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Click your grade-level and subject for NIE resources designed to help you meet curriculum objectives.
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NEW!
Engage, inform, and educate your students with TweenTribune, an online news site that’s updated every day with kid-friendly stories from AP and The
Free Lance-Star. Students can comment on stories; teacher-friendly tools make it easy for you to review comments before you submit them.
Tweentribune.com
Intro to TweenTribune
Introducing Students to Newspapers- Six introductory activities.
Your students will get much more out of newspaper lessons in the classroom and newspaper reading in general when you take time to teach ABOUT the newspaper BEFORE you begin teaching WITH the newspaper.
Search Historical Newspaper Pages
The microfilm of the Free Lance-Star newspaper has been scanned and
is searchable through the Google
News Archive.
This includes The Free Lance (1885-1926) and The Daily Star (1893-1926),
the two newspapers that merged in 1926 to become The Free Lance-Star.
To limit your search by dates, use the advanced
search function.
Type free lance star in the “Source Return results that come
from” field. |
Get Ready To Get Involved
Click Here to
download the PDF
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State
and Local Elections 2009
Textbooks TELL how
the government should work. Newspapers SHOW how.
Use The Free Lance–Star, fredericksburg.com and these resources to
follow as the election process unfolds.
Vote 2009: 45 activities to help students learn about state and local election.
Thank you to Erin Merrill, civics teacher at Rodney Thompson Middle School,
for input on this project.
Participate in the Youth
Leadership Initiative (YLI) online Mock Election,
October 19-29. Electronic ballots are tailored to each student’s
home district.
Comparing the Candidates: The Virginia Gubernatorial Race 2009
Students determine which candidate’s views are most closely aligned
with their own.
Requires FREE registration with University of Virginia Center for Politics
Youth Leadership Initiative www.youthleadership.net
Virginia is one of only two states electing a governor this year.
Compare how race results for Virginia and New Jersey are reported in newspapers
across the United States. See Target Date Comparison Study below.
Operation Target Date
Gather newspapers published on a specific date and use them in a comparison study. Select a random date or choose a date because of its expected news, such as the day after elections or the Super Bowl. Have students write letters to newspapers to request copies or visit newspapers Web sites.
(*Password
Required: Because of copyright agreements, some of the resources provided
on this page
must be posted as password protected, available only
to teacher who currently participate in The Free Lance–Star’s NIE program.)
Understanding
Political Cartoons
•
Cartoons for the Classroom A new lesson every week
• Cartoon Evaluation Worksheet
• Explore
Constitutional Issues through Political Cartoons!
• Toon Talk Read Clay Jones’ blog
about his-and other's-cartoons.
• Free Lance-Star Weekly Caption Contest – Contest cartoons run
Wednesdays on Page 2 of The Free Lance-Star, or use the online
entry form.
Winner’s
cartoon runs on Page 2 the following Tuesday. |
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FREE NIE Curriculum Guides:
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Connect to the World:
Improving Comprehension: Ready-to-use lessons help students develop comprehension skills by making connections between the known and the unknown. | Newspapers Now: Developing Comprehension & Research Skills:
Encourage students to explore the full range of information in the newspaper, while making connections that improve comprehension. Lessons focus on community, government, international news, editorial and news analysis, advertising, sports and leisure. |

Citizens
Together: You and Your Newspaper:Explore freedoms protected by
the Bill of Rights, with emphasis on rights to know, to express one’s
opinion, to assemble, to be secure and to the legal system.
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Your
Newspaper, Your Town Hall:Provides lessons related to the newspaper’s
coverage of town/city government and the local community.
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Freedom:
It Looks Good On You: First amendment teaching and curriculum guide
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Newspapers
Inspire and Enlighten
A great resource for introducing students to newspapers. Topics include news
gathering, newspaper sections, types of writing, advertising, production,
history, careers and terms.
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Keep It Real:
Activities
help students develop and extend their ability to comprehend informational
text structures and organization. Includes special section of activity
pages for elementary grades.
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Printable NIE Lessons and Activity Sheets:
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Newspaper Circles:
Print one per each group of 5 students. Includes roles for summarizer, vocabulary person, quoter, connector and illustrator.
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Learn and Serve:
Supplemental newspaper-based activities to use with Service–Learning Programs.
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Speaking
of a Free Press: 200 years of notable quotations about press freedoms
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Constitution Scavenger Hunt
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