Anne Hutch Fifth Graders Study Journalism

Over the last few weeks, the fifth graders at Anne Hutchinson have had plenty of discussions about “scoops”—and they aren’t necessarily talking about their favorite ice cream flavors. 

This spring, students got a closer look at the world of journalism, participating in a unit centered around the function that journalists play in our lives, and practicing the skills that members of the Fourth Estate use on a daily basis.  From studying the basic tenets of story construction to trying out their hand at reporting on in-school activities, the cub reporters more than earned their press badges.

Fifth-grade teacher Deanna Santoro explained that the unit offered students a chance to improve their overall media literacy as well as work on their writing skills, two important lessons as the youngsters prepare to move up to Eastchester Middle School next year. One of the earliest activities, she added, involved the students’ ability to recall how an “impromptu” event unfolded. 

“One big aspect was observation, being aware of what’s happening in a certain situation or moment so that you can put all of the details together and get them correct,” said Santoro. “We started with someone coming into the classroom room and saying something, and the students had no idea what was happening. But when we did it again, they were better able to recall those details; ‘it was Wednesday, it was two o’clock, the person said this.’

“That was really an exciting thing to see,” Santoro added. “I think that was an eye-opener for a lot of the kids.”

After their initial introduction to journalism, students learned how to structure a news story, focusing on the five ’Ws’—Who, What, Where, When, and Why—and using those ideas to highlight the most pertinent parts of an article.  

“We wanted to teach them to start with the most important details and work their way through the story,” said Anne Hutchinson teacher Ariella Hecht.

“When this started, I thought that writing a news article was basically like writing a story, but there was a lot I didn’t know,,” said fifth grader Lorena Pergjegjaj. “One thing I learned was how to get information from other people and how to put the information in your article.”

The unit culminated with students working their own “beat” and penning news stories that dealt with aspects of the day-to-day life at Anne Hutchinson, from teacher profiles and preparing for standardized tests, to inter-class sporting contests and explorations of recess activities. 

“One student wrote a story about dismissal at Anne Hutch, so they went and interviewed the dismissal monitors,” said Santoro. “I think the kids really took pride in being journalists, asking questions and getting all the information they could.”

Owen Cadman, a student in Santoro’s class, wrote about the Anne Hutch Stanley Cup, a hockey tournament consisting of all the fifth-grade classes. 

“Everyone wanted to win it so bad,” said Cadman with a grin. “But Ms. Santoro’s class came out on top.”

Both Cadman and Pergjegjaj said that the unit was a fun, insightful introduction to journalism, piquing their interest into other possible topics to explore through reporting. 

“If I was a journalist, I’d want to write about something exciting and dangerous, maybe like crime,” said Cadman. 

“I like doing stories about all the things that are happening in town,” added Pergjegjaj. “So I think I would choose to do something like that.”