The Newspapers in Education program at the Bangor Daily News is ready to welcome teachers and students back to school with a bang. This year promises to be filled with fun and learning with the Bangor Daily News. We’ll continue with our classroom favorites – The Mini Page and World of Wonder features – which run in the paper each Tuesday and Wednesday.

The Mini Page will kick off the school year on Tuesday, Sept. 5, with a great topic for back to school, “Respect and Responsibility.” World of Wonder’s featured topic for Wednesday, Sept. 6, is “Trout.”

These two features offer activities based on national and state learning standards. This additional information and a list of upcoming topics for each feature are updated regularly and always available on the NIE Web site at www.bangordailynews.com/nie

We are very excited to be able to offer a new regular feature to classrooms this year, NIE EXTRA EXTRA. This extra, special edition will be published in the Bangor Daily News on the last Thursday of each month, offering classrooms five new features and activities:

. “Space Place” – NASA presents an educational, current event column that will keep pupils up to date on the latest news about space and technology.

. “My Wonderful World” – NIE teams up with National Geographic and the Maine Geographic Alliance to present this feature that promises to inform, excite and encourage students to expand their geographical knowledge in the classroom, at home and in the community.

. “Dollars & Sense” – NIE and The Maine Council on Economic Education present this monthly financial literacy column that will prime students for the real world on a multitude of money matters.

. “Student Views” – They asked for it, they got it. Finally – a place reserved for letters submitted by participating NIE classrooms in grades six through 12.

. NIE Newshound Reports – Our very own NIE newshound investigative reporters will cover the classroom “beat.” These special newshounds will visit our kindergarten through grade-five classrooms and report back to NIE and Bangor Daily News readers the Who, What, Where, When, How and Why students use the newspapers in their classroom.

Mini Page and World of Wonder classroom subscribers will automatically receive this “extra special” NIE edition as part of their regular classroom subscriptions.

In addition to regular features, NIE strives to provide Maine educators with timely and relevant special programs on topics such as Maine history, geography, health, science, careers, government, character development, elections, technology and much more. Topics for each school year are chosen based on suggestions made by participating educators on the end-of-year teacher survey. Regular input from our NIE teachers helps us keep our program a meaningful and effective tool.

First up on the calendar for special programs is “Naming Places the Penobscot Way: How the Penobscots Named the Lands and Waters Around Us.”

In collaboration with the Penobscot Indian Nation, the Bangor Daily News will publish a double-sided, full color, pullout poster featuring Indian place names on Saturday, Sept. 23. (This Saturday edition will be delivered to participating classrooms on Monday, Sept. 25.)

The ancient name of a place can offer geographic and geological descriptions and land or resource use. All are based on an oral tradition centuries old. Place names found in Penobscot Valley and Penobscot Bay are rich in this tradition. This keepsake feature will complement the Maine Native American Studies in schools for years to come. Participating teachers will receive additional resources and curriculum materials provided by the Penobscot Indian Nation.

What else is new? NIE is offering five new curriculum and activity guides to participating NIE teachers:

. By the Numbers – Mathematical Connections in Newspapers for Middle-Grade Students.

. Keep It Real – Newspapers, the Ultimate Informational Text.

. The Essential Question – Student-Developed Questions Using the Newspaper.

. Give Them the Keys – Promoting Adolescent Literacy Through Newspapers.

. Be Healthy, Be Fit – New Ideas for a New School Year.

These guides offer classroom activities and instructions on how to use the newspaper as a supplemental textbook for teaching concepts and skills in all subject areas and grade levels.

Of course, the newspaper is a great source for current events, but it is so much more. Pupils’ reading comprehension and writing skills are enhanced with regular use of the newspaper in the classroom. It is chock full of capital letters, verbs, nouns, adjectives, adverbs, homonyms, synonyms and more.

Students have the opportunity to see examples of, and determine the difference between, fact and opinion.

Imagine motivating students to learn math skills with the Boston Red Sox and the New England Patriots by teaching mean, median and mode; probability, fractions, decimals and percentages using the scores and statistics on the sports pages.

Connect charting and graphing to real life by using the television schedule or weather page. These ideas and many more are available in the numerous curriculum and activity guides provided by NIE.

Newspapers In Education would like to thank the generous businesses and individuals which have contributed to NIE this summer during its annual fundraising drive.

Classrooms throughout the eight-county area we serve will benefit from such generosity. Our corporate contributors are listed on the NIE Web site, mentioned every week in our NIE Thank You ad and thanked by the classrooms receiving the contributions.

For more information on NIE features, special programs, events and classroom opportunities, visit www.bangordailynews.com/nie or e-mail NIE at bdnnie@bangordailynews.net.