Mini-Lesson

Reporting and Writing

Mini-Lesson: Grades 4-6:

Objective: Students focus on the fundamentals of reporting.

1. Today's timeforkids.com news story, A Magical Experience , is about Disney's D23 Expo, held in Anaheim, California, near Disneyland. Tell students that TFK Kid Reporter Claire Epting attended the event and reported on it for timeforkids.com. Ask: What do you think Claire might have done to get ready to write this story? (Students might say, She read about the convention to get background information; She looked at convention information online to see who would be attending the event, and when and where it was taking place.)

2. Point out that by gathering this information, Claire was beginning to collect the Who, What, Where, When, Why and How details of her story. Sometimes these details are called the "Five W's and One H" of reporting. Tell students that this is the essential information that reporters look for when writing a story.

3. Have students go through the story and underline answers to the Who, What, Where, When, Why and How questions. Then have them report back to the class.