NYNPA niE-News
To Keep Pace with Tomorrow's Education and Information Needs

Volume 7, Number 3                                                                                                     Wednesday, March 4, 2015   

In This Issue
Need NIE Training?
Use the News to Connect to Young Readers
Law Day Series Coming Soon
YVNY UPDATE
FREE Serial Story - Perfect for Women's History Month
Free resources
Quick Links
 
  CIVICS EDUCATION CORNER
 Civics Renewal Network 

Civics Renewal Network logo

  The Civics Renewal Network is an alliance of 26 nonprofit, nonpartisan organizations that provide free online classroom resources for civics education. Sharing the belief that understanding the Constitution plays a vital role in creating knowledgeable and engaged citizens, they agreed to work together as the Civics Renewal Network to raise the visibility of civics education and to make high-quality resources more accessible to teachers through a one-stop website.

 

When the Constitutional Convention ended in Philadelphia, a bystander asked Benjamin Franklin: "Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?" Franklin answered: "A republic, if you can keep it." Today, the Civics Renewal Network says: A republic, if we can teach it.  


FAMILY ENGAGEMENT IN EDUCATION
- TIP OF THE MONTH - 
Teaching Tolerance Logo Family Engagement: Teaching Tolerance - A Project of the Southern Poverty Law Center

Beyond the language we speak, the words we choose can help or hinder the effectiveness of communication with parents and guardians. How do our word choices assist or prevent necessary interaction? How might our communication practices reflect power, instead of partnership?                     

Click here to view high school creative writing teacher, Foster Dickson, talking about how the use of jargon and unidentified acronyms can impede effective teacher/parent communication. 

     

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For more information about Family Engagement in Education go to New York State Family Engagement Coalition  

  

Click on the logo below for information about how to join. 

NYS Family Engagement Coalition 

Need NIE Training?!
Whether you need to train someone on staff at your newspaper to handle Newspaper In Education and youth outreach or someone to conduct professional development NIE training for local teachers - It's available FREE to all NYNPA member newspapers!

 Contact Mary Miller at [email protected] to discuss the possibilities.
 
"Weaving the Rainbow" - Free 7-part series and graphic organizers now available for NYS Agriculture Literacy Week
NYS Agriculture Literacy Week is March 16-20, 2015 - The NYNPA NIE Program has created a 7-part series in keeping with this year's theme based on the book "Weaving the Rainbow" by George Ella Lyon. The books describes and illustrates an artist who raises sheep, shears them, cards and spins the wool, dyes it, and then weaves a colorful picture
The series includes:
  • An Introduction to NYS Agriculture
  • Two sheep farmer profiles
  • A feature explaining other animal fibers used to create treads and yarns
  • A Weaving Crossword and Word Search Puzzle
  • A Wool Dying Activity so kids can make their Own Weaving Rainbow.
The series is now available online at http://www.nynpa.com/nie/AG.html.   Although created in cooperation with NYS Ag in the Classroom for Ag Literacy Week, these features do not have dates and can be used at any time.

Sunshine Week Logo Also in March, Sunshine Week, March 15-21, nationwide celebration of access to public information and what it means for you and your community.  The NYNPA NIE program is currently assembling a few editorials and editorial cartoons to celebrate Sunshine Week and get people to think about issues of government surveillance - police body cameras, dash cams, traffic cameras, etc.  When complete these resources will be posted on our website at http://www.nynpa.com/nie/sunshine.html and will be available for all member newspapers for FREE.

Use the News to Connect with School Aged Readers 

Idea implemented this year by Jaclyn Grace for The Observer-Dispatch (Utica)
O-D NIE questions  

"We have been featuring NIE questions with a story in our paper every Tuesday. Depending on what we feel is most interesting and beneficial for students, sometimes it is a local story and sometimes a national/international," says Jaclyn Grace,

Circulation Sales & Marketing Manager for 

The Observer-Dispatch.

 

Pictured here is the front page of the paper's B section, WORLD.  They used the international story about a group of Holocaust survivors returning to Auschwitz as a "teachable moment" asking four short questions about the content in the article.   

 

The new Common Core State Standards requires students to be able read and analyze informational text.  Newspapers are just that, informational texts, and always have been.  Including a few questions with the story in the paper simply makes it easier for a busy teacher or parent to direct their students' attention. Click on the image of the page to view/download a full PDF copy.

A special thanks to The Observer-Dispatch and Jaclyn for sharing!  
Law Day (May 1) series in development
Law Day 2015 American Bar Association has announced the Law Day theme for 2015 as "Magna Carta: Symbol of Freedom Under Law," to commemorate its 800th Anniversary.

The NYNPA NIE Program is process of creating a short series and teaching guide with graphic organizers to explore our legal traditions that stem from the Magna Carta including due process, habeas corpus, trial by jury, and the right to travel. More information will be released as plans develop.
New Reporters can sign up for Young Voices of New York anytime...
A website designed to introduce young people to news reporting! Young Voices of New York continuously accepts applications for contributors at www.yvnewyork.com/about/

The most resent stories include a review of a touring show of Phantom of the Opera, a book review of Mouse Heart - the first of a new series by author Lisa Fiedler and a gaming review of Little Big Planet World.

Are the articles perfect? No but these young writers are working with a professional editor and getting a bit better every time they submit a story.

Consider promoting participation in Young Voices of New York to students younger than 14 in your communities!
 
YVNY


FREE Serial Story - "From Seneca Falls to the Polling Booth" Update       

With 13 plus weeks of school left - there is still time to participate!    

 "From Seneca Falls to the Polling Booth" is an eight-part history of the women's suffrage movement, beginning with the landmark convention in Seneca Falls and leading to the ratification of the 19th Amendment and the first national elections in which women were permitted to vote.  

Serial Logo  

The story, targets students in grades 4 through 8, is written by Mike Peterson and illustrated Christopher Baldwin.  

 

In addition to the series printed in-paper and/or posted online, the project  includes all the following components FREE to member newspapers:  

  • A teachers' guide with activities to enhance learning*
  • A "Meet the Author" Blog available to students and teachers for open discussion about each chapter as the story progresses.
  • An MP3 audio pod cast of each chapter for use with younger, the blind or dyslexic students.
  • Free Skype or virtual "Meet the Author" sessions to any participating school that request it.
  • A student poster contest (rules and judging rubric included) asking students to address the theme: "The Importance of Voting, Leadership and Civic Participation in a Democratic Society"
  • Cash Awards for up to 6 regional winners and matching award for the school library of each winner.

Join the 11 member daily newspapers who have already signed on! 

The series is also being made available to newspapers in Florida through the Florida Press Educational Services and the Atlanta Journal Constitution just signed on last week.   

 

 

Contact Mary Miller at [email protected] with any questions. Click here to download a copy of the newspaper agreement form to sign up now.  The serial is FREE for all NYNPA member newspapers and available to any non-member publications for $100 each or to another state association for $900.
Free NIE and teaching resources
Newspaper Scavenger Hunt

This activity is a race. It will take you to different sections of the newspaper but the prime objective is to work together within your group to get the job done. Teamwork is the key. Good luck!

Find each item, jot down what you found and write the page number where you found it.

  • Find a fact about your community.
  • An opinion you agree with.
  • The lowest temperature nationwide.
  • A word with more than one meaning.
  • A cartoon you think is funny.
  • A word puzzle.
  • A person you would like to invite to dinner.
  • An illustration which compares facts.
  • A map.
  • A controversial subject.
  • An advertisement which appeals to you.
  • A photo of a hero or villain.
As soon as you're finished stand up and holler, "We love the newspaper!"

Modified from a scavenger hunt offered online by The Cincinnati Enquirer

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March is Women's History Month and here are a few FREE resources you may wish to share with your NIE teachers:

Weaving the Stories of Women's LivesNational Women's History Project's theme this year presents the opportunity to weave women's stories - individually and collectively - into the essential fabric of our nation's history. 

Supporting the theme "Get to Know the WomeVotes for Womenn Who've Changed Our World," the Women's History Month Web site is accessible at http://www.gale.com/free_resources/whm/ and offers free resources including activities, quizzes, biographies, a timeline, links and more to complement classroom topics.

Exhibitions, special presentations, lesson plans and other materials gathered from throughout the Library of Congress on the topic of Women's History can all be found at http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/themes/womens-history/ 

Access primary resources, biographies and images and more from the Education and Resources page on the National Women's History Museum.

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Current word lists and puzzles from MyVocabulary.com:
All MyVocabulary.com content is printable for NIE programs without a charge. Please honor trademarks and copyright, giving MyVocabulary.com attribution.
"NYNPA niE-News" is an electronic newsletter of the New York News Publishers Association, NIE Program. It is sent to provide you with news of your colleagues, money-saving and money-generating ideas, and educational trends, all in one place - in a format you can quickly scroll through. Feel free to forward this newsletter to anyone you think would benefit from it. If you have an item you'd like to share - a success story, a warning so others don't make the same mistake, or a something you'd like advice on, simply hit the "reply" button on your e-mail service. Remember, you can always send news by emailing Mary Miller at [email protected]
For more NYNPA NIE news and materials be sure to visit our website at www.nynpa.com.

Sincerely,

Mary Miller
Education Services Director 
New York News Publishers Association