Learning Activities inspired by Newsies The Musical (Free Printable)

All of my children love music. As they've grown out of nursery rhymes and other children's music we've introduced them to the world of musicals. They have fallen in love with them and keep asking for more.

In an effort to satisfy their musical cravings, we're introducing a musical a month as part of our music curriculum this year, and pairing it up with some fabulous learning experiences. In September the kiddos participated in several learning activities inspired by Newsies.

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The kiddos were first introduced to the music from the musical. They instantly fell in love. We can't go a day without someone breaking out in song and dance. The CD is in our car and played almost everywhere we go.

Learning activities inspired by the musical Newsies.

Newsies Original Broadway Cast Recording

The movie was introduced second. They prefer the voices from the original musical but love watching the movie. Sunshine breaks out her dance moves every time.

Newsies The Movie

Then came the Newsies learning activities! All activities were inspired by questions the kiddos had after listening and watching the musical.

A Visit to a Historic Printing Press

The kiddos and I took a trip to Palymra, New York. We visited the historic Grandin Printing Press where the kiddos learned how newspapers and books were made in the 1830s. The printing press was very similar to the one used in the Newsies movie.

The free tour offered at the printing press was very informative. Kiddos were lead through the entire process of putting a book/newspaper together, as was done so many years ago.

A Tour of our Local Newspaper Publisher

We then visited our local newspaper publisher. The kiddos were given an amazing tour, which included seeing a modern day printing press. Though the printing press was not operating when we were there, our tour guide explained the entire process showing the kiddos each and every machine and part.

He also gave us a tour of the entire establishment where the kiddos met reporters, photographers, and several others.

An Interview with a Newspaper Editor

While at our local newspaper publisher, the kiddos were able to interview the newspaper editor (who was also our tour guide). Each child prepared three questions ahead of time, after watching the musical. In preparation for our trip the kiddos practiced interviewing each other until they felt comfortable with the process.

All of them did a fabulous job interviewing the editor. Their enthusiasm earned them their own old style carrier pouch and a copy of the most recent newspaper. We were also given a book of the most famous headlines in history from our local paper. Dinomite was fascinated by it. Jason and I both enjoyed it as well.

How to Write a Newspaper Article

Lastly the kiddos wrote their very first newspaper articles. Since the kiddos are still very young and just learning to write we focused on creating a headline and writing an article that answered the questions:

Who
What
Where
When
Why
How

They were provided with the free printable above to map out their article and then wrote it in their journals. Each story was based on an event that had taken place at home with a family member. The stories were absolutely adorable.

If you're interested in the free printable, click the link below.

How to Write a Newspaper Article by Renae at Every Star Is Different

As a fan of Newsies for quite some time, I'm delighted that my kiddos enjoy it so much. It's been wonderful to use something they love so much to teach them other concepts such as writing and the history of the printing press, that aren't necessarily their favorites.

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