Select a news story that includes a clear sequence of events. Write each of the facts of the story on a separate strip of paper. Invite students to order the sentence strips to tell the story in its correct sequence. They can retell the events of a story in five simple sentences, each written on a separate strip of paper. Each day, newspaper editors around the world must make decisions about which stories they will publish.
Stories make it into newspapers for many different reasons.
Invite students to look at the stories that have made the front page of a local newspaper during the last few days and to talk about why each of those stories made headlines. The story happened nearby or is about a concern of local interest. A unique or unusual situation. A major struggle in the news. A follow-up or continuation to a story that has been in the news or is familiar.