You can use many locally written articles in your newspaper. Therefore,
every student should be involved in the days prior to Newsday in writing and producing the
various features you expect to include.
Students will research and develop interesting stories on your local area. Help them
identify "news worthy" stories: history, accomplishment, "famous"
people, places, or things. Have them include interviews and "man on the street"
opinions and points of view. Also, success stories/tragedies: What can we learn?
State, National, International Stories:
These are appropriate topics for Newsday, especially if you can get local angles: Effects
on local businesses, schools, and so on. Get opinions and reports on major news stories
from community leaders, including their views regarding the effects of these stories on
your local community and economy.
Stories in Other Newsday Class Locations:
Look over the list of Newsday participants and make a note of their
locations. If during the time of preparation any major national or international news
stories break in one of those locations it may be of interest to write a report of that
news from the way it is reported in your local news media. Consider interviewing students
from the participating school in that area, via telephone or email, to give it a
During the preliminary on-line discussions leading up to Newsday, participants may
wish to discuss and identify one or more surveys to conduct at each participating school.
For instance, a survey on how many schools recycle their garbage would provide some
interesting data from across the network which could then be synthesized and reported by
each local team. Students will find it interesting to compare news stories written by
different students using the same data. In order to do this someone must prepare and
distribute to each Newsday participant an appropriate survey instrument. Surveys will not
count toward your maximum number of articles.
Any issue is fair game for editorial comment, subject to the limits of good taste. Be
sensitive to the varying ages and locations of your correspondents. What may be
appropriate for your local school may be too hot for other places. It may be best to avoid
Look at the section on Newspaper Sections. Decide what sections you want to include
in your newspaper and have students begin work on producing them (for instance, crossword
puzzles, acrostics, or political cartoons.)
Have your photographers and artists begin creating the supporting artwork.