How To Create A Newspaper For School Project

School newspapers are a great way for elementary school students to learn about teamwork and time management while developing literacy skills. With a small budget, basic computer skills, and some creativity, you can help your students write and publish their very own newspaper. Students will build confidence, and parents will have a valuable record of their children's creative talents.

Planning Your Paper

1. 

   Decide how often to publish your paper. This will determine how much time and money you're going to need. It's best to start off publishing only a couple of times a semester, especially if you don't expect to have a large budget. You can always decide to publish more often later.

2. 

   Decide on a size and format for your newspaper. The cheapest option will be using regular 8.5x11 printer paper and stapling the pages together, but unless you have a very limited budget or your students are very young, it's worth some extra expense to create a finished product that looks like a real, professional newspaper.

   • There are many online printing services that specialize in school newspapers. Your local newspaper may also be willing to give you a deal on printing.
3. 

   Make a list of materials and costs. This should include, at the very least, a computer to edit on and a printer and/or photocopier if you plan on printing the newspaper yourself. A scanner can also be useful if you want to include students' drawings or handwritten pieces.

   • A quick Internet search should give you an idea of what each item will cost. Many of these materials may already be available for use at your school, but you may have to pay for supplies that you will run out of, such as paper and ink cartridges.
   • Brainstorm ideas for fundraising, such as bake sales, pizza parties, and selling ads in your newspaper.
4. 

   Get permission from your school principal. You'll need their approval to make the newspaper official, and to reserve a room for your staff to meet in before or after school.

   • Talk about how working on a school newspaper benefits students: building confidence and leadership skills, encouraging teamwork, and making reading and writing fun.
   • Tell them what your estimated budget is, and share your ideas for fundraising. There may be funding available in the school budget to cover your costs, but you should be prepared to cooperate with the principal and school board in determining how much funding you'll receive.
5. 

   Raise funds, if necessary. You may receive enough funding from the school budget to cover your costs, but you should be ready to put on some fundraising activities if the budget isn't provide enough. You'll want to plan some fundraising for before you start your paper, and also for later on when those funds run out.

   • Local businesses may be interested in sponsoring your newspaper, especially if you put their name or logo in the paper.
   • Once you have a newspaper staff, plan on involving them in fundraising activities. It will be educational for them, and donors may be likelier to give when the students are actively participating.
   • Consider selling ads in your paper. Students will most likely share the paper with their parents, which can provide quite an audience for businesses. However, be aware that this will require an ongoing investment of time and effort on your part.

Getting Students Involved

1. 

   Create a sign-up sheet for students. Include a list of the available positions, such as writers, artists, photographers, distributors, and editors. Make sure the sign-up sheet is widely distributed throughout the school and that teachers encourage students to sign up.

   • Depending on the age of the students, it may be useful to have an "editor-in-chief" who helps oversee the other students' work, with a teacher's guidance.
   • If you're having trouble getting enough students to sign up, ask teachers to nominate students from their class who they feel would be well suited to the available positions.
2. 

   Schedule your first meeting. Once you have a newspaper staff, arrange a time and place to meet after school. Your first meeting is a good time to educate the students about what exactly a newspaper is and what makes a good article - such as including a who, what, where, and when in every story.

3. 

   Make group decisions on what will go in the first issue. You can start by choosing a name for your newspaper. Encourage students to work together in deciding what articles and features should be included. Creating a list of everyone's ideas on poster paper or a chalkboard can be helpful as a starting point, and students can help to pick out which ideas are the best fit.

   • Start by deciding what sections will go in your newspaper. You can follow a regular newspaper format - sports, entertainment, weather, etc. Not every story has to be "news" - for instance, students can draw their favorite athlete for the sports section, or write about the hottest day they can remember for the weather section.
   • Bringing in a real newspaper, or an example of another high-quality student newsletter, will help give students ideas about what sort of stories they want to write.
   • Encourage students to think about what makes a story "newsworthy" - what would they want to read? What recent events at school could they write a story about?

Publishing Your First Issue

1. 

   Choose a newspaper template. Free templates are available online, as well as software created specifically for publishing school newspapers. Once you've chosen a template, you will be able to determine where articles will fit and how long they can be.

   • Students interested in art can be assigned to edit and design the layout of the paper using the template you chose.
2. 

   Create assignments for the first issue of your newspaper. Using the ideas your newspaper staff came up with in your first meeting, give each student an assignment for what they will write, photograph or otherwise contribute to the newspaper.

   • Be sure each student is clear on what's expected of them, including deadlines and word counts. Give a rough draft deadline as well as a final draft deadline, so there will be time to edit and correct the rough draft.
   • If students are not yet skilled enough at typing, it may be faster for them to handwrite articles. Handwritten articles can either be typed up by a teacher or older staff member, or scanned in as is for a more personal, less formal-looking newspaper.
3. 

   Proofread the entire newspaper before publishing. Do this at least a week ahead of publication, so there will be plenty of time for students to make changes if necessary. Be constructive and specific when explaining what changes need to be made, and praise students for what they did well.

   • If your newspaper staff includes editors or an editor-in-chief, work with them to proofread the paper and decide on any changes.
4. 

   Print and distribute your newspaper. Encourage students to bring copies home for their parents and relatives; family involvement is a key factor in developing literacy skills, and getting positive feedback from loved ones will inspire your students to continue participating. . Make time in class to read and talk about the newspaper, and invite students on the newspaper staff to share what they contributed.

   • Print at least a few days before you plan to distribute, in case you run into any problems or delays with printing.

Tips

• Children love seeing their name in print. To encourage readership, focus the newspaper content on the students themselves and try to include as many children as possible.
• Pictures will make the newspaper more attractive and fun, especially for younger readers.

How To Create A Newspaper For School Project

Source: https://vripmaster.com/13679-create-a-school-newspaper-in-elementary-school.html

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