READ ALL ABOUT IT: NEWSPAPERS IN EDUCATION

Discussions about developments in Bosnia, fraternity hazing and even the weather are just as common as questions about pronouns and multiplication facts in James Hickam's sixth-grade classroom at Jefferson Elementary School.

Hickam's students are among thousands of students reading newspapers as part of their classroom assignments.

This is Newspaper in Education Week. The Southeast Missourian is now in its fourth year of offering newspapers to school teachers for use in classrooms.

This year, with the addition of the newspaper's Learning page, the highest delivery day to schools is Tuesday. McDowell said 7,507 newspapers are delivered to 68 schools on that day. About 800 newspapers are delivered to students on a daily basis, mostly to those in current events classes.

The project, including printing and delivery of the newspapers, costs around $84,000 annually.

Almost half of that amount is funded through the YELL for Newspapers literacy campaign. In September, a special edition of the Missourian is sold on street corners to raise money for the project.

The other half of the funding for NIE comes from the Missourian itself.

McDowell said the newspaper has made a commitment to literacy in the community through the Newspapers in Education program.

"In my mind, we are encouraging young newspaper readers," said McDowell.

"We are helping guarantee informed citizens. By reading the newspapers, students are able to see all opportunities. They are able to understand stories much more fully than if they depended on the sound bites they get through the electronic media."

In Hickam's classroom, newspapers provide an opportunity for youngsters to read about events in their hometown and across the world.

Each day, Hickam reads through the newspapers in advance of his students to create a fact hunt.

"I pick out a series of questions and write them on the board. Each one has to try to find those answers in the newspaper," he explained.

"Sometimes they dread hunting those doggone answers," he said. But Hickam said the newspaper makes for interesting reading.

"It's the immediacy of what's going on," he said.

Stories also mean something to the students.

"One of our former student's house caught on fire, and that was on the front page," he said. Students were anxious to read what happened.

"It's things that encourage them to read. They say, `This happened in my neighborhood' or `This is someone I know.'

"Not only does it encourage them to read," Hickam said. "It also makes them more interested in what's happening in the world. Kids, to an extent, have blinders on and they really need to broaden their horizons. By reading stories about Bosnia, we expand their frame of reference. How does it affect me in Cape Girardeau?"

Of course, Hickam said, the newspaper is also a constant source for language activities. "The other day we each took a section and looked for all the pronouns."

He said Speak Out, the newspaper's call-in comment section, is a big favorite among students. They also enjoy reading editorials.

"We read the want ads or Dear Abby or a sports column," Hickam said.

"We just enjoy reading the newspaper."