Newspapers in Education Week (NIE) is celebrated March 1-5, and this year's theme, "Newspapers Maintain Your Brain," expresses why newspapers are a valuable reading resource. Newspapers have the built-in capacity to motivate readers with sections that appeal to children, like Entertainment, Sports and Comics. In addition, newspapers are arranged in an easy-to-read format that is predictable. The headline gives the main idea and the lead paragraph gives a summary of the story. Through the use of a newspaper a child can learn to read, write, listen, interpret and reason. Below are some activities to try with your child; but first, it is best to pare down the newspaper to only those sections you wish to use, so he can feel that the newspaper is something manageable for him.

* Cut out some interesting pictures and exclude the captions. Discuss the pictures with your child to elicit some key words that are inspired by the pictures. Ask, "What is happening?" "Who do you think they are?" Have your child write or dictate sentences about the picture.

* Wonderful feature stories abound in newspapers. Find a brief, but enticing one and read or paraphrase it in your own words to your child. Children enjoy hearing about these stories and often have a lot to say about them. Paste them on a page and write your child's reaction to create a personal collection of human interest stories about a wide range of motivating topics.

* Write a news article based upon a fairy tale. For example, "Girl Meets Wolf on Way to Grandmother's House." Have your child write or dictate it as a current event: Ms. Red Riding Hood reports that she was taking a basket of food to her sick grandmother early Wednesday afternoon when she was approached by a wolf on Randolph Road. This activity presents a good opportunity to discuss the point that a factual story answers the questions who, what, when, where, why and how.

* Cut up a comic strip that contains a complete story, such as "Peanuts" or "Garfield." Number each picture on the back and cut it apart. Mix up the pictures and ask your child to rearrange them in the correct sequence. Check the numbers on the back to see if he is correct.

* Make geography interesting by linking it to the sports pages. Have your child find the home of his favorite team on a map and then figure out in what direction they will fly to get to their next game.

Village Reading Center