[sms0354]

First of all, I apologize if I am posting this in the wrong place. I just really need ideas!

I am a first year teacher who is in charge of restarting the school newspaper as an extracurricular activity. I am the second grade teacher but the principal asked me to work with 5-8th graders on this project.

We are a very small school and I know that I will have at least about six or seven students participating.

We haven't had a newspaper in several years and I am looking for any ideas, advice or suggestions that any of you have for me starting out.

Thanks so much in advance!

[Faiza]

I'm the editor of my school newspaper entitled " Teens World." .I'm teaching teenagers (girls) ..it's all about school main events, some rubrics are for student activities, others for creative writing: I select the best poems, pieces of writing... an other rubric for students hopes and ambitions, future jobs... On the cover page i will display the picture that summarises the most important event in my school.In the last page I will use puzzles, games. cross words , cartoons (prepared by students). Also, I have a page for students' interviews, they are asked to prepare interviews with VIP in our school. an other page for problem-solving. students are talking about their problems whether at school or outside .., etc..
I hope my ideas will be useful for you.

[windycitybro]

Microsoft Publisher available on most comps. running XP and Office 2003, has nice templates for newsletters to start from.

Do the basic stuff; school news, events, some student recognitions, etc. Dont get too fancy in the beginning, because most of your ideas will change/evolve over time. Also by starting simple, this generates more feedback from the students and your ideas will come more quickly and evenly.

Best regards

[Azureskies]

Start small (if your principal will let you). Solicit emails about school events from other teachers since emails can be copied and pasted right into the document you are using for publishing.

If possible, find an 8th grader who once worked on a newspaper or yearbook group to help you and share the task of finding stories, setting up the pages, etc. They are really more responsible than you might imagine as long as you monitor behind them on everything and read through progress every day or two.