This information skills lesson uses a 5WH (who, what, when, where, why, how) framework to assist students in making sense out of newspaper articles. In this lesson, students will be shown how to focus on the important details when reading a newspaper article. They will search online for an article that interests them, answer who, what, when, where, why, and how, and then write a summary of the article. Finally they will present their summary to the class.

Instructional Goals:

• Students will use the internet to locate articles.
• Students will understand the important details in a newspaper article.
• Students will be able to process the information found in a newspaper article.
• Students will report their findings to the rest of the class.

 

Learning Objectives:

• Students will select and read one article of interest from a suggested website.
• Students will identify and record who, what, when, where, why, and how from the article.
• Students will write a summary of the article’s events.
• Students will give an oral report of their article to the class.

 

Motivational Goals:

• Generate interest in the research process.
• Build student’s confidence in their ability to use resources effectively.
• Promote student’s satisfaction in their research accomplishments.
• Gain confidence in processing information to fill an information need.
• Motivate students to continue to use information skills after the lesson.

Newspaper Article

SmartBoard

Chart Paper

Markers

Handout

Laptops

Printer

 

Websites:

http://www.timeforkids.com/TFK/kids/news/archive

 

http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/Stories/

 

http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/topicBrowseLevel2.jsp?TopicValue=Scholastic%20News&a16=e1993&c6=a16&query=%3Cand%3E(collection_id%20%3Ccontains%3E%20AR,%20source_name%20%3Ccontains%3E%20scholastic%20news)&c1=CONTENT30&subquery=&c6=

Introduction

1. Ask students if any of them ever read newspapers. 
2. Discuss the purpose of a newspaper and what kinds of information a newspaper contains.
3. Display a newspaper article on the SmartBoard. Before reading it, ask students what kinds of information can be obtained from a newspaper article. Record their responses on chart paper.

 

Body

1. Tell students that today we will read a newspaper article together.  I will show them a strategy using five questions that will help them to be able to identify the important information in the article.  Identifying this information will help them to understand the article events.  They will then use this same strategy to read and comprehend an article on their own.
2. Proceed to read the article.  Model answering each of the following Questions:
   • Who is this article about?
   • What happened?
   • When did it happen?
   • Where did it happen?
   • Why did it happen?
   • How did it happen?
3. Each answer will be recorded on chart paper.
4. Explain to students that the answers to these questions highlight the important ideas from the article.  With this information alone, we would be able to tell someone about the article.
5. Have volunteers give an oral summary of the article.
6. Model writing what a good summary would look like.
7. Tell students that now they will find their own article to read and summarize.
8. Model to students how to choose an article of interest from the suggested websites.
9. Pass out the handout and explain to students how to fill it in.
10. Explain to them that once they find an interesting article, they will print it.  Then they will answer each question on the handout, and use this information to  write a good summary.
11. Students will move to the laptops and begin their work.

 

Conclusion

1. When time is up, students will gather in the meeting area and make a circle.  Each student will read the title of their article and present a brief summary of the information. 
2. Students will be encouraged to ask questions and make comments about the lesson.
3. LMS will summarize the lesson.
4. Students will be told that their written summary will be attached to their article and displayed in the hallway.

Learning Assessment Method(s):
- Observe student's ability to access an article from the internet.
- Completed handout will demonstrate student's ability to identify and record the answers to the 5WH.
- Student's summary will demonstrate their understanding of the important events in the article.
- Student's oral presentation will demonstrate student's ability to effectively report their findings.