TEACHER SAYS NEWSPAPER SERIES A VALUABLE LEARNING TOOL

FRUITLAND -- Fifth-grade teacher Martha Short loves to share a good story.

Short and her students at North Elementary School are reading "Adventure on Ocrakoke Island," a serialized adventure story written by Karen Adams Sulkin and illustrated by Robert Lunsford.

The story about the family trials, acceptance and courage of a young girl living during the World War II era is a 14-part series that appears in the Learning section of the Southeast Missourian each Tuesday. It details the life of Delia Parrish, an 11-year old who moves to North Carolina from Virginia to live with relatives after her father goes off to war.

Each chapter is about 850 words. The serial will run through May 23.

Short's use of the story as an educational resource matches the intentions of the author and illustrator. The story first appeared in 1999 in The Roanoke Times for that paper's Newspaper in Education program. It is the second serialized project by Sulkin and Lunsford for NIE.

"Every week I take the chapter from the book and develop a lesson plan," said Short, who receives free newspapers for her classroom through the Missourian's NIE program. "I like the idea of having the opportunity to plan my own curriculum."

Short uses her imagination and the story's development as her guide in exploring the story with her students. She reads the newspaper as soon as it arrives at her home -- about 5 a.m. -- and determines what she and her students will discuss during class.

"The first week we did geography and comparison and contrast, last week we did science and this week we're looking at quilt patterns and descriptive languages," she said. "I'm developing my own set of questions and activities to go along with the serial."

Short said the story allows students to return to an old tradition of following fictional stories in the newspaper over a long period of time. It enables them to develop vocabulary, reading comprehension, language skills, artistic ability and a number of other skills they will be able to use, she said.

Although students appeared unsure of the story during the first week, Short said she now notices anticipation in their eyes as they try to guess what will happen next.

"I think they are looking forward to it," Short said. "They know that every Tuesday until the end of the school year it will be a part of the reading program."