Communicate .. Create .. EdTech

We are fortunate in the Bay Area to have a resource for nonfiction reading material for our classrooms, and it revolves around the local newspaper.  Newsschool is a literacy program that provides not only the physical newspapers to the classroom, but a fairly complete collection of lessons and resources for teachers to use, at no cost to the school.  Newsschool is also available in an e-edition.

The program’s lessons integrate reading into math, science, and thinking skills for all grade levels.  Students learn how to read to gain information, determine what’s vital to the task at hand, and use what they read to support their claims.  They learn to think critically and support their own opinions with facts.  Students can use current events to make connections to what they learning in textbooks and other sources.  These skills are all essential aspects of meeting the Common Core. 

The Kid Scoop Teacher page specifically addresses the Common Core and how to use newspapers to meet the standards.  Teachers and parents will find warm-up activities, guides, videos and writing prompts. 

Creative teachers can devise their own units using the newspapers with ed tech tools students are already using.  

• Use Fotobabble to put together a food pyramid using grocery store ads.
• Extend Poetry Play but creating a visual component in Prezi.
• Use a slideshow program like Animoto to narrate the Good Turn writing piece.
• Have students write their Monsters Wanted ad in Doodlecast.