Presented by Teacher Violeta Solomon

Today writing or editing a newsletter or newspaper can be accomplished much more easily and with less expense than in the past. As long as you have basic writing skills, a computer with Microsoft Word, or another program with templates for newsletters, you can begin. Think of the papers available. Make yours different from all the others.

Ask your Principal if one of them will be willing to sponsor your project if you are doing a school-related project. Sponsoring your project might include: allowing you computer time during class or after school to work on your newspaper, checking your work for spelling and grammar errors (editing), checking your content for clarity and readability, and helping you devise a distribution or marketing plan once your newspaper is printed, or published. If you cannot find a teacher to sponsor your newspaper, you can still publish one on your own if you have access to a computer and a program that has newsletter templates.

Find other students who would like to write articles for your newspaper. Talk with your team and come up with a name for your newspaper. This will be used in the banner, the top heading on the front page of your newspaper.

Decide if your newspaper will be a daily, weekly, or monthly edition. Decide what kind of articles you will include. You may want news about what is going on in students lives, athletics, academics, profiles of teachers or students, puzzles, cartoons, photos, advice columns, classified ads, horoscopes, comics, or other topics

Assign articles and create deadlines for when they are due. Be sure to specify whether the articles need to be submitted as handwritten articles, or electronically. If they are submitted electronically, in what format should they be submitted? Once you have the articles, edit them for spelling, grammar and other writing errors. Be sure that the content is appropriate for your audience (other students) and that it is easily understood.

Using a template, such as the one provided for newsletters in Corel WordPerfect, Serif PagePlus, LibreOffice Writer, Microsoft Word, decide how to place the articles. Usually, the most important news articles will appear on the front page. Editorials (opinions) should be in the middle and fun or features towards the end of the newspaper. This is called the LAYOUT.

After the entire newspaper has been laid out, print off several copies and give them to people "editors" to proof read. If you have a teacher or parent who is helping, be sure they assist with edits. Again, set a deadline for edits to be completed. Go back into your newspaper layout and make the edits suggested by your editors.

It is a good idea to have your main editor do one last edit after you have entered the changes suggested by all the editors. Make any last minute changes.

Print the number of copies you have "subscriptions" for plus the number you expect to sell otherwise. Deliver the papers to your customers. Start planning your next issue.

Getting a teacher as sponsor will add credibility to your newspaper. Be sure the people on your staff have the skills necessary for the jobs they want to do: writers can communicate ideas clearly in writing; editors have a good understanding of grammar and spelling. Write out a schedule for production of your newspaper. Read articles on how to write various types of articles. Read the kinds of things you write to see how others write well. Remember when you work with a staff of writers and editors you must be accepting and respectful of their ideas. Collaborate with your teachers and friends!

Computer with a program that includes newsletter templates A good dictionary and thesaurus Good writing skills Organization skills Printer/photocopier Some good reporters An editor, and Some interesting news

No one wants to read something that is full of spelling errors and bad grammar. Edit carefully. Don't write anything you wouldn't want a bully to read. Don't write gossips and lies. That will hurt people's feelings and you might get in trouble for it.

Sources: Newspaper-in-Elementary-School