Abbreviations and Acronyms in Newspapers

Suggested Grades

Students will learn about and understand the purpose and meaning of common abbreviations and acronyms by examining them in newspapers.

a variety of newspapers
acronym/abbreviation dictionaries (can find this on-line at web site below).
chart paper

Ask students to skim throught the newspaper and find acronyms and abbreviations (a good place to look is in the classifieds), and write them down on a piece of paper.
Right beside the acronym or abbreviation have students write down what they think the acronym or abbreviation stands for.
After they have finished looking through their newspapers, have students get into groups of three or four and share their lists. As a group, have them find out whether their guesses for the acronyms and abbreviations were correct by comparing them with each other, looking at the guides at the beginning of the classifieds/newspapers, and/or looking through acronym/abbreviation dictionaries.
Get together as a class and write down all of the abbreviations and acronyms and their definitions that were found on a class chart. Display for future reference.
Extension: Copy some classified ads and have students try to decipher them on their own.