MOUNT VERNON — While local schools have been in full swing for a few weeks now, some teachers throughout the area will be adding the Mount Vernon News and Newsworthy to their Monday lesson plans.
The Newspaper in Education program, offered by the News, gives area teachers the opportunity to use the local newspaper to teach their students about current events, how to utilize the information in a newspaper and to expand their reading horizons.
“It’s a great literacy tool,” said Michelle Hartman, News NIE coordinator.
NIE’s Newsworthy is a supplemental handout for students that asks questions that can be answered by using Monday’s edition of the News.
“[NIE is] an outreach program. We’re putting a product in their hands and we want to encourage them to read for life; not just to pass a test. I think it’s good for kids because they can read about their classmates. They read the sports stories or stories about kids they know from school,” Hartman said.
The program, which runs from September through May, is available to all teachers throughout Knox County. Hartman said all county schools participate on some level.
Teachers have several options as to which papers and which pages they can use in their classroom; it can range from once a month to once a week or several days a week.
What’s great about NIE and Newsworthy, Hartman said, is that it just doesn’t focus on reading. Teachers are able to use the News to also teach lessons in math, science and geography, among others.
She said the backbone of NIE, however, are the sponsors who are involved in the program.
“Without our sponsors, we wouldn’t have a program,” she said.
From businesses to individuals, sponsorship funds have helped the News provide over 622,000 papers since 1998.
“The News donates the production cost of the newspaper and the sponsors pick up the rest, which is 25 percent,” Hartman said.
To sponsor one child for the year costs $2.52; 10 children for the year costs $25.20. To sponsor one classroom (approximately 25 students) is $63.
In addition to monetary donations, News subscribers can donate their papers to NIE while they are away on vacation. Anyone interested in being a vacation donor can call 397-5333 and speak to someone in circulation.
The roots of the News’ NIE program date back to 1997 and Disney’s re-release of “The Little Mermaid.”
“We got a special comic strip to run every day from Thanksgiving to Christmas. We had nowhere to put it in the paper,” Hartman said. “I was at home with two babies and my mom [News Publisher Kay Culbertson] called me one day and said, ‘Hey, how do you feel about writing a kids’ page?’”
While the page was put together around a comic strip, it included holiday information, crafts, television specials and various child-oriented material. After the comic strip ran out and the page was no longer published, calls and letters came into the News office inquiring about its whereabouts, proving the page was a hit with children and families.
In January 1998, the “Kidding Around” page was developed and a pilot program for NIE was started.
“We started out with four teachers,” said Hartman. “The pilot program was just for teachers and we had about 100 papers a week.”
The following school year, NIE started delivering the Monday paper and Newsworthy. Eventually, Kidding Around was added and the Gear page was developed.
“We started out with four teachers that year and we’ve grown steadily every year,” Hartman said.
The number of teachers utilizing the program peaked at 178 in the 2006-07 school year, with a total of 102,377 papers. So far this year, 117 teachers have applied to NIE, and Hartman expects more to jump on the bandwagon.
“We’re still signing teachers up,” she said.
Teachers wishing to use the Mount Vernon News in their classrooms can call 397-5333 to sign up, or go online to www.mountvernonnews.com.
In addition to ordering NIE online, teachers enrolled in the program have a plethora of information available at the News’ Web site, including teacher guides, anytime activities and various other aides to enrich the NIE experience.
For parents whose children are not involved in NIE in school, a PDF version of Newsworthy is available for download.
