Especially for Teachers

Newspaper Lesson Plans

Math Grids

Use the TV Guide to teach young children about grids. Have them use their favorite shows, and tell what time and channel they will be coming on. Start out by showing them how to find their favorite shows, having them follow along. Then, once they have the hang of it, let them do that on their own. Finally, have them create their own TV guide, and allow them to use whatever shows and times they want to as long as they can provide the correct coordinates for them. This may be a project that lasts a few days, and certainly one the students would share. This would also encourage a lot of BICS (basic interpersonal communication skills) for the ESL students.

"Parts of Speech"

Have students choose an article that interested them, and read it once for enjoyment. Then, I would have them read it again, looking for a specified number of verbs, adverbs, nouns, pronouns, etc. They would highlight these, and then write them on another piece of paper. Then, in pairs, have them exchange word lists and see if they can guess what the other students article is about. I think that this would really make reading and language arts authentic in a whole language sort of way.

"Conversion Beteen Celsius and Fahrenheit"

Have students look at the weather forecast and use the numbers given to practice conversion between Celsius and Fahrenheit. Discuss with them the fact that different countries use different systems, and explain that that is the reason it is important to learn how to convert. Allow them to see that diversity that can be found between people and places in every facet of life. To make this lesson even more relevant, have them make a poster after this lesson for people from another country discussing the range of temperatures that mean it will be hot, cold, or moderate. Let them have a lot of experience converting before they do this, however, in order to understand the connection between the two systems. As enrichment I could also have them predict what the temperatures would be like for the next two or three days based on the pattern they see in the newspaper.

Randi Willis
Stetson University

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