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21 Writing News Stories

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Writing News Stories

Start-Up Activity

Bring a newspaper to class and read off some of the headlines. Ask students which headline sounds most interesting to them, and why? Ask which stories they would want to find out more about. Then lead a discussion about what makes a good topic for a news story. (Events that are local, timely, or important or that make people say, "Wow!")

Ask students what important events have just happened or are just about to happen in their lives. Ask them what they could report on to make people say, "Wow!" Let them know they will be writing about just such topics as they create their own news stories. (Consider publishing their stories together in a classroom newspaper.)

Think About It

“You have to be willing to do a lot of digging to write a news story.”

—Michael Capewell

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SAMPLE News Story

Have a student volunteer read the sample news story. Then use the numbers to point out the main parts of a news story and explain what each part does.

If you would like, you can have students ask and answer the 5 W's about the topic: Who? What? When? Where? and Why? Strong news stories answer these questions.

LAFS Standard:
TEKS Standard:
NE ELA Standard:

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Page 102 from Write Away

Writing a News Story

Help students think about newsworthy events in their school or community. Use these prompts:

  • What big, exciting events are coming up?
  • What huge accomplishments has anyone made?
  • What new, interesting, or unusual thing has happened?
  • What is the most important thing that students should know?

After students list possible topics, have them select a topic and find out about it. Suggest the approaches at the bottom of the page.

LAFS Standard:
NE ELA Standard:

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Page 103 from Write Away

Write, Revise, and Edit

Once students have gathered enough information about their topics, have them write their news stories. Lead them through the tips for creating a strong first sentence, middle part, and ending.

Then read aloud the tips for revising and editing. Provide the checklists to help students improve their news stories.

LAFS Standard:
NE ELA Standard:

Related Resource Tags

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Level:
Form:
English Language Arts: