Bear Essential Brings You the News!
(& a lot more, too!)
What you hold in your hands isn’t gold—it’s recyclable NEWSPRINT!
Next month, Bear Essential News begins its 31st year of deliverin’ the news to Arizona classrooms, and to wherever kids and families can be found. What’s really cool is the fact that many moms and dads who grew up in the state also enjoyed reading Bear Essential News when they were kids!
Boomer Bear isn’t saying that his newspaper is as good as gold. But each month, Boomer puts great news, fantastic features, clever contests and fabulous info for families right in your hands!
What do you do first when you get the paper at your school? Do you look for Bear’s advice column “Letters to Boomer”? Or do ya try to find the 10 hidden pictures on the fabulous front cover? (Each month, Art Director Gary Shepard paints the original using watercolors!)
Die-hard news freaks almost always start with “News Highlights” and “In the Spotlight,” which cover what’s going on near or far. News written by our talented Young Reporters appears on the “Get the Scoop!” pages.
Young readers who want to learn about the environment or animals can enjoy “Water Wise with Central Arizona Project” and columns by the folks at Wildlife World Zoo & Aquarium and SEA LIFE Arizona Aquarium
each month.
And don’t forget to do the contests and games that keep this newspaper fresh, fun and exciting!
Bear also gives parents and families great coupon deals and highly handy info. Check out “Fun & Family” for upcoming local events; “Have a New Kid by Friday,” by family psychologist and author Dr. Kevin Leman; and Bear’s very popular guides, which include field trips (September), holiday performances (November), birthday parties (January), Academic Advantage (February and June) and summer camps (March through May).
Teachers APPRECIATE Bear Essential News because it gets their students thinking. Not only does the newspaper engage kids in the wonderful world of words, it also gets them interested in what’s going on around them. Students in grades 3 through 8 can develop as young writers by joining the free Young Reporters Program (see the Young Reporters section on this spread). In the Valley, Young Reporters write for Bear Essential News and go on TV with FOX10 and My 45! Teachers also can sign up online for free standards-based work sheets (see the work sheets section on this spread) that go along with the newspaper each month. Go to BearEssentialNews.com and click on the Teachers button.
Thanks for enjoying Bear Essential News for Kids—maybe it is as good as gold. Make it a great school year!
 Free Classroom Presentations by Bear Editors!
Energize your students about writing and reporting! Bear Essential News offers five classroom presentations for Tucson and Phoenix-area students:
- How Bear Essential News for Kids is Made (for grades 2–4).
- Introduction to Journalism: the 5 W’s & H (for grades 3–4).
- Bear’s Writing Tips (for grades 3–8).
- Interviewing Skills (for grades 4–8).
- Journalism as a Career (for grades 4–8).
All of the presentations are FREE and designed to be interactive, informative and fun! They promote strong writing and interviewing skills, and teach the fundamentals of journalism.
We also tell students (grades 3 through 8) and teachers why it’s a great idea to join the Young Reporters Program.
For more information, or to schedule a presentation for your class or a group of classes, please call toll free: 1-866-NEWS KID.
So You Wanna Report for Bear Essential News!
If you love to write, and if you like meeting new and interesting people, journalism may be a perfect fit for you!
Welcome to Young Reporters, a FREE journalism program for kids. Young Reporters see their work printed in Bear Essential News for Kids and also get to tape their stories on TV with media partner FOX10 and My 45. Stories also get posted online at BearEssentialNews.com. No other program gives kids such a great opportunity to experience journalism firsthand.
Bear Essential Educational Services, a nonprofit corporation, runs Young Reporters, which develops writing and communication skills, encourages community involvement and builds selfconfidence. But most of all, the program gives young people an unforgettable, fun time!
If you’re in third through eighth grade, you can be a Young Reporter, covering hot happenings at your school and in your community. You can write movie or book reviews, cover sports or charity drives, or interview hometown heroes. Once in a while, you might even land a big interview or the big story!
Young Reporters have gotten the scoop with presidents, actors, scientists, pro and college athletes, pop stars and other newsworthy celebrities.
For teachers, Young Reporters is a great tool to motivate students to write. Getting your name and story PUBLISHED or aired on TV is a great reward for good work! Teachers and school staff can join the program as Advisers, helping students finish and submit stories. Our goal is to recruit at least one Adviser for every Arizona school.
This is a great opportunity! Printable Adviser and Young Reporter sign-up forms are available to download at BearEssentialNews.com. (Just click the Young Reporters tab and follow the buttons for your area of Arizona). If you don’t have internet access or if you have any questions, call Bear toll free: 1-866-NEWS KID.
Each new Young Reporter who sends in a completed sign-up form receives everything he or she needs to get started—a press pass, a reporter’s flip pad and a Young Reporters Stylebook. Now all we need is your first story! (Check out page 16 for an awesome reporting activity that can get you started.)
Get Bear’s Free Standards-based Work Sheets
To help your students get the most out of this literacy award-winning newspaper, Bear Essential Educational Services provides free work sheets that correspond with each month’s issue during the school year.
Work sheets are designed to help your students address state reading and writing standards, and are available in three different versions—Grades 1–3, Grades 4 & 5 and Grades 6–8.
Work Sheets include activities with Power Words that can be found in the newspaper. Other activities often draw from the main feature, the “News Highlights” page and other content-rich columns.
Educators are free to reproduce these work sheets for their students and can sign up for the standards-based work sheets online: BearEssentialNews.com (then click on “Teachers”). Teachers can update their e-mail and school info through the website as well.
More Info, Fun & Games Online at BearEssentialNews.com
You can get even more out of Bear Essential online! In fact, BearEssentialNews.com has something’ for just about everyone— kids, parents and teachers. Boomer Bear adds new features to his site regularly.
You can enter contests that are exclusively online, read current Young Reporter stories from throughout the state or catch up on Bear’s latest news and fun features. For those who love the front cover seek ’n find, 40 of the latest and greatest are online to challenge you (hint: after clicking on the cover you want, scroll over the art for a magic magnifying glass that lets you zoom in and out!)
And if you like to write, Boomer has even more to offer online! Kids can share their thoughts on Boomer’s Blog! There are several topics for you to sound off on, or pick “Other Thoughts of Mine” if you prefer. A new Book Review page lets you be the critic, suggests books to review and gives you helpful tips, too. Aspiring newshounds can learn about the free Young Reporters Program at BearEssentialNews.com and can print out the sign-up form to get started in the world of reporting!
Parents have all of Bear’s handy-dandy guides at their fingertips year round, whether they’re throwing a birthday party, looking for a new school or researching summer camps.
And for folks who want to save a buck and have some family fun or food, there are online coupons at BearEssentialNews.com. Teachers can utilize Bear’s online content as well. (They even have their own section on the website.) Learn about being an Adviser at your school for the Young Reporters Program—you can print out all the info and forms you need to get rolling! You also can sign up for the free standardsbased work sheets to go along with the newspaper each month.
 Bear Essential News on Facebook!
Get the inside track on Bear Essential News upcoming events, exclusive contests and hot happenings in the community. Go to BearEssentialNews.com and click on the Facebook icon or search Bear Essential News on Facebook and click “Like.”
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