News From Home!

Extra Extra! News from Home! 

Our class has spent time practicing writing news articles.  We have learned some important characteristics of news writing and we've used some helpful strategies, like following the Inverted News Pyramid, to make our news writing stronger.

 

Student task this weekend: 

Choose a newsworthy event that is happening with your family this weekend.  

Possible ideas: 

• Family barbecue
• Fall yard clean-up time
• See a movie
• House organization time
• Lazy day at your house
• Your pet up to anything interesting or strange?
• Visiting family (grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins)
• many more ideas...

(Rough Copy-Due Monday, October 5th) 
Compose a news article to share the event with your readers. 

Be sure to write your news article to meet the guidelines in our rubric, as well as using some of the tips and tricks we've talked about in class.

• Your News From Home article may be handed in as a rough copy.
• We should see all parts of the Inverted News Pyramid represented in your article.
• Be prepared to share and improve your rough copy for Monday!

Rubric: News Article Writing Rubric News Article Writing Poor 1 pt Fair 2 pts Good 3 pts Excellent 4 pts Important Information 5Ws The article does not tell who, what, when, where or why/how. The facts are incomplete or wrong. The article tells 3 of the following: who, what, when, where or why/how. The facts are primarily correct. The article contains all 5 W's: who, what, where, when, and why/how. The facts are complete and correct. The article provides information on all five W's with descriptive language. Reporting Format Follows Inverted News Pyramid The article is more like a short story and not journalistic- does not follow the Inverted News Pyramid. Supporting details are not provided. The article contains a lead but it is not interesting and/or has simple supporting details(2). The article ends abruptly, with no closing sentence or an off-topic closing sentence. The article contains an interesting/ exciting lead using some relevant supporting details. The article ends with a brief closing sentence, The article begins with an exciting lead, followed by specific and relevant supporting details. The article ends with an appropriate closing sentence that informs the reader the article is finished. Writing Mechanics The article is vague and unclear. The article contains many spelling errors. The article contains many grammatical errors. The article contains few sentences that are unclear to the reader. The article contains few spelling errors. The article contains few grammatical errors. The article is clear and concise. The article contains only 1 or 2 spelling errors. The article contains only 1 or 2 grammatical errors. Writing is descriptive, providing detailed information. An extensive vocabulary is used to keep the reader interested and informed. Editing and Improving for good copy... The article was neither edited or improved. The article shows some improvements and edits. The article was completely edited and improvements were made. The article is formatted clearly and concisely, with little room for improvement.