This year, send something awesome and unexpected to everyone for your family Christmas update.  I LOVED everyone's reaction when they opened up our "front page" newspaper, in lieu of a store bought holiday card.  People will love getting your newspaper and not dread looking at  another generic card. Complete with colored photos, a realistic newspaper title font, and short news stories about our family, it was absolutely impressive.
      Grab one of our newspaper templates, such as the Family Times or the Front Page News for this year's holiday letter.  They're perfect with their short story lengths and multiple photo placeholders, forcing you to keep updates brief and easy to read.  If you have children, you can even have them write some of the stories -- and put their names above each one for bragging rights!  We even have a byline there for each of their names. The final product looks awesome, and we guarantee every person who receives your Christmas newspaper will love reading it. 

~Cheers
Scott, Founder of Build a Newspaper

      Imagine walking into a wedding reception and seeing a super unique wedding favor on the table for everyone . . . and then feeling the disappointment that you hadn't done it first, yourself.  :-) 
     Before that can happen,  pick yourself up a newspaper template here with the special realistic font that truly impresses everyone, round up a couple heartwarming stories and funny anecdotes, throw in a few fabulous pictures of the bride and groom when younger, and you will have the greatest wedding favor around!
     Seeing rolled up newspapers with ribbon would look awesome by itself, but then throw in the fact this can be saved and pulled out years from now and enjoyed.  By golly, these are stories!  The written word that can inspire, bring tears, spark joy, create laughter: what better gift to give everyone who has taken the time to come to celebrate such a joyous event.  A newspaper wedding favor starts paying dividends immediately.  We've all been to at least one wedding with table diners struggling to find things in common; now you have something in front of you to read, to share aloud, and to appreciate together and bond as a "table" over the bride and groom -- the reason you all are there in the first place.
     Use the smaller 8.5x11 size for the table favors, and even consider hanging a larger version using the 11x17 around the reception hall.  Whatever you choose to do, don't be that person who regrets not doing it and seeing it on someone else's party table first.  Build a newspaper yourself, and then show it off to 150 of your closest friends and family.
~ Cheers,
​Scott, Founder of Build a Newspaper

      Now that we have added a Google template to our newspaper templates, it is possible to make your own newspaper on a Chromebook.  Just check out our home page and support page to learn how to create a newspaper that looks truly awesome, one of the best available.  Other templates do NOT create finished newspapers that look like buildanewspaper templates.  Google templates (and even MS Word for that matter) resemble a newsletter, not the newspaper with set columns and stories.  Now our Google Doc template lets students collaborate on one document should you want to use groups to make a newspaper.  

~Cheers,
​Scott, Founder of Build a Newspaper

     The 5 Cs.  Everyone in education has heard of this powerful initiative to engage students.  Communication, collaboration, creativity, critical thinking, and citizenship. Sometimes we find it easy to incorporate, and sometimes we find it challenging, ready to give up.  Teachers need to be reminded, however, that not every lesson captures every component.  And not every lesson that focuses on some will capture all five.  
       One student-led, inquiry-based project that easily supports all five is researching and writing stories to create a group newspaper. Studying newspaper sections and what goes into it is a fantastic way to build schema to help ensure a better product.  As groups communicate over what goes into their newspaper, they must collaborate on layout and content while being as creative as they can to include rich content in their subject area.  Subject matter can build awesome citizenship while thinking critically about not only the short term requirements but long term goals of the finished real world product. 
       Connecting this whole project to their daily lives and content they're studying in classes can be a powerful experience while they're building a newspaper.  Have fun with it!

~Cheers
Scott, Founder of Build a Newspaper

​     A lot of newspaper templates are for sale on the Internet, but frankly they are either difficult to use, require special software to create, rely on Internet connectivity, or look like a cheesy newsletter from the 90s.
     It's funny to see newspapers coming back into style, almost in a retro fashion.  Despite all the tools online and great software available, there are still people who love putting together a throwback newspaper.  And they want it to look great without a lot of technical expertise required to do it.  I designed every single newspaper template by hand, modeling it after a real newspaper that is still in print today.  The newspaper templates at buildanewspaper.com look like the real thing because I used the real thing when I created them.  My finished newspapers look stunning!  People love the finished product after they put their stories in them because they don't look like a generic newsletter form. You can put in small news bites; use the obituaries section; take advantage of the quote box already made and formatted for you to put your own in; and even install our newspaper font we give you to experience that authentic newspaper title, like the real thing.  Thousands of customers have purchased with only a handful of people who claim it wasn't what they wanted.  Even if you're not using MS Word, our Google Docs newspaper template will impress you, whether you're using it for a classroom assignment or creating a family announcement.  Have fun building your newspaper!
~ Cheers!
Scott, Founder of Build a Newspaper

     So it finally happened.  Clemont is turning 99 this year, and his family wanted to deliver something a bit different and unique while still honoring all of his wonderful achievements during his lifetime.
       I received a call asking about which newspaper template would make the best gift if it could be filled with news stories of Clemont in the last century.  I was ecstatic to hear about her thoughtful gift of writing a collection of stories to celebrate his life.  I thought it would be nice to have a larger version so she could hang it for him to see it, as well having enough space for stories and pictures when she made her own newspaper.  
      She decided on the Business Today newspaper template because it is like the Writer's Post but with  slightly shorter articles and not as lengthy in order to capture his life's memories.  Her final product was absolutely awesome and so impressive that I had to mention it here.  We've seen people who want to write a creative Christmas letter and send it out, create a birthday party gift or invitation using the front page news, and even some church bulletins with rooms for real ads in the newspaper, but this is our first experience seeing one of our newspaper templates get used for such a rare and awesome occasion.  She filled it from his birth to his one-room schoolhouse through two marriages, two wars, and two children.  It included B&W images as well as stunning color photos of recent great grandchildren.  I have no doubt that this gift brought that man to tears; at the least, it elicited some terrific memories of his life he hadn't gotten elsewhere.
     While we are hoping you all have a wonderful 99 years in your future, today we're wishing a big Happy Birthday to Clemont!!  Thank you for for letting us share in one of life's special moments as you build your own newspaper.

Yes, Google just removed the ability to open their images using their popular "View Image" option.  Crazy how useful that was; but didn't it make us too dependent on it, anyway?  If you're one of those who will miss this terribly, you can always right-click the image and open it in a new tab, which isolates the image as before.  
     Otherwise, one is directed to visit the sponsored webpage that hosts that image- it may be Google's way of ensuring that we all use copyrighted images more responsibly...and consciously.  And that is not a bad idea, particularly if you work with students.  Creating a newspaper relies on appropriate pictures: they need to enhance your stories; they can be B&W; they can be vivid color; they can set the tone of your stories, arguably more than text can.
     So how can you find and use public domain images more easily in Google?  Here's a tip when searching for images using the monster search engine.  Sure you could always go to some established websites that provide copyright free images but if you insist on using Google, try out that nifty little TOOLS button after clicking IMAGES.  Ever go there?  This overlooked feature gives the end user some awesome filters for images, such as time, size, and type. Need only drawings and not actual photos? Use the Type filter.  Looking for only new images? Utilize that Time option.  But the story here is finding public domain pictures that are legal to reuse. And to find those, you'll need to click the Usage Rights drop-down for images that are labeled to reuse. Any of these have been marked for you to copy and paste into your newspaper, or optionally, to do a Save As, and then Insert into the newspaper template.  
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~ Cheers!
Scott, Founder of Build a Newspaper

     Imagine you were told to put together your own newspaper.  What would you write?  Would you use a theme approach or pen willy nilly stories until your heart's content?  
     That is how some students are told to assemble what could have been a well constructed product showcasing their content knowledge.  Before telling your students to write stories, think about connecting it to real-world application.  Place them in a scenario-driven assignment for increased interest and real world relevance. Ramp up the rigor. Connect fiction and nonfiction. Give them choice and opportunities for responsibility.
     Newspapers are filled with jobs.  Every student should belong to a group and have a task, and attach responsibility to that task.  Have a team leader organize the small group; make the editor finalize/green light stories for publication after edits; designate one student to be responsible for photos and images that enhance the meaning of the stories.  The newspaper templates on buildanewspaper.com will let students write stories, as well as include images, connect weather maps and obituaries to their content, with plenty of organization opportunities to take advantage of all those jobs required to "build a newspaper."

~Cheers,
​Scott, Founder of Build a Newspaper