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School newspaper questions!

N

Noobtastic

Banned
Okay so I've gotten approval from the faculty to start a newspaper. I've been advocating for a newspaper since the school opened 1 year ago.


Anyways, they want a sample...but I'm having trouble finding templates and folding/newspaper-formatish.

I've been researching the internet but all I could find was plug and paste but pictures wouldn't register and you can't save. Features are also very limited.


Do you guys have any knowledge about newspaper construction? I'm looking print ~100 a month.


THANKS!
 
Originally posted by: Don Rodriguez
IMO, dont waste your time without a staff of at least 5 who are just as/more into it than you.
Click to expand...

I already have several students in mind, but I need to gather a sample by myself and present it to the faculty. There is only about 80 kids my grade.

The real newspaper wouldn't be published till early March.

It's winter break so I want to get it done now!


Suggestions will be greatly appreciated!!!

 
Originally posted by: Noobtastic
Originally posted by: Don Rodriguez
IMO, dont waste your time without a staff of at least 5 who are just as/more into it than you.
Click to expand...

I already have several students in mind, but I need to gather a sample by myself and present it to the faculty. There is only about 80 kids my grade.

The real newspaper wouldn't be published till early March.

It's winter break so I want to get it done now!


Suggestions will be greatly appreciated!!!
Click to expand...

My crystal ball says this project will be short lived
 
Originally posted by: Don Rodriguez
Originally posted by: Noobtastic
Originally posted by: Don Rodriguez
IMO, dont waste your time without a staff of at least 5 who are just as/more into it than you.
Click to expand...

I already have several students in mind, but I need to gather a sample by myself and present it to the faculty. There is only about 80 kids my grade.

The real newspaper wouldn't be published till early March.

It's winter break so I want to get it done now!


Suggestions will be greatly appreciated!!!
Click to expand...

My crystal ball says this project will be short lived
Click to expand...

Wow don't be so discouraging, even if it fails it would build more character than not even trying.

Start out small and line up some help. It doesn't seem worth worry about serious folding, just get the people you think are interested to write up some stuff and make it into a simple book style fold. Thats at least what my HS newspaper was.


 
Originally posted by: Rowboat
Originally posted by: Don Rodriguez
Originally posted by: Noobtastic
Originally posted by: Don Rodriguez
IMO, dont waste your time without a staff of at least 5 who are just as/more into it than you.
Click to expand...

I already have several students in mind, but I need to gather a sample by myself and present it to the faculty. There is only about 80 kids my grade.

The real newspaper wouldn't be published till early March.

It's winter break so I want to get it done now!


Suggestions will be greatly appreciated!!!
Click to expand...

My crystal ball says this project will be short lived
Click to expand...

Wow don't be so discouraging, even if it fails it would build more character than not even trying.

Start out small and line up some help. It doesn't seem worth worry about serious folding, just get the people you think are interested to write up some stuff and make it into a simple book style fold. Thats at least what my HS newspaper was.
Click to expand...

Do you have any links? What do you mean by simple book style fold?
 
Originally posted by: Noobtastic
Okay so I've gotten approval from the faculty to start a newspaper. I've been advocating for a newspaper since the school opened 1 year ago.


Anyways, they want a sample...but I'm having trouble finding templates and folding/newspaper-formatish.

I've been researching the internet but all I could find was plug and paste but pictures wouldn't register and you can't save. Features are also very limited.


Do you guys have any knowledge about newspaper construction? I'm looking print ~100 a month.


THANKS!
Click to expand...

I advise the students who do the school newspaper in our Charter School. Like some of the other replies have mentioned, make sure you have a good staff. I have seen so many students who want to be on the paper, but they don't want to do any real work. We only do a 2 sided newsletter, 3 columns per side, and it is sometimes a stretch to get them to produce that much information. These are 7th and 8th graders and the staff size is usually only 4 students not including myself.
 
I'm awfully confused guys. I don't need anything fancy, just basic constructive for a newspaper that can be folded or pre-folded that fit the design of an ordinary paper. I'm not exactly technology savvy...
 
The one our students do is really simple.


School Paper logo
Staff Names
----------------------------------------------
Column 1 | Column 2 | Column 3


Each column is made up of articles, blurbs, and general school factoids for the week. The back is the same as the front minus the logo and staff names. You can use any word processing program such as Word, Adobe Acrobat, or Publisher, including their non-commercial equivalents like Open Office.



 
You will need adobe indesign or pagemaker, editors for each section (sports, entertainment, news, etc), an EIC or two, a local or regional newspaper (they can print your newspapers), layout paper, photographers, graphic artists, etc. It is not a 1 person job and you have to always have staff members at school or community events to do a report on them. If you want to be the real deal, you will have to read up on journalistic standards and stuff so you won't get sued for slander.

You must have interesting and up to date content if you want your fellow student body to actually read it.
 
Originally posted by: Uhtrinity
The one our students do is really simple.


School Paper logo
Staff Names
----------------------------------------------
Column 1 | Column 2 | Column 3


Each column is made up of articles, blurbs, and general school factoids for the week. The back is the same as the front minus the logo and staff names. You can use any word processing program such as Word, Adobe Acrobat, or Publisher, including their non-commercial equivalents like Open Office.
Click to expand...

Just do the above. It will be challenging enough to get content without having to deal with complex software, non-standard page sizes that will require outside printers, etc.

An 8.5x11 sheet printed both sides will work fine. Or, you can take an 11x17 sheet, fold it in half, and end up with a 4-page newspaper if you print both sides. Don't make it any more complicated than that. A Word template for newsletters you can get from Microsoft online will get you going. They also have plenty of clip art you can use.

The key to a good school paper is content. Don't worry about trying to do complicated layout like a real newspaper does. It's only going to take up a lot of time and it doesn't make anyone more likely to read the paper. If you go for more professional software, you'll find out that you will be doing all the work because no one else will want to take the time necessary to master it.
 
Originally posted by: Eeezee
Originally posted by: Noobtastic
There is only about 80 kids my grade.
Click to expand...

How are you going to create a newspaper if you can't even use proper English?
Click to expand...

IT was late brainiac.

I shouldn't have to prove my knowledge of the English language to teh int2rweb.


You will also notice I neglected to include the necessary "in" between kid and my.


Thanks for the suggestions! I have openoffice 2007 and Word 2007 for the mac (school owned) but I can't seem to find any of the template options.

I'm still kind of confused on the folding part...
 
Originally posted by: Noobtastic
Thanks for the suggestions! I have openoffice 2007 and Word 2007 for the mac (school owned) but I can't seem to find any of the template options.

I'm still kind of confused on the folding part...
Click to expand...

I assume you have a copier at school which can handle 11x17 paper. That's equal to two letter size (8.5x11) sheets side-by-side. So if you create 4 letter size pages for your paper, print them out on letter size paper. (Trying to keep it simple so you don't have to mess with page sizes in software).

If your copier can print double-sided, it will be easy once you make sure you orient the pages right on the copier.

Set the copier to make 2-sided copies. Put page 4 and page 1 on the copier with page 4 on the RIGHT side of the copier glass (so on the copied page, page 4 will be on the LEFT as you look at it). Make 1 copy, which is side 1 of your 2-sided copy. Now put page 2 and page 3 on the copier glass, with page 2 on the RIGHT side of the copier glass. Make 1 copy, which will be side 2 of your 2-sided copy. Now you fold the 11x17 sheet down to letter size.

Look at page 1. Unfold the sheet to see page 2 and page 3. Fold it up again. Flip it over to see page 4. Just like a little brochure, right?

If that didn't come out right, figure out what you did wrong on the copier.
 
Originally posted by: kranky
Originally posted by: Noobtastic
Thanks for the suggestions! I have openoffice 2007 and Word 2007 for the mac (school owned) but I can't seem to find any of the template options.

I'm still kind of confused on the folding part...
Click to expand...

I assume you have a copier at school which can handle 11x17 paper. That's equal to two letter size (8.5x11) sheets side-by-side. So if you create 4 letter size pages for your paper, print them out on letter size paper. (Trying to keep it simple so you don't have to mess with page sizes in software).

If your copier can print double-sided, it will be easy once you make sure you orient the pages right on the copier.

Set the copier to make 2-sided copies. Put page 4 and page 1 on the copier with page 4 on the RIGHT side of the copier glass (so on the copied page, page 4 will be on the LEFT as you look at it). Make 1 copy, which is side 1 of your 2-sided copy. Now put page 2 and page 3 on the copier glass, with page 2 on the RIGHT side of the copier glass. Make 1 copy, which will be side 2 of your 2-sided copy. Now you fold the 11x17 sheet down to letter size.

Look at page 1. Unfold the sheet to see page 2 and page 3. Fold it up again. Flip it over to see page 4. Just like a little brochure, right?

If that didn't come out right, figure out what you did wrong on the copier.
Click to expand...

That is really confusing.
 
Sorry, I'll try again.

Take an 11x17 piece of paper. On the left side write a "4", on the right side write a "1". Flip it over horizontally. On the left side write a "2", on the right side write a "3".

Fold the paper in half so it is 8.5x11 in size when folded. Hold it so the fold is on the left, and you are looking at where you wrote a "1". That will be your front page. Unfold it - you'll see pages 2 and 3. Fold it back up and flip it over and you'll see where your page 4 will be.

Now you can create your newspaper using a template with a 8.5x11 page size, create four pages, and print them out on letter size paper. Using the handwritten sheet you made above, you'll see how to lay them on the copier, two pages at a time, so you can copy them onto 11x17 sheets. Once you make your two-sided copies, you'll only need to fold each one in half so you have a four-page newspaper.
 
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