Newspaper In Education (NIE) is a program, sponsored by many newspapers, that provides educational content to classrooms. Ocean Challenge, Inc., the producer of Oceans Live and the sitesALIVE! educational series, has formed alliances with many publishers to bring its programs into the classroom through local and regional newspapers. The Oceans Live NIE program provides weekly in-paper and online updates, and each of these updates includes a special newspaper-based activity for the classroom. Following is a series of newspaper activities that can be used during the semester to enhance your students’ learning about rainforests and to give your students experience using the newspaper.

Week #1 Activity: Environmental Attitudes
Look for articles in today’s paper about the ocean or about a body of water in your community. Make a list of people’s attitudes and relationships to these bodies of water. Does your behavior affect the world’s oceans?

Week #2 Activity: Animal Ads
Search today's newspaper for ads that portray animals. What can you tell about people's relationships to animals from these ads? Choose one animal, research it, and present an oral report to the class about its natural history. Include whether it is an endangered species or not. Why was the animal used in the ad?

Week #3 Activity: Environmental Reporting
Find articles in the paper that address environmental problems. Write a 1-page article of your own summarizing these problems and posing possible solutions.

Week #4 Activity: Tools of the Trade
Review several newspaper articles in the business section that report on different professions. Make a list of any tools mentioned in the articles that are used by these people. Do you use any of the tools on the list? What kinds of tools do you use at school and around the house.

Week #5 Activity: Newspaper Classification
How is today’s newspaper organized? What are the different parts of the newspaper? Are there different types of articles? Are there different types of ads? Make a list of the different sections in the paper and then assemble a scrapbook that shows the different types of articles, ads, etc.

Week #6 Activity: Current Event Adaptation
Animals in the wild are not the only things that are adapted to their environment. In today’s paper find out how people adapt to different environmental and political conditions.

Special Edition Activity: Weather Patterns
In today’s paper, look in the weather section and see how your local weather (temperature, precipitation, etc.) compares to the weather on South Caicos Island. Compare the local weather to other locations around the world. Do you notice any patterns regarding where you find warmer and cooler temperatures? Write the temperatures on a map to find out!

Week #7 Activity: Food Web Ads
Find three ads about food in today’s newspaper. Where did the food come from (e.g., a hamburger comes from a cow)? In what part of the food web does this food belong? Is it a producer, an herbivore or a carnivore?

Week #8 Activity: Teamwork
The SFS students need to cooperate and work in teams on their directed research projects. Find an article that shows people working together for a common goal. Why do people work together? What are the benefits of cooperation?

Week #9 Activity: Rain Survey
Look in the weather section of today’s newspaper and make a list of towns and cities where it is raining. Into what major rivers and oceans might this rainwater eventually be deposited? Use a map to help you answer this question.

Week #10 Activity: Newspaper Resources
The newspaper-making process requires the use of many resources and raw materials. Brainstorm a list of possible resources with your class. Which of these resources are renewable? Non-renewable? Contact your local newspaper to find out about newspaper resources.

Week #11 Activity: Resource Conservation
Find and read an article in today’s paper about a natural resource (fish, oil, water, trees, etc.). Is the resource in danger of being overused? Should it be conserved? Explain.

Week #12 Activity: Industrial Impacts
Look in the business section of today’s paper. How are companies affecting the communities, cities and countries in which they are located? Are these effects good or bad? Make a list.