Discerning Thinking in the Elementary News Club

Ashley Nakamura and Ranaye Prevatt, Elementary Teachers and News Club Supervisors


The need for journalists who can analyze current events and tell the truth to their audiences requires discerning thinking. We practice this and other student objectives in our Elementary News Club. Here is a glimpse into what goes on in this lively group of young journalists:

“Quiet on the set in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1….” Our Elementary News Club is a lively place to be! The vision of our club is to demonstrate creativity, leadership and responsibility by writing, drawing, and taking photos and videos in order to share true and interesting stories and information to our students. We start each club meeting delegating tasks to prepare for our Friday morning livestream. The reporters begin gathering information on current news. They decide what is important for our audience to know. Our positive quote reporter thinks about what encouragement our students need. They use discernment and revise their ideas in order to really meet our community’s needs. Videographers are in charge of recording the reporters and editing the videos to send off to the anchors. The anchors take what the reporters video and work on writing their script to make the information clear and engaging. The most exciting part is going LIVE with our students Friday morning with the help of our amazing tech team. 

We asked a few News Club members how they are discerning thinkers and here is what they said: 

“We get to be creative and enjoy creativity. We can help each other.” 

“We talk our ideas out with each other to do things good.” 

“We can think about the news and what we should share.”

“We learn from our mistakes. We learn skills and how to do things better-like videography, interviews and having boldness in speech.”