Literacy Book
Ten weeks of real news, real writing
The Kiwi Kids News Literacy Booklet is a termly literacy programme built around genuine, current stories published on the Kiwi Kids News website.
Every task in this booklet connects back to kiwikidsnews.co.nz, so students are reading and responding to news that’s actually happening this term — not recycled comprehension passages.
Each week stands alone, so the booklet can be picked up in any order, but it’s designed to be worked through week by week, building reading, comprehension, and writing stamina as the term goes on.
The weekly rhythm
Each week’s page follows the same four-part pattern, so once students know the routine, they can work through it independently.
The POWER process
Before students put pen to paper on any writing task in this booklet, we recommend working through POWER — five steps that turn a blank page into a manageable process.
The PEEL system
Once students are inside the Write step, each argument paragraph is built using PEEL — the structure printed alongside every writing prompt in the booklet.
Feature Articles
Quick Tips
Try Kiwi Kids News
Kiwi Kids News provides news articles written especially for children.
Our stories cover topics such as science, technology, sport, New Zealand news, and global current events.
Articles are designed to be clear, engaging, and accessible for young readers.
Schools that subscribe can access:
- Weekly News Quiz every Friday
- Feature Article every Wednesday
- Literacy Booklet once each term
Key Links for Teachers
Kiwi Kids News Questions
Where can i Find Kiwi Kids News?
The Kiwi Kids News website can be viewed at the following web addresses – www.kiwikidsnews.co.nz
What content is on the Kiwi Kids News website?
Kiwi Kids News is a news website that is updated daily during term time. Each day we upload 4 or 5 student friendly news articles onto the site. Articles are organised under NATIONAL, WORLD, SPORT and ODD STUFF categories.
The Kiwi Kids News website is free for people to use.
However, for students to access all news content, the weekly quiz, our weekly feature article and our literacy booklet, students must have a password.
How do students, teachers and whanau login?
Most of the Kiwi Kids News site is available for anyone to view.
However, access is restricted for some of our articles, our Weekly Quiz, the Feature Article, and Literacy Booklet.
When students come to one of these pages they will be asked to put in their username and password. This will look like the image below.
How can Kiwi Kids News be used in the classroom?
This website is designed to be used within the classroom.
Teachers can rely on Kiwi Kids News to be a safe website to bring up on a projector or computer screen.
Each article is accompanied by some educational tasks. These appear below the article page.
How much does Kiwi Kids News cost?
The Kiwi Kids Quiz goes live onto the website on Friday mornings at 8:30am.
All schools that sign up will also have access to a paper copy and a Kahoot version of the test. This is emailed out on Thursday evening.
Each weekly quiz has 10 questions. At the end of each term, we produce a Term Quiz with 30 questions and this comes out in Week 9. The Super Quiz at the end of Term 4 has 60 questions.
Teachers can also download the quiz on a Thursday evening from the Teacher Download Page.
Kiwi Kids News is a free resource for schools and teachers to use. This means at any time the website can be accessed by students and teachers and used as they see fit.
However, we restrict areas of the website to those schools that have paid the yearly subscription fee. Restricted areas include the Kiwi Kids Quiz, the weekly Feature Article, and the Literacy Booklet. Some news articles are also restricted
The Kiwi Kids Quiz is a weekly news quiz of 10 questions that comes out on a Friday. Students can complete this online, via Kahoot, or use the WORD document that is sent to teachers on a Thursday evening.
The Weekly Feature Article is an article based around a topical issue. It is often provocative and designed to make students think.
Our Literacy Booklet is a term booklet with weekly tasks for students to complete. We provide detailed instructions each week to help students complete their homework.
Our subscriptions are based on the size of your school.
Home Subscription – $39 / Individual Subscription – $69 / School 0-100 students – $139 / School 101-500 students – $189 / School 500+ students – $229
The Kiwi Kids Quiz
The Kiwi Kids Quiz goes live onto the website on Friday mornings at 8:30am.
All schools that sign up will also have access to a paper copy and a Kahoot version of the test. This is emailed out on Thursday evening.
Each weekly quiz has 10 questions. At the end of each term, we produce a Term Quiz with 30 questions and this comes out in Week 9. The Super Quiz at the end of Term 4 has 60 questions.
Teachers can also download the quiz on a Thursday evening from the Teacher Download Page.
The Literacy Booklet
The Kiwi Kids Quiz goes live onto the website on Friday mornings at 8:30am.
All schools that sign up will also have access to a paper copy and a Kahoot version of the test. This is emailed out on Thursday evening.
Each weekly quiz has 10 questions. At the end of each term, we produce a Term Quiz with 30 questions and this comes out in Week 9. The Super Quiz at the end of Term 4 has 60 questions.
Teachers can also download the quiz on a Thursday evening from the Teacher Download Page.
What is Kiwi Kids News Feature Article?
Schools that sign up to the Kiwi Kids News website get access to the Weekly Feature Article.
The weekly article is designed to create debate within your class or get your students thinking creatively about the topic. Opinions expressed in the article are not necessarily the views of the staff at Kiwi Kids News.
Included with each article are questions that students can answer.
The article goes live on the website on Wednesday mornings at 8:30am.
Where do Teachers Download the Quiz and Literacy Booklet?
Teachers download the Kiwi Kids Quiz and the Literacy Booklet from the Teacher Download Page. This page is updated every Thursday night and is the key place to get information for your students.
The Download Page can be found here – Downloads for Teachers – Kiwi Kids News .
Teachers can also access this area by clicking on the TEACHER DOWNLOAD banner on the front page of the website.
To access this page you will need the Teacher Downloads password which is emailed out in your Welcome Email.