Today I am sharing with you some excellent Google Docs templates to use with students to create newspapers. These templates belong to the old Docs template gallery which, of course, you can still use in your Drive.
This selection is based on templates with the highest ratings but you can check for more templates using the keyword ‘newspaper’ in the search box in Google Docs template gallery.
Using these templates will enable you to create beautiful newspapers without having to worry about the technical part in the process. No coding or graphic design skills are required. Templates come with pre-designed layouts, different columns, fonts, colours, and more.
All you need to do is edit their layout the way you want, play around the colour, background, and fonts and add your personal touch then populate them with your own content.
To use any of these templates, make sure you are logged in to your Google account, click on the title of the template then on ‘use this template’. A copy of the template will open in your Docs where you can start editing and customizing it the way you want.
Here are the titles we recommend for you:
1- The Changing Times by Joni Brown
This is an excellent New York Times style template for creating newspapers. It is made up of three columns and various headings. This old fashioned newspaper style is especially useful for writing about historical events and literary productions.
You may want to make a copy of it and share with students. Show them how to use although it is pretty straight forward, and get them in groups or individually to work on an assigned writing project the paper.
2- Elementary Student Newspaper Template Page 1 By Lezlie Harris
As its name indicates, this is a newspaper template to use with young learners. It is also made up of three columns each of contain blocks of text and images. Show students how to delete the text and replace it with their own. Similarly, walk them through the process of uploading copyright free images to use on their newspaper.
There are a wide variety of educational and literacy-based activities where this template can fit in. Students can populate it with book reviews, research summaries, class announcements, short illustrative stories, and many more.
GooDocs has this collection of professionally designed Google Docs newspaper templates that you can use in your class for free (well, you can always donate to support original creative work).
I spent some time browsing through this collection and tried few templates to see if they have any issues (i.e., technical) and I found them really worth the mention here. You only need to sift through the titles and click to select the template you like then click to download a copy.
Some of the titles that I especially liked include: Free School Newspaper, Perfect Elementary School Newspaper, College Monthly Newspaper, School Simple Newspaper, and many more.
More sources:
How to design your own newspaper in Flipsnack (Youtube video)
A teacher’s guide to using newspapers to enhance language arts skills (Reading Rockets)
Using newspapers in the classroom (Cambridge University)
