Choosing Our News

Overview

In this first lesson of the ten-lesson unit Reading, Writing, Publishing, students explore accessible current news sources and select an article that connects with their interests, communities, or cultures. Through modelling and supported reading, they identify a headline, topic, audience, and purpose, then begin a personal vocabulary book and complete a short comprehension check.

Learning intentions

• WALT navigate a range of accessible current news sources.
• WALT identify the headline, topic, audience, and purpose of a news article.
• WALT use text clues to understand unfamiliar vocabulary and key information.
• WALT record useful vocabulary and respond to comprehension questions using evidence.

Success criteria

• I can select a news article for a clear reason.
• I can identify its headline, topic, intended audience, and purpose.
• I can record unfamiliar words, meanings, and useful context clues.
• I can answer retrieval and inference questions using details from the article.

Curriculum links

• Demonstrate understanding of significant aspects of unfamiliar texts: purposes and audiences, ideas, language features, and supporting evidence.
• Demonstrate understanding of how context shapes verbal language use: considering the time, place, purpose, and audience of communication.
• Develop ideas in writing using stylistic and written conventions: selecting vocabulary and organising information clearly.
• Key Competencies: thinking, managing self, and participating and contributing.

Lesson structure (90 minutes)

1. 0–8 min · Hook: What counts as news? Teacher displays a striking selection of current-news images and headlines in the introduction and hook slides, asking, “Which story would you choose to read, and who might care about it?” Students make a quick individual choice, discuss their reasons with a partner, and share ideas about what makes news relevant.

2. 8–20 min · Direct teaching: Reading the front page. Teacher models how to examine one age-appropriate article, thinking aloud to identify the headline, topic, audience, and purpose; teacher distinguishes informing from persuading, entertaining, and warning. Students annotate the model article on the news article analysis worksheet and suggest evidence for each identification.

3. 20–32 min · Source exploration. Teacher introduces several accessible, reputable current-news sources through the source exploration and selection slides, discussing safe browsing, respectful representation, reliable information, and the difference between a news report and an opinion piece. Students scan the provided article choices, record two possible interests or connections, and select a preferred article.

4. 32–48 min · Supported reading. Teacher places students in purposeful pairs and guides them through the first reading, pausing to model predicting meaning from context, noticing repeated vocabulary, and locating the main point. Students read their selected article, highlight the headline and key details, and complete the topic, audience, and purpose section of the news article analysis worksheet.

5. 48–63 min · Personal vocabulary book. Teacher demonstrates a four-column vocabulary entry—word or phrase, context clue, likely meaning, and personal sentence—using the vocabulary modelling slides. Students begin their vocabulary book with at least five useful or unfamiliar words, checking meanings with a class dictionary or approved digital tool and discussing pronunciation and word parts with a partner.

6. 63–78 min · Comprehension check. Teacher explains that strong responses use specific details from the text and displays the question prompts in the comprehension and evidence slides. Students independently answer the short comprehension section of the news article analysis worksheet, including retrieval questions and one inference question, then compare answers and evidence with a partner.

7. 78–90 min · Share and exit reflection. Teacher invites several students to share their article choice and one vocabulary discovery, then revisits the learning intentions using the discussion and plenary slides. Students complete the worksheet reflection: “This article matters because…”, “Its purpose is…”, and “One detail that proves this is…”, before submitting their work.

Resources

• the Choosing Our News slide deck
• the news article analysis worksheet
• Teacher-selected, accessible current-news articles in print and digital formats
• Student vocabulary books or exercise books
• Class dictionary and approved digital dictionary
• Highlighters or coloured pencils
• Devices, if available, for viewing digital articles
• Projector or interactive whiteboard

Assessment

• During modelling and source exploration, question students about how headline wording, topic, audience, and purpose can be identified.
• Check selected articles and vocabulary entries for relevant connections, sensible meanings, and evidence from context.
• Collect the comprehension check and reflection to identify students who can retrieve information, make an inference, and support an idea with a specific detail.

Differentiation

• Provide a reduced choice of articles, printed copies, audio or teacher-read versions, and pre-highlighted key sections for students needing reading support.
• Offer sentence starters such as “The article is mainly about…”, “The audience may be… because…”, and “The text suggests… because…”.
• Pair students strategically and pre-teach essential vocabulary, while allowing students to use a bilingual dictionary or speech-to-text tool where appropriate.
• Extend confident readers by asking them to compare the article’s headline with its opening paragraph and evaluate how effectively the language suits its intended audience and purpose.