Elementary school children are at an appropriate age to participate in a newsletter project on family trees. Having the children interview their family members lets them play reporter while learning about their own history, getting to know older and far-flung family members and then showing off that information. For the littlest learners, making a newsletter out of students' sketches of their family trees gives them an artistic keepsake. Older students can practice their grammar, punctuation and language by crafting articles about family members' hobbies, talents or famous incidents. Kids can even get in on the digital camera aspect of it by snapping family photos and including them in the newsletter.
For an ongoing column in the newsletter or a special-edition theme issue, have kids turn the tables on their parents and become age-appropriate bartenders. Encourage students to come up with their own recipes for well-known drinks. Mudslides, for example, usually feature Kahlua and vodka; see how students can brainstorm their own using chocolate milk, vanilla ice cream and crumbled chocolate cookies. Students get to work the science and math aspects of their brains while writing about their concoctions so that people who make their recipes can follow along. For a healthier focus, ask students to come up with recipes involving good-for-them drinks such as milk, green tea and orange juice (but not together).
Classrooms for elementary students are usually decked out for just about every American holiday. Turning students' attention to holidays around the world makes for exciting research and interesting newsletter reading. Choose a single holiday, such as Independence Day (or the next upcoming holiday in the year) and assign each student a country. Have students write an article for the newsletter about how that country celebrates, such as songs, clothing, food and rituals.
As many newspapers and magazines have running columns such as horoscopes and puzzles, an elementary class newsletter is an ideal place for a running "word of the issue" feature. Choose an age-specific vocabulary word and define it, along with phonetic spelling, and incorporate it into word games such as word search puzzles and crosswords on the page.