Lesson 5 - How a Story is Organized.

Every news story contains facts. These facts are organized according to their importance in the story. The organization of information, along with background material, can be put into the shape of an inverted pyramid.
A sample is included.

Materials:

  • Copies of the newspaper (front sections only)
  • Handout of the Inverted Pyramid (a graphic organizer)

Assignment

  1. Grap one of the  newspaper.
  2. Select a story the teacher ask you to read.
  3. Each students gets a couple of minutes to read the story and be ready to discuss it.
  4. When the story has been read, go to the board and draw an inverted pyramid. Draw a line across the pyramid about a third of the way down. This section will represent the first paragraph of the news story, called a lede. Key information and facts are contained in the lede paragraph. If the reader only looks at the story headline and reads the lede, he or she will have a basic understanding of the story. Write the word lede in this space.
  5. Ask students to identify the 5 W’s contained in the lede. Why are they the most important facts?
  6. Draw a second line across the pyramid, again about a third of the way down. Point to the body of the story (the space below the first line) and ask students to identify and explain why the reporter has placed the information here. Write the word body in this space.
  7. Finally, point to the bottom of the paragraph and ask students to identify the background information that is not essential to the telling of this story.
  8. Distribute a copy of a second news story, or read a specific story in the newspaper in the classroom.
  9. Draw an inverted pyramid and fill in the space with facts according to how they are presented in the story.
  10. Collect the completed pyramids. Check for understanding of key concepts.

 

 

 

 

The Inverted Pyramid

Most news stories are written in the inverted pyramid style. This means all the important information—most of the 5 W’s—can be found in the lede. Information and quotes are added according to their importance. The least important information can be found at the bottom of the story, or pyramid.  

 

Sample Newspaper Stories (Adobe Acrobat format)

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Sample 1 - Winnipeg Free Press - 161 KB

Sample 2 - Edmonton Journal - 370 KB

Sample 3 - Star Phoenix (Saskatoon) - 283 KB

Sample 4 - Toronto Star - 242 KB