A Writer s Treasure Chest Your Newspaper

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1 release dates: March (03) 2003 The Mini Page Publishing Company Inc. Design an ad.... Create a comic strip.... Write a story using weather words.... Make up a poem about a picture.... Readers are writers.... By BETTY DEBNAM Look at your newspaper for story ideas.... Read a headline.... Write a headline.... Make up a story about a picture.... Design an ad.... Create a comic strip.... A Writer s Treasure Chest Keep your valuable newspaper ideas in a notebook or folder. Or you might keep them in your computer. Remember, you can cut out your ideas from a newspaper and paste them in your notebook. LOOK FOR WORDS TO USE IN A STORY. LOOK FOR IDEAS TO WRITE YOUR OWN STORY. LET S GO ON A WRITER S SCAVENGER HUNT. Do you like to write stories but sometimes wonder what to write about? Do you need a list of words to make your story more interesting? Your newspaper is a wonderful treasure chest packed with words and ideas you can use. Experts say that writing improves your reading. And reading newspapers is an important way to keep up with what s going on both in your community and in the world. something that makes you happy. a person you meet. a job you have. WRITE TO READ. The week of March 3-7 is Newspaper in Education Week. The special theme of this week is From Writers to Readers. The week encourages kids to use the newspaper to improve their writing and reading skills. READ TO WRITE. Look through your newspaper for: something your mom might like. something your dad might like. the weather at a place you be. a sport you play. a place you go. Write a story using weather words.... Write a news story about your family.... Make up a poem about a picture.... Readers are writers.... Writers are readers.... Write to read.... Read to write.... Look at your newspaper for story ideas.... Read a headline.... Make up a story about a picture....

2 Look at the picture. Make up a story about what is going on. Rookie Cookie Activities Make up your shopping list for the ingredients. If this is a grocery advertising day in your newspaper, look through it for items on the list. Make a list of stores that sell the items and compare prices. Make a list of the other dishes you would like to serve along with the recipe dish. Make out a guest list for a breakfast party and write invitations. Make a list of things you would have to do at home to get ready for your guests. Try n Find Activities Write a story using the words you are trying to find. Write the words in alphabetical order. Find the longest word and the shortest word. After reading the rest of this issue, make up a list of other words you might have added to the list of words to find. Look through your newspaper to see if you can find any of these words. Write directions for your classmates to use in finding them. Mini Spy Activities Make up sentences using each of the hidden words. Write sentences describing where the items are hidden. Make up an ad for something in the Mini Spy listing of hidden objects. Make up a help-wanted ad that might interest Mini Spy if she were looking for a job as a detective. Use the helpwanted section of your paper as a guide. Basset Brown The News Hound s NEWSPAPER FIND Words and names that remind us of what we can learn from newspapers are hidden in the block below. Some words are hidden backward or diagonally, and some letters are used more than once. See if you can find: WEATHER, SPORTS, EVENTS, HISTORY, PEOPLE, SHOPPING, COMICS, ART, COOKING, TRAVEL, TELEVISION, DEALS, WRITING, HEALTH, CARS, MONEY, PLACES, ENTERTAINMENT, MATH, MOVIES, READING, SPELLING. DO YOU READ YOUR NEWSPAPER? 10-2 (03); release dates: March 1-7 Rookie Cookie s Recipe Peanut Butter Roll-Up This makes a quick and healthy breakfast or snack. You ll need: 1 whole-wheat or flour tortilla 2 tablespoons creamy peanut butter 2 tablespoons honey 1 tablespoon sunflower seeds, without shells What to do: 1. Place tortilla flat on plate. 2. Spread peanut butter on the tortilla. 3. Spread honey on the tortilla. 4. Sprinkle with sunflower seeds. 5. Roll it up! Makes one serving. Mini Spy... Mini Spy and her family are reading and enjoying the TRY N R E A D I N G M O V I E S S W E H T L A E H S S I H L C P R H S P E L L I N G L T P C O I T P L A C E S S F Y A O X R T A E N T E R T A I N M E N T I E J R Y E N O M Q I Z P D S N WH T A E U R B C O OK I NG T R A V E L Y S H O P P I N G A T E L E V I S I O N S R A C newspaper. See if you can find: question mark word MINI paper towel letter C lima bean man in the moon letter A letter D fish pencil number 8 number 2 carrot comb letter U number 7 caterpillar

3 10-3 (03); release dates: March 1-7 Go dot to dot and color. Mighty Funny Activities Write down three of your favorite jokes. Do not write the punch lines. Give your list to a friend and see what punch lines he or she might write to go with yours. Make a list of the things that make you smile. Write a story about one of them. Look through your newspaper s comic section. Study the dialogue balloons. See if you can illustrate your favorite joke using those balloons. Write a story about something you think is mighty funny. All the following jokes have something in common. Can you guess the common theme or category? Beatrice: If you dropped a letter in the mud, what would you call it? Bob: Blackmail! Walter: What are the best letters to read when it s hot? Wilbur: Fan mail! Janice: What do you have if you cross some cheese and a tomato with a mail carrier? Garrett: A pizza that delivers itself! The Mini Page Presidents of the United States Poster Large! 221/2 x 281/2 Ideal for Classroom or Home Help Alpha Mouse find his newspaper. Includes every president in chronological order, from George Washington to George W. Bush, with the dates that each held office Handsome reproductions of engraved portraits An attractive educational reference To order, send $3.00 plus $1.50 postage and handling for each copy. Send check or money order (U.S. funds only) payable to: Andrews McMeel Universal, P.O. Box 6814, Leawood, KS Please send copies of The Mini Page Presidents of the United States Poster (Item #9939-6) at $4.50 each, including postage and handling. (Bulk discount information available upon request.) Toll free number Name: Address: City: State: Zip:

4 period apostrophe comma nouns pronouns adjectives verbs adverbs conjunction articles question exclamation quotation period apostrophe comma 10-4 (03); release dates: March 1-7 question exclamation quotation period apostrophe comma nouns pronouns adjectives verbs adverbs conjunction articles A Treasure Chest of Punctuation and Kinds of Words Look through your newspaper for examples of how they are used. Write your own sentences using them. Punctuation Guide Exclamation excited We won! used at the end of a sentence He was elected. used to show ownership girl s boy s! used to separate things in a series Get the pencil, paper, notebook and computer., Period. Apostrophe Comma Question asking Will he run? Quotation quoting someone She said, I am a candidate. used for abbreviations U.S. Mr. St.. used in contractions can t don t used between cities and states Kansas City, Mo., used in letters, used between July 4, 2002 Sincerely, day and year Dear John,?, Look through your newspaper for how these kinds of words are used. Make a list of some of the words to use when writing. Boy and girl. Pronouns are words used to take the place of nouns. He she it we. Verbs express action or a state or kind of being. Run play be. Conjunctions connect other words or groups of words. Conjunctions include and, but, when and if. The boy walked slowly. An orange. A boat. Newspaper in Education Week is sponsored by the Newspaper Association of America Foundation, the International Reading Association and the National Council for the Social Studies. Nouns can be people, places or things. Name: Sally Place: New York Thing: Newspaper Adjectives describe people, places and things. A tall boy. A good story. Adverbs describe a verb, adjective or another adverb. They often tell how, when, where or how much. Many end in ly. Articles are the words a, an and the. Use a before words beginning with a consonant sound. Use an before words beginning with a vowel sound. Next week, The Mini Page celebrates the 100th anniversary of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. question exclamation quotation period apostrophe comma nouns pronouns adjectives adverbs conjunction articles question exclamation quotation period apostrophe comma nouns pronouns adjectives verbs adverbs conjunction articles question exclamation quotation

5 Read all about your newspaper s treasure chest in by Betty Debnam Appearing in your newspaper on. from The Mini Page by Betty Debnam 2003 The Mini Page Publishing Company Inc. (Note to Editor: Above is cameraready, one column-by-4 1 /4-inch ad promoting Issue 10.) release dates: March (03) from The Mini Page by Betty Debnam 2003 The MIni Page Publishing Company Inc. Standards Spotlight: Mini Page activities meet many state and national educational standards. Each week we identify standards that relate to The Mini Page s content and offer activities that will help your students reach them. This week s standards: Students read and understand a variety of texts. (Language Arts: Reading) Students use the structure of text to construct meaning. (Language Arts: Reading) Students write for a variety of purposes. (Language Arts: Writing) Activities: 1. Find an interesting photo in the newspaper. Cut it out and paste it on a piece of paper. Write a story to go with the photo. 2. Find a newspaper ad for an item you would like to have. Draw a circle around the words in the ad that make the item appealing. What other words would you use to describe the item? 3. Look at the sports page in the newspaper. Make a list of at least 10 exciting action words (verbs) from sports stories. 4. Take a survey of family members and friends. Ask them to name their two favorite sections of the newspaper. Which newspapers sections were the most popular? Why? 5. Use news stories and feature stories to learn more about newspaper writing. Cut out the first paragraph from three news stories from the front page of the newspaper. Cut out the first paragraph from three feature stories. (Look in the local, lifestyle and entertainment sections for feature stories.) Compare the two sets of paragraphs. What differences do you see? Use these questions to guide your analysis: Do news stories or feature stories have more words in the first paragraph? Which paragraphs tell you the who, what, where and when of the story in the first paragraph? Which paragraphs try to get your attention by starting with a quote, an unusual fact or an intriguing sentence? Which type of writing do you like best? Why? (standards by Dr. Sherrye D. Garrett, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi) Supersport: Diana Taurasi Height: 6 feet Hometown: Chino, Calif. Weight: 170 Class: Senior Diana Taurasi enjoys cruising around the University of Connecticut in her 2000 Ford Explorer. But she does her best driving, wheeling and dealing on the basketball court. Taurasi is a superstar who has helped Connecticut win 60 straight games as of Feb. 5, a record streak for Division I women s teams. Last season she helped spark the Lady Huskies to a 39-0 record and the national championship. Taurasi makes the spectacular seem routine. In a win over Tennessee this year, she swished a shot from 60 feet just before halftime. Then she tied the game with an off-balance shot at the end of regulation. Finally, she scored the winning basket in overtime. That s Taurasi, a fierce competitor and sharp shooter who can score from anywhere. She also could give the Lady Huskies another ride to the national title. (Note to Editor: Above is the Standards for Issue 10.) (Note to Editor: Above is copy block for Page 3, Issue 10, to be used in place of ad if desired.)