I’ve Got It Covered! Creating Magazine Covers to Summarize Texts

Materials and Technology

Student Interactives

Printouts

Websites

Teacher Resources

Preparation

 

MATERIALS AND TECHNOLOGY

• Computers with Internet access
  
  
• LCD projector and chalkboard, white board, or chart paper or a classroom computer with a projection screen
  
  
• Publishing software (e.g., Microsoft Publisher, Adobe PageMaker, Microsoft Word, PowerPoint)
  
  
• Age-appropriate magazine covers (paper or clip art form)
  
  
• Document camera (optional)

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STUDENT INTERACTIVES

Grades   K – 12  |  Student Interactive  |  Writing & Publishing Prose

CD/DVD Cover Creator

The CD/DVD Cover Creator allows users to type and illustrate CD and DVD covers and related booklets for liner notes and other information. Students can use the tool to create covers for books, music, and films that they explored as well as to create covers for media they compose individually or as a class.

 

Grades   K – 12  |  Student Interactive  |  Writing & Publishing Prose

Printing Press

The interactive Printing Press is designed to assist students in creating newspapers, brochures, and flyers.

 

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PRINTOUTS

Magazine Cover Rubric

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WEBSITES

• Magazine Cover Creator
• Pics4Learning
• Time for Kids
• Scholastic News

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TEACHER RESOURCES

Teacher's Lesson Assessment

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PREPARATION

1.	Bring a variety of age-appropriate magazines to the classroom for students to examine. You will need one magazine for each group of four students. If you are unable to obtain magazines, you can find sample magazine covers online at Time For Kids or Scholastic News.
2.	During the lesson students will create a magazine cover using any publishing or page layout software that is available on your school computers. Popular programs include Microsoft Publisher and Adobe PageMaker. Microsoft Word and PowerPoint also contain many templates that may be used for this purpose. A few free online publishing options include the Magazine Cover Creator, ReadWriteThink Printing Press, and CD/DVD Cover Creator (DVD Cover option). Become familiar with these applications and select the tool that is most appropriate for your class.
3.	There are many ways in which students can obtain graphics for their magazine covers. Select the method that best meets the needs of your students. Options include: Browsing a teacher-prepared folder of pictures and clip art. This will enable students to quickly find pictures related to their specific topics. If you present this option to students, you will need to compile an extensive collection of appropriate clip art prior to Session 2. Using a kid-safe clip art site or image search engine such as Pics4Learning. At the Pics4Learning site, students can find pictures by clicking on a category or by entering a specific need in the search box.

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