Desktop Publishing Project

DEVELOPER
GRADE LEVEL
DESCRIPTION OF UNIT

STANDARDS

Student Newsletter
Leah Mendoza
Second
Students will create a personal newsletter
about their lives. They will include sections to
cover personal successes, school successes, a
family story, and upcoming events.
State: Conventions of Standard English- 2.
Demonstrate command of the conventions of
standard English capitalization, punctuation,
and spelling when writing.
1. Capitalize holidays, product names,
and geographic names.
2. Use commas in greetings and closings
of letters.
3. Use an apostrophe to form
contractions and frequently occurring
possessives.
4. Generalize learned spelling patterns
when writing words (e.g., cage
badge; boy boil).
d. Consult reference materials, including
beginning dictionaries, as needed to check
and correct spellings.
Text Types and Purposes- 1. Write opinion
pieces in which they introduce the topic or
book they are writing about, state an opinion,
supply reasons that support the opinion, use
linking words (e.g., because, and, also) to
connect opinion and reasons, and provide a
concluding statement or section. 2. Write
informative/explanatory texts in which they
introduce a topic, use facts and definitions to
develop points, and provide a concluding
statement or section.
3. Write narratives in which they recount a
well-elaborated event or short sequence of
events, include details to describe actions,
thoughts, and feelings, use temporal words to

signal event order, and provide a sense of

closure.
INTS (Students): Creativity and InnovationStudents demonstrate creative thinking,
construct knowledge, and develop innovative
products and processes using technology.
a. Apply existing knowledge to generate
new ideas, products, or processes
b. Create original works as a means of
personal or group expression
c. Use models and simulations to explore
complex systems and issues
d. Identify trends and forecast possibilities
Research and Information Fluency- Students
apply digital tools to gather, evaluate, and use
information.
a. Plan strategies to guide inquiry
b. Locate, organize, analyze, evaluate,
synthesize, and ethically use information from
a variety of sources and media
d. Process data and report results
INTS (Teachers): Design and Develop
Digital Age Learning Experiences and
Assessments
Teachers design, develop, and evaluate
authentic learning experiences and assessment
incorporating contemporary tools and
resources to maximize content learning in
context and to develop the knowledge, skills,
and attitudes identified in the NETSS. a.
Design or adapt relevant learning experiences
that incorporate digital tools and resources to
promote student learning and creativity b.
Develop technology-enriched learning
environments that enable all students to
pursue their individual curiosities and
become active participants in setting their
own educational goals, managing their
own learning, and assessing their own
progress c. Customize and personalize
learning activities to address students diverse

MAIN IDEA

GOALS/OBJECTIVES

TIME FRAME

MATERIALS, TECHNOLOGY AND

learning styles, working strategies, and

abilities using digital tools and resources d.
Provide students with multiple and varied
formative and summative assessments aligned
with content and technology standards and
use resulting data to inform learning and
teaching.
Promote and Model Digital Citizenship and
Responsibility
Teachers understand local and global
societal issues and responsibilities in an
evolving digital culture and exhibit legal and
ethical behavior in their professional practices
a. Advocate, model, and teach safe, legal, and
ethical use of digital information and
technology, including respect for copyright,
intellectual property, and the appropriate
documentation of sources.
Students learn how to utilize a desktop
publishing software, as well as use correct
writing skills to produce an informative
newsletter.
Students will
-Learn how to correctly format a newsletter
in a desktop publishing software.
-Utilize correct writing skills, grammar, and
editing and publishing.
-Use details and descriptions in each
paragraph, heading, title, etc.
Lesson 1-Students will be given and example
and a walk through of the teachers newsletter
and the desktop publishing software.
Lesson 2- Students will brainstorm ideas for
each category and heading of their newsletter.
Lesson 3- Students will peer review each
others outline/brainstorming.
Lesson 4-5 Students will create their
newsletters on the schools desktop computers
and print out three copies.
-Internet Access

RESOURCES
ANTICIPATORY SET

TEACHING

CLOSURE

-School desktop computers

-desktop publishing software
I will begin by sharing and example and
reviewing the format of a newsletter. I will
share formatting tips and advice on how to
work with the system. I will monitor the
students throughout each lesson.
I will share a newsletter that I created for this
month. We will review grammar, outline,
structure, and formatting with this example.
Students will mail a copy of their newsletter
out to a friend or relative. Student newsletters
will be displayed throughout the classroom.