As we enter the second month of social distancing due to COVID-19, many people will be getting cabin fever (if you haven’t already), especially kids. With schools closed and remote learning taking up only a fraction of the day, many parents are struggling to keep their kids occupied while they deal with new responsibilities of their own at work. We know it can be difficult with everyone under one roof 24/7, so we’ve rounded up some fun “news”-themed activities your kids — or you! — can do when things get dull.

Newspaper Activity Sheets from ThoughtCo. will help keep elementary- and middle-school-aged children busy learning about the news business. The website, created by veteran educators to share learning resources for teachers and homeschoolers, has a lot of content, but we’re particularly fond of their newspaper printables. From vocabulary worksheets and crossword puzzles to newsy coloring pages, there’s a little something for everyone, from tots to tweens. Access them here.

FeltMagnet.com has nearly five dozen Newspaper Crafts to keep people of all ages, from toddlers to grandparents, from going stir-crazy during this pandemic. From super simple newsprint paper dolls to complex paper wigs and decoupage, you’ll make use of every page of your daily paper – after you finish reading it, of course! The 59 projects come from crafty bloggers around the world and will keep you crafting long after the pandemic ends. See the full list of crafts here.

Want something more educational? The Oklahoma Press Association has shared a Newspapers in Education Booklet that you can use to supplement your child’s at-home education. There are newspaper-based activities for elementary school, middle school and high school students, and they cover multiple areas of study. Whether you want your new homeschooler to learn about language arts, social studies or math, there’s a news-related activity here to help them learn an important lesson or skill. Download the activity book here.

If your child is studying English as a second language (ESL), Busy Teacher has rounded up 11 Newspaper Activities for ESL Students. The near-dozen activities offer ways to use the newspaper to help your child brush up on their English, from writing stories to understanding what headlines mean to playing word search games throughout your daily paper. Learn more here.

Looking for some creative ways to recycle your old newspapers? The Alliance previously rounded up Eco-Friendly Uses for Old Newspapers around the house that will help you as you tackle your spring cleaning and gardening.

Want more? We’ve got a free set of News-Themed Coloring Pages that will appeal to anyone in your household who just needs a break and wants to do something calming. Download them here.

The post Newsy Activities for Family Fun During Social Distancing appeared first on News/Media Alliance.

“I went to j-school at USC; that was where I realized I was good at it and it was what I wanted [to do],” she says.

She began her career in South Carolina on the arts and culture beat. After a year, she moved to Colorado—moving West was always a dream of hers—to work at Evergreen Newspapers. She’s been there since September 2016.

“The learning curve was huge,” she admits. “In South Carolina, I had never written breaking news, I never covered cops and courts.”

She built a list of sources and got to know them well. “I deal with the same people a lot and they see me going to meetings frequently. They know my face and trust me,” she says.

For access, she stresses how important trust is. She tries to meet with sources a few times before beginning recording to build up the trust and rapport.

“It’s definitely something that takes time,” she says. “People are more willing to talk to you than you imagine. Just go for it, be relatable and talkative and have conversations.”

With the proliferation of fake news, these conversations are more important than ever. While Deborah has not dealt with too much distrust of the media with her sources, she says there is an overall distrust. “We have to step up and show journalism is important and what we do is important. Make yourself available to talk to people, have conversations. That can be how we bridge that gap (of distrust).”

Her advice to budding journalists is to get experience wherever you can. “Write as much as you can,” she says. “Don’t think you’re above any position. I moved laterally, from a daily to a weekly. But it’s been such a great experience to have the opportunity to write all these different stories.”

Instead of working a beat, Deborah covers South Jefferson County for the Columbine Courier. “I pretty much do everything,” she says. “Anything from covering a trial to a school, to writing a feature covering an event, to a long-term project.”

Though it’s a small staff with limited resources, Deborah works to maintain an active Twitter feed and update social media. She attends conferences and classes to hone her skills on her own time.

For Deborah, long-term projects are especially important. She says they keep her happy and she enjoys them, giving her a reason to push through some of the more mundane stories.

In February, she wrapped up a special section called “Women in Extraordinary Professions.” It was a feature-series focused on women in male-dominated fields, like heavy equipment and firefighting.

Deborah worked on the project for a year, in tandem with the photo editor. “Originally it was going to be something smaller, but we saw how many people were interested,” she says. “With the #metoo movement, it was pretty timely.”

Next, she has her eye on covering the local jail, which just created a unit for veterans. She’s always on the lookout for stories like this that “gives you a window into someone else’s life that you wouldn’t normally get.”

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