DIY Newspaper [Writing and Reporting]

Writing is still a struggle for my son. Developing his ideas beyond simple sentences is agonizing for him. I cooked up a fun writing project in the hopes that we could get in some extra practice at home.

To set the stage for our project, we read a great book called Fairytale News. The book chronicles the son of Mother Hubbard as he navigates his paper route, dropping off newspapers to the Three Bears, crosses paths with Little Red Riding Hood, and befriends a newspaper-loving giant that lives at the top of magic bean stalk.

It was clever AND fun. Just the way children's fiction should be.

When we were done reading, I gave my son some background about newspapers: they share information about things that have already happened, are yet to happen, sports, area events, people in our community, weather, etc.

Now it was time for my son to make his own newspaper (well, just the front page). You can download the template I made here.

Download this blank template.
Print on two pieces of 8 1/2 x 11 paper, and tape together.

This was challenging for my son, but great writing practice that:

• Snuck in a grammar lesson (e.g. headlines are capitalized, don’t forget punctuation, start sentences with capital letters).
• Taught story development principles.
• Encouraged creative illustrations. (Check out the picture of grandpa’s hand sneaking a cookie! HA!).

Extra! Extra! This project is perfect for struggling AND budding writers!