Fifth-grade Ruder Elementary teacher Sherri Nissen was inspired to get her students reading the news.

“I thought, that would be a great way to start our morning,” said Nissen. “We just started it, and so far… they’re liking it.” Shortly following suit, all of the fifth grade classrooms in the school are now adopting the practice.

The students read from each of the local papers as well as a few elementary-targeted news sources such as CNN 10, Time magazine for kids and the Tween Tribune, a publication by the Smithsonian.

Many of the students access the articles online using classroom Chromebooks. Recently, after Nissen contacted the Daily Inter Lake to increase the number of hardcopies the newspaper donates to the school, students have also had access to print versions.

Recently students were engrossed with articles detailing the coronavirus outbreak.

“I was going to read the blotter — which, I like reading the blotter because it’s really funny,” said Michael Little, “But I saw an article talking about coronavirus and I read it. I found it interesting that [the online article] said they were seeing tons of people wearing face masks because I’ve never really seen somebody with it, except online.”

Brayden Swope read that corona is the Latin word for “crown.”

“Because when you look at the virus under the microscope, it looks like a crown,” explained Swope.

Through cultivating this habit in her classroom, Nissen hopes for her students, “to feel a connection to their community and to take an active interest in what is happening here,” she said.

With schools out and the virus taking ahold of the entire nation, keeping up on the news is more important than ever.

The Hungry Horse News offers the news to students free throughout the year.