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The
Weekly News, Part 1
Designed
by: Anna
Messer, Bradley Elementary
1)
CORE CURRICULUM OBJECTIVE: Keep
journals and write drafts in
English language arts and other disciplines to
understand and record experiences and ideas. (5-WA-4)
GRADE
LEVEL:
Five
SUBJECT:
Reading (Writing)
2)
OVERVIEW:
Students will use journals to collect and record
information about things that have been happening in
their schools.
They will use their knowledge of the writing
process to prioritize their information and
reorganize it into a weekly article for a classroom
news report. The
process for producing and reporting the news will
come in the 2nd lesson, The Weekly
News, Part 2.
3)
FOCUS/ESSENTIAL QUESTION(S): Why is it
important to know about what has been happening in
our school? How can we use journals to find out about and record the
things that have been happening?
4)
TIME FRAME: five,
fifty minute class periods to introduce and go
through the process one time. (This can be continued
on a weekly basis for the rest of the school year if
you choose to do so.)
5)
RESOURCES/MATERIALS:
TEACHER
= newspapers, chart paper, and markers
STUDENTS =
journals and pencils
6)
CULMINATING ASSESSMENT: Each
student or group of students will be responsible for
composing an article based on journal notes and
ideas for the classroom news report.
They will use the writing process to ensure
that their articles have gone through the
appropriate stages.
Their articles will then be assessed using
the following rubric.
Each student or group will be given a rubric
prior to the completion of their final draft. There
will be ten features for a quality news article or
report. Each
feature will be ranked from 1 to 10, with 1 being
the low end and 10 being the high end. The scale
used to assign percent value will be based on the
total points earned and will follow this breakdown
90-100 = A, 80-89
= B, 70-79
= C, 60-69 = D,
below 60 = F.
Weekly
News Article – Assessment
Name(s)_______________________________________
Date_________________
| Introduction
is clear, concise, and interesting. |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
| Focus
or main-idea is stated completely and
is easily identified. |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
| Ideas
or facts are presented in a logical
sequence. |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
| The
article is organized and easy to read. |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
| Paragraphs
are constructed appropriately. |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
| Sentence
structure is correct. |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
| Mechanics
are correct (spelling, punctuation,
capitalization) |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
| The
article is constructed on the assigned
topic. |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
| Words
were used correctly to convey
meaning. |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
| The
article shows evidence of research/
knowledge of the subject matter
(topic). |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
Total
Points Earned__________Final Grade______
7)
INSTRUCTIONAL ACTIVITIES:
A.)
Introduce the lesson by having the class brainstorm
about events that have been happening school-wide
that are news-worthy. Write their ideas or comments
on chart paper. Ask the first focus question
stated above and give the class time to respond to
it.
B.)
Pass
out newspapers and discuss how they are used to
inform readers about things that have been happening
in the community. Discuss the ways we could use
events that have been happening in our school to
create a newspaper or some type of report, and how
it could inform others in our school about
news-worthy items. Give the students time to look
through the newspapers. Ask the class how they think
the reporters who wrote these articles collected
their information or researched their topic.
Lead in with the second focus question and
give them time to come up with ideas and
suggestions.
C.)
Explain to the class that they are going to
use journals to research different topics that are
related to the school and write articles about
events that are taking place.
D.)
You
may decide whether to allow students to work in
groups, pairs, or
individually. To
begin with, create a list of topic ideas or story
suggestions on chart paper.
Have each group, team, or student choose a
story that they would like to research.
Decide the criteria for researching the story
(times, dates, resources, etc.) and give them a
timeline for collecting
their information.
In the future, assign each group or student a
grade level to cover or allow them to search for
story ideas on their own.
E.)
Pass
out a journal to each student and have them begin
researching
their story. Remind
them to use graphic organizers or an outline method
to compile the information that they collect.
F.)
When
they finish collecting the information for their
stories, review the
writing process with them.
They will use it to compose their final
article.
G.)
Pass
out the newspapers again and discuss the criteria
for writing an
article (concise, focuses on one topic or idea,
etc.). Give
each individual student a rubric and discuss how it
will be used to assess the article that they submit
for the news report.
H.)
Give the students adequate classroom time to
organize the information in
their journals and write their article. Have
the students switch articles with another group to
read. Collect the rubrics and the articles when the
students are finished.
(SEE THE WEEKLY NEWS, PART 2 FOR IDEAS ON HOW TO COMPILE THEIR ARTICLES TO CREATE A NEWS BROADCAST.)
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