and put a set of each into an

envelope for each small group. As students enter the classroom,

arrange them in small groups and hand each group an envelope of

words and a handful of blank sticky notes. Inform students that

33

these envelopes of words will be used in a “List, Group, Label”

game shortly.

• Explain to students that the envelopes contain words and names

from a New York Times article that they will have to sort into

categories. Each group will determine and name these categories

themselves, and each category should have at least one word in it,

though the same word can appear in multiple categories. Instruct

groups to take the words out of the envelopes when you say “go”

and to begin discussing the words’ meanings and relationships

(with the aid of a dictionary if possible). Once groups have

decided how they will categorize their words, they should use the

sticky notes or the “List, Group, Label” sheet to record the names

of the categories they have created. n Invite students to walk

around the classroom to observe how the other groups grouped

and labeled the same set of words and names. What

commonalities or patterns do they see? What differences? Based

on this exercise, what do they expect the article that contains

these words to be about?

• Have students read the article. As students read, you may notice

that they are much more aware of the words from the exercise,

their meanings and their relationships to the content of the piece.

New York Times vocabulary log

A chart for developing vocabulary using words in The Times. (see end

of unit for student worksheet) (source: The New York Times)

Play by play sports descriptions

A writing activity based on descriptive language in a Times sports

article. (source: The New York Times)


• Explain that New York Times sports writers are known for their

colorful coverage of sports events around the world, and they

often use descriptive verbs, adverbs and adjectives to give readers

a feeling for the events’ drama.

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• Have students select and read an article from today’s New York

Times Sports section that covers a recent sports event.

• Instruct students to rewrite one sentence from their chosen

articles on the “Play-by-Play Sports Descriptions” sheet,

replacing two or three of what they consider key descriptive

words with fill-in-the-word blanks.

• Under each blank, students should label the part of speech of the

word that was omitted from that place. (Students may need to

consult dictionaries in order to determine each word’s part of

speech in the context of its sentence.)

• Invite each student to swap his or her “Play-by-Play Sports

Descriptions” sheet with another student in the class.

• Have students complete their partners’ sentences with descriptive

words that they think fit well in the blanks and that correspond

with the parts of speech labels under the blanks.

• Have students reveal to their partners the original sentences as

they appeared in the sports articles and then compare their

partners’ word choices with the original words in The Times.

What was the original intent of the writer? How did changing just

a few key descriptive words of the sentence change the

sentence’s meaning or tone?

Double entry chart for close reading

Columns for recording specific lines or details from a text and noting

comments, questions and observations about them. (see end of unit for

student worksheet) (source: The New York Times)

The five Ws and an H

Students summarize the answers to the questions Who? What? Where?

When? Why? How? about a Times article. (see end of unit for student

worksheet) (source: The New York Times)

Let it flow

Students try to put paragraphs cut from a Times opinion piece back into

the correct sequence. (source: The New York Times)

35

Instructions: (see end of unit for student worksheet)

• Distribute a copy of today’s New York Times to each student in

the class and then arrange the class in student partnerships.

• Have each student quickly select an editorial or op-ed from the

paper, but partners should make sure not to choose the same

articles. At this point students should not read the articles; they

should more or less randomly select them.

• Direct students to cut up their chosen articles into separate

paragraphs (without the headlines) and to place the paragraphs

into envelopes. (Tip: Advise students to trim their paragraphs so

that their partners can not “cheat” by simply reassembling the

paragraphs like puzzle pieces based on their original cut marks.)

• Have students exchange envelopes with their partners and have

students assemble their partners’ paragraphs in the order they

think makes the most sense and maintains the best logical “flow”

for the reader.

• After students have settled on paragraph order, have them

complete the “Let It Flow!” sheet, reflecting on their reasons for

deciding upon a particular sequence of paragraphs.

• After students have settled the “Let It Flow!” sheet, have them

look at the articles as they originally appeared in the newspaper.

Did they recreate the original order of paragraphs? What clues

led them to arrange the paragraphs in a specific order? Note: This

exercise could also be done by cutting up and scrambling

individual sentences instead of paragraphs. If taking this route,

emphasize the relationship between transition words and sentence

flow.

Literature bingo quote

Students apply famous quotes from literature to current or historical

real-life events. (see end of unit for student worksheet) (source: The

New York Times)

36

Grammar, punctuation, spelling, and usage bingo

Students play bingo to find examples of language usage in The Times.

(see end of unit for student worksheet) (source: The New York Times)

The New York Times scavenger hunt

A news literacy game for students to “hunt” through any edition of The



• Have students compete against a timer or against their classmates

to see how fast they can answer the scavenger hunt questions

listed on the “The New York Times Scavenger Hunt” sheet. Set a

time limit for the hunt; fifteen minutes is suggested.

Primary document analysis questions

Basis questions that can be applied to thinking about any primary. (see

end of unit for student worksheet) (source: The New York Times)

Comparing two or more texts

Use with our new Text to Text series, or for comparing texts of any

kind. (see end of unit for student worksheet) (source: The New York

Times)

The one-pager

Students create a one-page reaction to a Times article by pulling out a

quote, posing a question and illustrating an aspect of the story. (see end

of unit for student worksheet) (source: The New York Times)

KWL chart

Students note what they know and want to know on a topic, and then

record what they learned after reading a Times Article. (see end of unit

for student worksheet) (source: The New York Times)

37

Fact /question/response chart

Students note facts from a Times article, then pose questions and

personal responses. (see end of unit for student worksheet) (source: The

New York Times)

Identifying cause and effect

Organizer for noting the causes and effects of an event covered in The



• Choose any section of today’s New York Times and have

students skim the front page of that section for two minutes.

Elicit from the class any “breaking news” stories that the students

learned of in that initial review of today’s paper. Then, without

reading any of the news stories further, choose one of the news

events and have students theorize about what possible causes led

to that event.

• After students have speculated about the multiple causes behind

the news event, have students join partners to read the news

article in its entirety and complete the “Identifying Cause and

Effect” diagram by identifying any additional causes of the event

and adding any of its effects (described in the article).

• Emphasize to students that some “effects” may also act as

additional “causes.” For example, if students are reading about a

merger between two businesses, they may discover that the

merger caused the reduction of employee benefits, and the

reduction of benefits caused a labor strike among employees.

• Students might also be invited to predict future effects or even

“effects of effects” that might result from this news event. For

example, an immediate effect of Hurricane Katrina was that

many people migrated to other cities like Houston; an effect of

that effect was that schools, housing and other services in those

areas were strained by the sudden influx of refugees.

38

Multiple points of view

Organizer for identifying up to four points of view on a single topic

covered in The Times. (source: The New York Times)


• Choose an article from today’s New York Times that describes

an event or topic and multiple perspectives or points of view

about the particular news story.

• Direct students to read the article and to identify four different

points of view from the article on the “Multiple Points of View”

sheet.

• Emphasize that the points of view could be explicitly stated in the

article or inferred by the reader. For example, if the article reports

recent election results but only quotes the winning candidate,

students could infer that the losing candidate and his or her

constituents would represent additional points of view about the

election.

• At the bottom of the “Multiple Points of View” sheet, have

students choose two of the four points of view and summarize

their feelings or reactions to the subject of the article in more

detail.

66

MATH

Section Three

Figuring an average

Students might collect classified “Homes for sale” ads for ten homes in

a given area or for homes of a given size (e.g., two-bedroom homes).

Invite students to figure from ads the average cost for a home. (or

students might figure the average rent for homes of a similar

characteristics from the “apartments for rent” section of the newspaper.)


More add math

Invite each student to choose a job ad from the newspaper classifieds;

the ad must include a yearly salary figure. (teach students that the term

“40K” often seen in job ads is short for $40,000.) Invite students to

figure from that salary figure the average monthly, weekly, daily (based

on a 5-day week), and hourly (based on an 8-hour day) salary for that

job. (source: Education World)

Add math

Provide a group of five ads from a local newspaper and the section of

the paper that describes how much it costs to place an ad. Invite

students to use the per-word or per-line cost information to figure out

how much it cost to run each of the five ads. (source: Education World)

Guess-timating

Provide each student with a copy of a news story. (story length will vary

depending on grade level.) Invite students to count the number of words

in each of the first five lines of the story and to guess-timate, based on

that figure, how many words long the whole story is. Older students

might average the number of words in the first five lines and consider

half-lines and other elements of a story to come up with a more accurate

figure. Let students share their estimates and how they arrived at them.

Then inform students of the exact number of words in the story (which

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you have pre-counted). A prize goes to the winner. (source: Education

World)

Hunt for classified math

Ask students to use classified pages of the newspaper to do the

following:

• Calculate the average price of a 1985 Cadillac

• find what fraction of the newspaper is composed of classified ads

• figure out the cost of running a 30-word ad for one week

• estimate the total number of classified ads (based on ads per

column and columns per page).

• compare bank interest rates and determine the most and least

interest $100 would earn in one year in your area.

• find what percentage of job openings start with T. As a follow-up

to this activity, ask each student to create a classified ad and

exchange it with a classmate. Ask: Was all the necessary

information included? If not, what was missing? (source:

Education World)

Furnish a home

Invite students to use store ads to figure the cost of furnishing a home.

You might provide a list of items for each of four rooms, including a

living room, a kitchen, a dining room, and a bedroom. For example,

living room furniture might include a couch and a side chair, a coffee

table, a television, and an air conditioner. Older students might also

need to figure the cost of carpeting the living room. (options: Provide

students with a budget for furnishing a four-room home and let them set

priorities for the furnishings they’ll select. For older students, state and

local sales taxes might be figured as part of the total cost.) (source:

Education World)

News scavenger hunts

Provide students with a list of things to find on the front page of today’s

newspaper. Students might hunt in the paper for math-related words and

terms (a percent, a measurement of distance, a cost, an address, and a

68

fraction) or grammar-related terms (a present-tense verb, a past-tense

verb, a proper noun, an abbreviation, a colon, and a list separated by

commas). Or students might scavenge the main sports page for a list of

sports-related terms. Or you might let students work in small groups to

hunt for as many nouns (or proper nouns, or verbs) they can find in a

story or on the front page. The group that finds the most is the winner.


The shapes of the times

Simple geometry activity in which students find circles, squares,

rectangles and triangles in the pages of The Times. (source: The New

York Times)


• In order to show that geometric shapes surround us at all times, take

a moment and have students find as many shapes as they can in the

classroom — square windows, rectangular doors, circular clocks,

spherical globes, etc. As you identify each shape, briefly establish

what properties define each shape (e.g., number of sides, types of

corners).

• Once you have explored your classroom for common geometric

shapes, organize the class into small groups and distribute copies of

The New York Times to each group.

• Have groups turn to the “The Shapes of the Times” sheet and try to

find an example of each geometric shape listed in the table in the

pages of The Times.

• Inform students that shapes might be found in advertisements,

graphs, photographs or drawings.

• If time permits, students could clip the different geometric shapes

they identified in The Times and create a geometric shapes collage

with construction paper and glue.

A graphic interpretation

Students use data provided in a Times article to create a graph or chart.



69

• Explain to students that sometimes it is easier to interpret

statistics or data presented in a graph rather than written about in

an article.

• With this consideration in mind, direct small groups of students

to each find an article in The New York Times that they believe

could benefit from the addition of a graph to illustrate statistical

data found in the article.

• Have group members collectively plan and draw the type of

graph (line, bar or circle) that they think could best illustrate the

data from their chosen article. Graphs can be drawn on the “A

Graphic Interpretation” sheet.

• Groups can then display their articles and original graphs in

poster form.

Picking stocks using The New York Times

Students create mock stock portfolios for, and practice investing in,

leading companies covered in The Times. (source: The New York

Times)


• On the board, write the names of 10 companies with which

students are familiar and that are represented in the current “S&P

100,” or the 100 leading U.S. stocks (e.g., Coca Cola, Dell,

Disney, Ford, Google, McDonalds). (You can survey the “S&P

100 Stocks” list yourself by looking on the “Market Gauges”

page of the Business Day section.)

• Explain to students that today they will be putting together a

stock portfolio of their top five stock picks of the day.

• Without revealing the stock values for any of the companies,

instruct students that they may “buy” 100 shares of stock divided

among any five stocks listed on the board. For example, a student

may decide to purchase 20 shares of each of the five stocks of her

choice or she may decide to purchase 80 shares of one stock and

just five shares of each of the other four stocks in her portfolio.

• Once students decide in which stocks they are investing and how

they are allocating their 100 shares of stock among the five

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stocks, have them fill in the first two columns of their stock

portfolio charts, located on the “Picking Stocks Using The New

York Times” sheet.

Around the world with different currencies

Chart for figuring out the values of various nations’ currencies. (source:

The New York Times)


• Ask students to imagine that they were just given the opportunity

to travel around the world — for a limited time and within a

certain budget, of course.

• Have students turn to the “Foreign Exchange” tables located in

the Business section of today’s New York Times and choose

three countries they would like to visit on their world tour, each

from a different region of the world (there are six world regions

listed).

• Tell students that they will be given $500 to spend in each of the

three destination countries.

• Have students calculate how many foreign currency units they

will receive in exchange for their American dollars in each

country and enter those figures on the “Around the World with

Different Currencies” sheet. (Students should convert the

currency values by multiplying 500 by the most recent closing

market price listed in the “Dollars in Foreign Currency” column

of the table.)

• If time permits, students could also examine the difference in

currency values for each country between the two days listed in

the table. Which country or world region’s currency values

experienced the most change in that time period? What forces

may contribute to volatility in various currency markets?

75

SCIENCE

Section Four

Science, health, and technology bingo

Students play bingo to identify information in science, technology and

health articles in any day’s Times. (source: The New York Times)


• Explain to students that they are about to compete in a Bingo

game which will require them to find various science, health and

technology references in The New York Times. Take advantage

of Tuesday’s Science Times section for this activity.

• Have students use The Times to find science, health and

technology references that fit the criteria in each box on the

“Science, Health and Technology Bingo” sheet.

• Once a student or partnership has completed a row vertically,

horizontally or diagonally, they should call out “Bingo!”

• When someone calls out “Bingo,” have the student read aloud the

items in his or her winning row and then verify his or her status

as a winner.

Weathering the storm with The New York Times

Students use the forecast in the paper to create weather-related PSA’s.



• Instruct students to examine the weather patterns in the large

“Weather Report” map in today’s New York Times, using the

color-coding and symbol key charts located under the map.

• Have students use the “Weather Report” map and temperature

range tables to write a weather-related public service

announcement for their home city or state, or for a destination to

which they wish to travel.

• Explain that the service announcement should contain advice for

people about how they can best prepare for the weather in their

vicinity. For example, the announcement may advise people to

76

wear sunscreen with SPF 40, to carry an umbrella or to guard

against weather-related health hazards such as frostbite or

dehydration.

• If time permits, have students share their public service

announcements with partners or small groups.

Lab experiment

A template for stating the purpose and hypothesis of an experiment;

explaining the procedure; recording, analyzing and discussing results;

and drawing conclusions. (see end of unit for student worksheet)


Charting the weather

The weather page in the newspaper can be the starting point for many

great classroom activities. The class might follow the local weather for

a week or a month and create charts and graphs to show the ups and

downs of temperatures. Or each student might follow the weather of a

different city in the United States (or the world) for a set period.

Students can use the collected information to compare weather (high

and low temperatures, total precipitation, sky conditions, etc.) in

different places. (source: Education World)

Plan a healthy menu

After a study of nutrition, invite students to plan a healthy menu for a

day. Provide three paper plates for each student; each plate represents a

different meal - breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Invite students to find and

cut out from newspapers, magazines, store ads, etc., pictures of foods

and to arrange them into healthful meals on the three plates. Invite

students to share the results, which will make a colorful and attractive

bulletin board. (source: Education World)

80

ARTS

Section Five

Make papier- mâché

When you’ve done everything else you can think of with your

newspaper, don’t throw it away. Make paper- mâché! Here’s how:

• Make a paste by mixing together ½ cup of flour and 2 cups of

cold water. Add the paste to 2 cups of boiling water and return to

a boil. Remove from heat and stir in 3 tablespoons of sugar. Let

the mixture cool and thicken. You can also make a quick no-cook

paste by simply adding water to flour until it forms a soupy mix.

(since flour-based pastes get moldy over time, you might want to

use powdered wallpaper paste mixed with water for a longer-

lasting creation.)

• Tear newspaper into narrow strips, and dip the strips into the

paste, coating them completely. Squeeze out excess paste and

drape the strips over a mold, such as a balloon or shaped chicken

wire, overlapping the edges.

• Apply as many layers as necessary, allowing each layer to dry

before putting on another layer.

• Decorate as desired. (source: Education World)

Preserving the news

Dissolve a milk of magnesia tablet in a quart of water, and let it stand

overnight. Pour the mixture into a flat baking pan large enough to hold

the news clippings that you want to preserve. Place the clippings in the

solution so they’re completely covered by the liquid. Let them soak for

an hour. Then take them out and pat them dry. They’ll be crisp and new

for a long time to come. (source: Education World)

Arts Section Bingo

Created for kids’ Night on Broadway, this special Bingo game can be

used with any day’s Arts Section. (see end of unit for student

worksheet) (source: The New York Times)

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