I recently began getting The Donut (Dose of News Useful Today) newsletter to my inbox and each time I opened it, my brain starting churning with all of the clever ways I could use it with my students to study non-fiction text. I tried a few out and now we’re all hooked, so I decided to compile a list of ideas to share so that you can try it out with your students as well. This would be a great addition to any non-fiction unit, but also could be used any time you want to study informational text. Try one alone or combine multiple activities for a really rich experience with non-fiction text exploration. (Disclaimer: Everything offered in this blog is free to you, but I do receive referral points for email signups. For more information on my affiliate disclosure, please click here.)
Compare/Contrast Bias
The Donut gives links connected to each story that shows the perspective from the left and from the right. Have students read each side and complete a compare/contrast chart that pinpoints specific language that shows bias.
Identify Text Features
The Donut uses many non-fiction text features that you can have students spot – bold, italics, bulleted lists, headings, etc. I love having students do a non-fiction text scavenger hunt for things like this. You can get mine for free in my Free Resource Library by clicking here.
Analyze Emojis to Convey Ideas
My students had a lot of fun analyzing the use of emojis in the newsletter. Where were emojis used and how did it add to the tone of the text? Is there anywhere an emoji should have been used to convey meaning? We evaluated use of emojis in chunks of text and scored them on a scale of 1-5. It was a quick, easy look at how we use emojis in text to convey meaning.
Find the Golden Line
The Donut does a great job of wading through text to provide the information people need quickly. Students can learn to do this by finding the “golden line” in a text. Have students read any of the articles and pick a golden line. Compare as a class and discuss why some students chose one line over another.
Speed Debating
If you’re interested in using speed debating in your class, The Donut provides an excellent resource delivered right to your inbox. The “from the left” and “from the right” articles lend themselves to no-prep debate resources for your students. (Looking for some extra prompts for speed debating? Click here.)
Spot the Ads
Students often have a hard time spotting advertisements in their news. Use The Donut‘s newsletter to count the number of ads students can find. (Hint: There aren’t that many!)
Summarizing Techniques
Practice summarizing techniques by taking a look at The Donut‘s feature “Donut Holes” usually found towards the end of the daily email. A fun activity might be to have students create their own “donut holes” from a text.
Recreate the Structure
One thing that I haven’t yet tried, but am planning to once I’m done with my novel unit, is to have students try to recreate the structure of a Donut email using an informational article. Choose any non-fiction text and have students recreate a segment as if they were a writer for The Donut. Tell them they have to summarize, use appropriate text features, and include emojis.
Hopefully this blog has given you some ideas for incorporating non-fiction text in your classroom using The Donut! Which idea do you plan to use? Sound off in the comments below or follow me on Instagram or Facebook to join the discussion! Don’t forget to sign up to receive your Dose of News Useful Today to your inbox daily by clicking here!
Happy teaching!