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News Crews

Keeping up with local and global news events is an important part of a child's education. Students will explore the role of the news media and create replicas of some of the tools that have been used in the pro

Lesson Plan

Supplies Needed

Gather all the supplies needed to bring your craft ideas to life! From paints and markers to glue and scissors, our crafts section has everything to spark creativity and make every project truly special.

  • Recycled Cardboard
  • Recycled Cardboard Box
  • Recycled Plastic Water Bottle

Steps

  • Step 1

    There are many reasons why following local and global current events is important. Have students discuss some benefits of staying informed. For example, it helps us understand the world better, it keeps us connected to diverse people and issues, it creates informed voters, etc. Having students generate news stories by researching and curating information can offer many benefits. It can help them question the validity of everything they read online, engage in research and search credible sources, and connect them to people and issues all over the world.

  • Step 2

    Ask students to form small groups and discuss issues and current events they'd like to investigate. To gain a historical perspective on how news gathering and reporting has changed in recent years, have them create replicas of some of the equipment used in yesteryear and today. They can use recycled cardboard to make and illustrate a mock social media site or news broadcast studio. They can use recycled items to mimic recording equipment and monitors or a hand-held mic (by painting a recycled water bottle).

  • Step 3

    After students have researched their chosen event and developed a list of pertinent people they will dramatize in a mock interview, they will be ready to record each other. They will use modern technology (cell phones or tablets) to capture videos of themselves pretending to use the older technology. Then have them present their news stories to the class and include their insights on curating reliable sources for news stories.

  • Step 5

Standards

LA: Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers.

LA: Use information gained from illustrations (e.g., maps, photographs) and the words in a text to demonstrate understanding of the text.

LA: Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 3 topics and texts, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.

LA: Participate in shared research and writing projects.

LA: Report on a topic or text, tell a story, or recount an experience with appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details, speaking clearly at an understandable pace.

SS: Identify and describe ways family, groups, and community influence the individual's daily life and personal choices.

SS: Give examples of the role of institutions in furthering both continuity and change.

VA: Use different media, techniques, and processes to communicate ideas, experiences, and stories.

VA: Use visual structures of art to communicate ideas.

Adaptations

Invite a local anchorperson or someone involved in news production to speak to the class, either in person or via video, about the profession. Have students prepare a list of questions in advance of the visit.

Have small groups of students interview experts on some of the issues they studied. They will identify questions prior to the interview. After the guest has left the remote or in-person discussion, have students consider alternative points of view and what criteria they now have for citing experts on a subject.