News Writing and Media Literacy Unit Years 7 to 9 | No Prep Lessons | Emberwick

A no-prep news writing and media literacy unit: twelve ready-to-teach lessons for Years 7 to 9 on news reports, editorials, sources, spin and fact-checking. Open one file on your projector, press the right arrow and teach. No logins, no student devices, and it works offline.

Your students become cub reporters at the Emberwick Gazette, a painted harbour town's newspaper. Someone is printing the Quay Whisper, a rumour sheet full of spin, and every lesson gives the class a case to crack before they write.

WHAT A LESSON LOOKS LIKE

You run every lesson from the computer on your projector or board. Your students write on paper, in their own printed Cub Reporter's Notebook. Every lesson has a short voiced story, a case, one teaching point, a model you build in front of the class step by step, their own writing, a "Now in your world" talk about real news habits and an exit ticket. But no two lessons run the same way: the warm-up changes (a desk relay, a word scramble, a quick-fire round), and the class activity is different every time: a hold-up game, a human ladder of sources, pair interviews in role, taking a stand in the corners of the room, desks building their own front pages.

Your notes are on every step. Press ? for what to say, questions to ask and the answers. Press G for model answers at three levels. A timer, hints and reveals are one key away.

A CASE TO CRACK EVERY LESSON

Each lesson opens with a case puzzle: a riddle, a code or an evidence hunt at a new place in town. Everyone writes an answer on paper before the screen unlocks, so everyone has a go, not just the fastest hand, and the round changes from lesson to lesson: desks, a silent solo round, pairs or a race between desks. Each clue the class cracks is pinned to the evidence wall, and by Lesson 12 they know who has been printing the Quay Whisper. One thread is left open on purpose: who wrote it.

FOR THE FAST FINISHERS, AND THE STRUGGLERS

Every case has a Hard Case behind it: a harder logic puzzle or riddle for students who finish early, written in the notebook first and revealed at the end of the lesson. The twelve answers hide one last secret. Every longer writing task shows a support word target as well as the full one, and the Lesson Guide has Fill the gaps frames and support and extension notes for each lesson.

FITS YOUR TIMETABLE

Every lesson is planned for 50 minutes or less, and the Lesson Guide shows how to fit a 45-minute period.

COVERED WHEN YOU'RE AWAY

The Lesson Guide has a relief teacher card for every lesson: how to run it cold, the flow with minutes, what to say and the exit ticket.

READY FOR REPORTS

Two marking rubrics (news report and editorial), a one-page final task sheet, a class tracker, and model answers at three levels for every writing task.

THE LESSONS

1. Hold the Front Page (news, opinion or rumour)
2. The Rumour Desk (checking a claim)
3. The Source Desk (weighing sources)
4. The Spin Desk (spotting spin and bias)
5. The Front Page Desk (headlines, pictures and captions)
6. The Interview Desk (interviewing and quoting)
7. The Inverted Pyramid (planning a news report)
8. Hattie's Red Pencil (drafting and editing a news report)
9. The Opinion Page (planning an editorial)
10. Have Your Say (writing a fair editorial)
11. Prove It First (verifying and correcting)
12. The Special Edition (revising for publication)

HOW IT RUNS

- One HTML file. Open it in Chrome or Edge and press F for full screen.
- Arrow keys, Space or a presentation clicker move you through the lesson.
- Works offline, needs no logins and stores nothing about your students. There's a one-page sheet for your IT team in the zip.
- Settings has a reading font, larger text and less movement.
- Painted art, voices and music are all inside the file.
- The "Now in your world" talks use made-up examples only: no real names and no real posts.

CURRICULUM

Written for the Australian Curriculum: English (v9) in Years 7 to 9. The Lesson Guide lists the codes on each lesson and the closest Common Core writing standards.

WHAT'S INCLUDED

- The lessons: one offline HTML file for your projector or board (12 lessons)
- Cub Reporter's Notebook (PDF, 36 pages): two pages per lesson, the Case File (an evidence log, people of interest and theory boxes), twelve Hard Cases, the Reporter's Toolkit, Stop Press pages, a front-page cutting for the special edition and a press card
- Teacher Lesson Guide (PDF, 57 pages): a 50-minute plan for every lesson, the whole case and every puzzle and Hard Case answer, teacher notes, sample writing, relief teacher cards, two rubrics, a class tracker, curriculum links, Fill the gaps frames and model answers at three levels
- For Your IT Team (PDF, 1 page)
- START HERE quick guide

MORE FROM EMBERWICK

The Emberwick narrative writing editions (Teacher-Led and Student Game, Years 3 to 9) are set in the same painted town and are in the Star Class Academy store. This unit is complete on its own. Both editions of The Emberwick Gazette (Years 5 and 6, and Years 7 to 9) tell the same story and solve the same case, so a class should do one edition, not both.

HOW IT WAS MADE

The voices and the music were made with an AI voice and music tool, and the paintings with an AI image tool from our own sketches. We chose and edited all of it.

LICENCE

For use by the purchasing teacher with their own classes. You may put these files on a password-protected or school-internal site (such as your school's learning platform) for your own classes. Please don't post them on a public website or share them outside your classes.

Questions? Ask us in the Q&A on this page.

Made by two teachers, one primary and one secondary, who have taught in classrooms around the world.