`LITTLE EXECUTIVES' ENJOY NEWSPAPER TREASURE HUNT

Second in a series of three

CAPE GIRARDEAU The newspaper's youngest readers enjoy a "treasure hunt" through the pages of the Southeast Missourian, thanks to projects their teachers have developed with the Newspaper In Education project.

Elementary-level students hunt for letters, words, photographs, advertisements, ideas and concepts, depending on their reading level. Teachers say students enjoy these pursuits as well as the opportunity to just read the newspaper.

"When they pick up their newspapers they look like 25 little executives having a morning coffee break," said Jackie Brandtner, kindergarten teacher at St. Vincent de Paul grade school.

To the kindergarteners, reading the newspaper is important work.

"The newspaper is real life and very grown up," Brandtner said. "They see their parents reading the newspaper, and now they can use some of their pre-reading skills."

Of course, most of these youngsters don't actually read the newspaper; they identify numbers, letters and short words in it. "Then they will circle it with a crayon," she said.

The kindergarteners almost unanimously agreed that the comics are their favorite part, but not the only part they use.

Daniel Hesse said, "We use the newspaper so we can recognize letters, and because it's fun."

Christian Berens pointed out a headline with "Chr" in a word. "This word has part of my name in it," he said.

Erin Pfau said: "You can do a lot of things with the newspaper: you can cut things out and you can color the letters."

Stephanie White explained that Tuesday her class used red crayons to color over every small "s" in a rectangle marked on the front page. Then they colored them with yellow, she said.

"We really enjoy the grocery ads and the food section," Brandtner said. "On grocery-ad day, I tell them, `We're all going shopping today.' They love it. We cut our coupons to help learn shapes, and then I let them take the coupons home," she said.

Third-grade students use the newspaper to hone their reading skills, said Marsha Miller, teacher at Orchard Drive Elementary in Jackson.

"We like using the Southeast Missourian for resource material," she said.

"Students discover our vocabulary words are in the Southeast Missourian," she said. "And we also have used the newspaper to identify parts of speech. We have little races to find adjectives, for example."

She said The Mini Page, a special supplement to the newspaper designed for children, has been well received by her students. "It's geared more toward third-grade students," she said.

"We do a lot of writing in my room," Miller said. "One of the boys is taking a Mini Page story about Saudi kids and writing a poem to express what he has learned."

Miller said: "Students love getting the paper. When they're finished with their work, we have different activities, including reading the newspaper. That way they can explore on their own, and they really love using them."

Fifth-graders in Barbara Blanchard's class at Washington Elementary Tuesday were reading aloud a story about candidates for the Cape Girardeau superintendency.

"We learn a lot in school already, but the newspaper helps us learn a lot more," said student Victor Powell.

Nakeshia Dockery said: "We have been keeping up on the war. I like the comics, the Gulf Mailbag and the Mini Page."

Tasha Lucas said: "I like keeping track of the war and what Saddam Hussein is doing. We found nouns, pronouns and parts of speech."

In addition to reading for enjoyment, Blanchard's students use the newspaper during their classes. "It helps with almost every aspect of language arts: context, locating information, and expanding their vocabulary," she said.

Blanchard plans hunts for her students, who must find a used car within a certain price range or a house to rent.

Jerry Brown said, "If you want a free puppy, you can look in the classified." He said, "Reading the newspaper is educational, and it tells you what's going on."

The newspapers are even used in art projects. LaDawn Hogan explained: "We made cartoon characters; we cut out a cartoon from the newspaper and drew them.

Loretta Blattel, a fifth-grade teacher at Delta, said her students use the newspaper two or three times a week for a specific lesson. "There is a lot more I would like to do, but we run out of time," Blattel said.

The students have access to the newspapers each day and can read during free time.

"They've really enjoyed it," she said. "And I feel its really good for them to read the newspaper. Several students in my class don't get newspapers at home. Reading a newspaper was a really big deal for them."

In class, the newspaper has been used to reinforce many different lessons.

"We have picked out adjectives in English and we look for similes and metaphors," Blattel said. "I like for them to see these things in other places besides a test book."

She said students read stories from around the world and then locate the countries in geography lessons. "They all know where the Middle East is," Blattel said.

She said the biggest trouble is that her students' arms are a little short to hold the newspaper. "But they manage."

Sixth-grade students in Lisa Hill's class at Franklin Elementary have learned how to use a newspaper as a reader and consumer. "We have learned how to read a newspaper, the different parts," she said. We have gone through and used the classified and talked about jobs that are no longer available. It's a way to lead into discussion about changing job structures."

Sixth-grade students are also required to learn about editorial cartoons. "So we clip a bunch of different editorial cartoons so they can get used to interpreting what they mean."

Students transform headlines into completed sentences. The class also created its own newspaper, utilizing the knowledge gained by reading the newspaper.

Recently they made a birthday card for a school district administrator and wanted to know his astrological sign. So they went to the newspaper.

"Students are learning that the newspaper contains a lot of information, information they can use," said Hill.

"And it's not so long. They can read an article in about five minutes and be comfortable that they understand what they've read," she said. "For the most part, it's written on a level sixth graders can understand."

Hill said students enjoy the newspaper "because it's current. They can find out what's going on every day. We can't buy new textbooks very often, but the newspaper is like a new textbook every day."

Thursday: Adult learners and high school students use the newspaper.