Newspaper Percents

Teacher Notes:

• Students need to leave ample space in the table for recording the dimensions of each part of the newspaper page. Some students may need help in calculating the areas using the dimensions.
• Help students to decide whether they want to find the dimensions in inches or centimeters. If you want students to practice using fractions, have them use inches.
• You may want to help students get started by observing that they are measuring just the printed text or ad or photograph and not the space around it.
• In Step 6, discuss ways that the students can find the area of the other items, such as spacing, without measuring each. They may have to be led to the idea that they can find the total of all areas and subtract it from the area of the entire page.
• Encourage students to use a variety of pages from the newspaper in making their comparisons.
• When groups of students have finished the activity, have them compare their results.

Wrapping Up the Activity

See students’ paragraphs.