Roman Daily News
A Day in the Life of the Romans: The Roman Newspaper Project
Project Overview: Each student will create a newspaper including 5 sections chosen from the list below. Each section will
have a minimum of 1 article with 1 picture and caption. The article must relate to the topic of the section. All students are
required to do a headline page. This page will include one article about one of the listed headlines below. The next 4 sections
of the newspaper are your choice. The final product can be completed in a variety ways. We will be using Microsoft Publisher
for this project, however, you can work on the project in Word at home and cut and paste your work into Publisher here at
school. The important thing to remember when writing your articles is to include as much factual information as possible
concerning each topic, while still trying to maintain that entertaining feel of a fun newspaper article.
Due Date: Wednesday January 14th
Project Value: 75 points
Computer Lab Days: Monday January 5th – Friday January 9th & Tuesday January 13th
After School Options: TBD from 3:00-4:00 (A note from a parent is required to stay)
Headline Page: Everyone is required to do a Headline or Font page of the Newspaper. Possible headline article
topics include:
1. Assassination of Julius Caesar
2. The 40th Anniversary of Emperor Augustus’s Reign
3. The Invasion of Rome by the Germanic Tribes
Other Newspaper Sections (Choose 4)
1.
2.
3.
Sports Section
Style/Fashion Section
Political Section
4. Home Décor/Real Estate Section
5. Entertainment and Lifestyle Section
6. Science and Technology Section
7. Obituaries
8. Travel Section
9. Opinion/Editorial Page
Requirements: Students must create a newspaper style project that includes factual information relating to each
of the sections they choose to include in their final product. Each newspaper section must include pictures (with
captions) that relate to the topic(s) their articles are discussing. Each section must have a minimum of 1 article and
1 picture. You are encouraged to include more than 1 article and picture; as well as, fun advertisements and extras
to each page to help create a newspaper like atmosphere. Projects that earn an advanced will include more than one
article and picture per page. The articles are designed to be fun and creative in nature; however, they need to
include factual support. Each article must have a minimum of 5 specific facts that relate to the topic.
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Students will be required to use www.noodletools.com to record information, create note-cards, and print out
a bibliography.
Each newspaper article should be a minimum of 2 paragraphs in length.
You may have more than one article per page.
There needs to be a least 1 picture per page
The layout of the page and the creativity of your articles and fun extras will enhance to quality of your final
product and in turn improve your grade.
Possible Suggestions for Fun Extras: Advertisements, Political Cartoons, Announcements for upcoming
events, Box Scores for sporting events, images of Roman fashion, real estate listings for Roman houses, Daily
Weather, Crossword Puzzle (make it real and use Roman Vocabulary from class), etc.
Roman Daily News
Important Reminders: Note card checks will happen during the assignment. You will have work completion
checks to make sure you are completing the work in timely fashion. Finally, this project involves creativity, but the
driving force is the content. You must be including factual information within your articles that show you have a
real understanding of the material.
Scoring Rubric:
Content: 50 points
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10 points will be applied to each page of the final product for a total of 50 points
The 50 points will be assigned to the information you have within your articles, pictures and captions, and fun
extras.
Advanced
50-45 points
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Articles include 5 or more facts
about the topic on each page.
Images and captions relate to and
enhance the information
Articles show strong understanding
of the subject and use of the facts
are sophisticated
Overall, integration of facts into
the articles is superior.
Proficient
44-35 points
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Articles include 4-5 facts
about the topic on each
page.
Images and captions relate
to the information and
subject.
Articles show accurate
understanding of the
material and facts are used
accurately.
Basic
34-30 points
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Articles include 2-3
facts about the topic on
each page.
Images and captions are
vaguely related to the
topics.
Articles include errors,
and some facts are not
properly used
Below Basic
29-0
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Articles include 1 fact or
less about the topic per
page.
Images and captions are not
relevant to the material.
Articles include multiple
errors in interpretation and
facts are used
inappropriately or missing
all together.
Creativity & Visual Appeal: 20 points
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Creativity & Visual Appeal points are assigned to projects layout, use of fun extras, and overall appearance
Advanced
20-18 points
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Newspaper pages are laid out in a
sophisticated way making multiple
attempts to resemble a newspaper
Images and design elements relate
to and enhance the information.
Uses 2 or more fun extras that are
creative and enhance the content of
the page. (This can include design
elements)
Proficient
17-14 points
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Newspaper pages are laid
out in a newspaper style.
Images and design
elements relate to the
information.
Uses 1-2 fun extras that
are relevant and relate to
the content on the page
Basic
13-12 points
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Minimal attempts to
resemble a newspaper.
Images and design
elements are vaguely
related to the topics.
Uses 1 fun extra or fun
extras do not relate to
the material.
Below Basic
11-0 points
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Very few to no attempts
to resemble a newspaper
Images and design
elements are not relevant
to the material or are
missing.
Uses of fun extras are
either missing or
inaccurate.
Conventions: 5 points
Advanced
5 points
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Evident control of grammar,
mechanics, spelling, usage, and
sentence format
Proficient
4 points
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Adequate control of
grammar, mechanics,
spelling, usage, and
sentence format
Basic
3 points
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Limited control of
grammar, mechanics,
spelling, usage, and
sentence format
Below Basic
2-0 points
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Minimal control of
grammar, mechanics,
spelling, usage, and
sentence format