Resources

Newspaper reports - 2 week topic

This week and next week, we are going to be planning, drafting, editing and publishing a newspaper report based on Australia!

I would like you to think as though you are a newspaper reporter and you have been asked by the editor to write an interesting article about Australia. You need to think about what the audience would be hooked by. What is of interest to you about Australia? This could be about the environment - such as bush fires, endangered wildlife and pollution. Or, it could be based on the life of someone living there -what is their normal daily life like? It could be about the history of Australia, or an Australian landmark - even the art and sculpture found there.

Step 1

We are lucky enough to have a few links with people living in Australia and New Zealand as well as making a link to an Australian primary school. So, with your idea for your writing topic in mind, I would like you to think of 8 questions that you would ask them. You need to think very carefully about these as they will inform your writing later on and allow you to take quotes from their answers.

Think about what would be useful information from a primary source of evidence? 

Present your questions in a mind map format on the resource provided so you can record your answers in there when we have submitted your questions and got the answers.

Once you have finished your questions, please send them via email to:

lgavan@monyash.derbyshire.sch.uk as soon as you can.

I will then forward your questions to our links in Australia to answer them. Hopefully, we will receive answers by next week.

Step 2

Whilst we are awaiting the answers from your interview questions, I would like you to read through the example newspaper report articles in the resources questions and spot features within them. What writing tools are they using to show that this is a newspaper report and not a story?

highlight and annotate the suggested report for your year group and create your own success criteria to help you see what you should be including in your own newspaper report. Remember that the newspaper report examples given may not be about Australia, they are examples to help you see the features of the writing genre.

Step 3

Now that you have read some example articles, it is time to do some research into your own subject. To do this, you need to think of questions to research that will help your article.

For example:

My topic is bushfires. I want to know:

What are bushfires?

Where do they happen the most?

What causes bushfires?

What do they look like?

How do they affect the people and wildlife that live there?

How are they dealt with?

What could we do to help?

How many bushfires have occurred over the past five years?

How can they be stopped?

You can plan your research however you like - with subheadings or a mind map. Remember to include a vocabulary area to help you include ambitious tier 3 words and phrases or sentences. There are some useful sites listed in the resources area to help you conduct your research. Remember to use the internet safely and follow the same e-safety rules at home that you would follow at school.

Step 4 (Week 4)

Now it is time to draft your newspaper report. Remember to use your knowledge of the features of a newspaper report and the success criteria given to help you.

Keep your layout appealing to the audience and use sentence starters that are varied to keep your writing engaging.

By now, the answers to your questions will be posted in the resources area. You can use these answers as part of your report as extra information or you can use the answers as quotes from the person answering them.

Step 5

Use your success criteria to edit and up-level your writing. Check that it makes sense and use a dictionary to help with spellings.

Step 6

Redraft your newspaper report - use a word processing package if you choose. Include pictures and captions to make your report more interesting. Remember to re-check your work before submitting your finished articles to the editors.

Step 7

Submit your finished articles/reports to the editors:

lgavan@monyash.derbyshire.sch.uk

jo.gotheridge@winster,derbyshire.sch.uk

laura.mccluskey@winster.derbyshire.sch.uk

marie.fenton@winster.derbyshire.sch.uk

HAVE FUN!!