Searchby Ellen Creane
Talk about a partnership! Half a page for Kid Scoop, and the other half-page of children’s work using Kid Scoop. This is how The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead newspaper in Fargo, North Dakota, uses the Kid Scoop youth feature.
“Showing the work of children—their writing, their projects with Kid Scoop helps teachers showcase learning in the classroom,” says Allison Molstre, Customer Success Manager at the paper. “The parents just love seeing their own children’s work published in our newspaper every Wednesday.” Extra copies to give to the parents are included in the NIE bundles.
The paper has been publishing Kid Scoop since 1998. Molstre follows a series of managers in the circulation department to continue Kid Scoop over 23 years.
“At the beginning, our paper decided to add Kid Scoop to give teachers youth content that helped with learning skills in a way that was fun,” she said.
Students in Clara Barton Elementary School in Fargo, ND show their love of learning with Kid Scoop!
Most papers are mailed to homes, in addition to bundles delivered to the schools when they are open. During the 2017-18 school year, schools in the area received some 211,000 individual copies when the paper was published five days a week. The paper now publishes on Wednesday and Saturday with a current number of over 20,791 home circulation on Wednesday and 21,800 on Saturday.
The paper also has an online NIE program titled The Learning Forum.
Molstre has reports from teachers and parents that at home the children are using Kid Scoop for self-guided reading and fun with the puzzles, word searches and writing prompts. The page periodically includes news briefs so children can explore current events that lead them to other news pages in the paper. Sponsorships have declined due to the pandemic, but a bank continues to sponsor.
Molstre herself used Kid Scoop with her young “Lunch Buddy” a couple years ago before taking on the responsibility for the page. The school district matched her with a youngster in a district-wide program of connecting adults “to give more attention to children in need,” she explained.
“Once a week, we had fun with the Kid Scoop puzzles and we talked about her life and interests while having lunch.”
