Newspapers

• Using newspaper reports as models for chil-dren’s own writing for a class or school newspaper. Children can look, for example, at how headlines help the reader. For younger children, some teachers find it helpful in getting the format right if teachers provide column-sized strips of paper on which to write. These also help children edit their work to fit a limited space (Guardian newspaper website helps).

• Interviewing adults and children in school using a note book or tape recorder for an article in the class or school newspaper.

• Comparing the front pages of different newspapers and designing their own front pages using appropriate language and headlining and attending to where to start new paragraphs.

• Looking at the purposes behind newspaper accounts – is a reporter trying to inform, persuade or make something sound sensational to sell more copies? How does the audience at which a newspaper is aimed affect its language and content.

• Considering how reporters use direct speech and quotation to add interest to an article.

• Studying the visual aspects – to see how photographs, maps and drawings communicate, explain, complement or extend the verbal element.

• Using old newspapers as a primary source and where both English and history perspectives can be brought to bear.

• Using reports, articles and letters about local or national matters of interest as a starting point for children’s debates and persuasive kinds of writing (the Newswise Internet site helps here).

• Improvising drama round what happens in a newspaper office: a teacher might be ‘in role’ as editor while children act as reporters and office staff.