For primary grades, a Journal Star staff member can visit your classroom and read a storybook about newspapers which helps younger students understand why we have newspapers and the role newspapers play in society. Bring geography to life for your students with Target Date, a cooperative NIE program involving hundreds of newspapers throughout the U.S., Canada and Europe. Through Target Date, students write letters to newspapers requesting a specific date's edition to use in a comparison study. The date can be one selected at random or it can be a day of special significance - the day after a presidential election or a space launch, for example. Target Date is appropriate for any grade level.
Primary students can study the weather in various parts of the country and compare grocery prices.
Elementary students can incorporate their Target Date in their geography and state history studies. Secondary and university journalism students will benefit from examining news judgement, layout, and design, localizing and writing styles. Newspaper comparisons can fit nearly any study unit or theme. Simply comparing another newspaper with the Journal Star can provide insights into community similarities and differences, and can help students practice their skills of locating and using information from printed sources that utilize similar general organizational formats. The Journal Star NIE program has a list of newspapers that participate in Target Date, and suggested activities for newspaper comparisons.