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The Neighborhood Newspaper, an Adventure Mission story cover

Mission 25

The Neighborhood Newspaper

A wren in the mailbox, a cat who came home, a fountain running again: Plum Lane has had quite a week, and its one-page newspaper goes to the copier on Friday. Put the pictures in order, sort what was seen from what was guessed, find the facts in the notebook, and make every line say just what happened.

  • 5 parts
  • 12 to 18 minutes
  • Grades 4 and 5

Who is playing?

Each age gets its own version of the story. Any of them is fine to play.

Grades 4 and 5

Forty Words for the Bake Sale

The job: Edit the bake sale story so that the news comes first, it fits its box, and every quote is exact.

  1. The News Comes First With a PlayOwl plan
  2. Cut to Fit With a PlayOwl plan
  3. The Very Words With a PlayOwl plan
  4. A Headline That Fits With a PlayOwl plan
  5. The Mural, at Ten to Four With a PlayOwl plan
For grown-ups: what this mission practices

Telling an observation from a guess and a fact from an opinion, and writing clearly: ordering events, matching words to a picture, building sentences, finding who, what, where and when in notes, counting instead of estimating, putting the most important thing first, cutting to a word limit and checking quotes. Older children decide what a source has earned and justify it.

Ages
Five versions, from Preschool to Grade 8. They are different designs, not the same task with other numbers.
How it is checked
Every answer is checked by rules the child can see at work on the screen. Any answer that meets them is right.
Help
Olly can read any line aloud, give a hint that points at where to look, or show one way. A report says where help was used.
Time
Nothing is timed. A part takes a few minutes and progress is saved after each one for a signed-in child.