Rock Springs Rocks!

36 °F and Partly Cloudy
Complete Forecast

READ FULL EDITION

Saturday, November 21, 2009

Other Categories

Newspaper Lady

Published Monday, October 19 2009 - (0) Comments

What do you get when you mix eager little faces, many, many questions, newspapers, and an hour and a half? You get a Rock Springs Elementary class visit, that's what!! On Tuesday, October 13, I was able to visit with 2nd graders and it was great! They really learned a lot and used the time we had together to navigate through the newspaper.

Each student got their own newspaper and worked within their assigned "pod." I told them that each group would be given a word, and if that word was hard to understand, they were to talk among their group members (their teacher had them use their dictionary) to find out what it meant. Some of the words were "generous," "positive," and "amazing." Once they knew what the word meant they were to go through their newspaper and cut out pictures, words, ads, and more that described the word they were given. They did a great job, too! And seriously, not much else is cuter than a small second grader giving a big baby-tooth grin when they realize they "get it!"

One of the girls in the class had the word "valuable." She looked it up with her group and saw that it meant something of worth in terms of money or a good experience. So, this girl looked through and found all sorts of material items – couches, baby car seats, and more. They are valuable, right? I told her that it was good, but I wanted her to find something, like an experience, that was valuable. So off she went!

A few minutes later, as I was stepping over strewn newspaper courtesy of hard working students, this little girl came back with a picture of an ambulance and fire men helping someone who got in a car accident. I asked her why this was valuable. She said, "those guys are helping these guys and that is valuable." Wow. 7 years old, people! I didn't expect that so soon, and I told her I was proud of her. It was a wonderful thing to witness as she understood what I was saying and proved it by showing her revelation! My job is awesome – envy me much? 

Above you will see a picture of the kids hard at work, and they really put their minds and hearts in to it. They all worked and asked, and asked and worked, and the time passed by so fast! I love getting to go to any class, and I know the students enjoy when they can have a visitor.

Toward end the visit I read them a book on how the newspaper was put together. I also opened the floor for questions and comments, which was their time to say most anything. Here's one question I got that I got stumped on: "what do the delivery men do if they run out of gas?" They were talking about carriers. I said, "oh well, they just go get more!" What do you think they said? More than one of them, which shows how in tune kids really are with each other, said "Uh, no they couldn't! Cuz they are out of gas!" This was the only question that got the answer, "well, I just don't know!" The teacher looked and me and we shared a little giggle.

How sweet and refreshing it is to step back into a classroom. I always walk away feeling like the mission of NIE is being carried out. I want to leave students with a good association with newspapers, that they can enjoy it and have fun with all the features. So much can be done with them in the classroom, and can be learned about at their leisure. That's the beauty of the newspaper!!

Discuss This Story

Be the first to comment: Sign In or Create Profile

To comment, you must register.

Comments are the sole responsibility of the registered user participating in online discussions. You agree not to post comments off topic, abusive, obscene, defamatory, vulgar, threatening or an invasion of privacy. Violators may be banned.

Click here to review our complete user agreement.