In addition to learning about their community, students who receive copies of the Warren County Record in their classrooms this year will have the opportunity to learn about the pony express, the Constitution, geography, better health, three Missouri military generals, career opportunities, the Civil War, spelling and more.

In September, the Record In Education program gets under way in area schools, providing classroom copies of the newspaper to teachers interested in integrating the reading resource into their curriculum.

Hundreds of newspapers are provided each week thanks to community partners who support the literacy outreach program coordinated by The Record.

One of the major focuses of the Record In Education program is civic education and many of the youth features published in The Record concentrate on state and national history.

On Sept. 17, 1787, the U.S. Constitution was signed by its authors, known as the Framers. In 2005, Congress passed a law requiring schools to educate all students about the Constitution and the First Amendment on Sept. 17.

Three years after that federal law took effect, a 2007 follow-up survey by the Knight Foundation found that a majority of American students still weren't aware that Constitution Day exists.

The Record annually publishes a youth feature about the Constitution to help teach local students about our nation's founding document. A half-page feature, Celebrating Our Constitution, will be published in the Sept. 11-12 issue, which is the first issue delivered to schools this school year.

The first serial story will commemorate another historic event, the pony express mail service. One of the first riders on the pony express set out from St. Joseph, Mo., on April 3, 1860.

"Hannah's Dairy: A Tale of the Pony Express" is an eight-week historical fiction tale of a young girl on the American frontier who makes history by sending one of the first letters by pony express. A companion teacher guide to the story will be available online at emissourian.com.

A second historical fiction story will be published in January when The Record participates in the Reading Across Missouri project.

Annually, about 100 newspapers across the state publish a story in unison. The 2011 story will introduce young readers to three famous American generals John J. "Black Jack" Pershing, Maxwell D. Taylor and Omar N. Bradley and will celebrate hard work and personal aspirations.

In the spring, as the country is gearing up for the sesquicentennial commemoration of the Civil War, The Record will publish 10 weeks of educational features about the Civil War. Some of the topics will include: Stephen Douglas and Politics of Slavery, Abraham Lincoln and His Union Generals, Jefferson Davis and His Confederate Generals, Divided Loyalties and Reuniting a Nation.

Beyond history, some of the other educational features scheduled to be published in The Record this year will cover geography, health literacy and career discovery. And in each issue a Kid Scoop feature will offer a jumping-off point to more resources online.

This past spring The Record updated its Web edition at emissourian.com and over the summer the Record In Education section on the site got an update as well.

The site now has featured news stories at the top of the section; Book Buzz news including Newsbee's Picks, monthly recommendations on quality children's books, reviews by students and Baby Buzz book recommendations for children ages birth to 5; information for teachers on receiving classroom newspapers, and new this year, an online order form.

A calendar listing issue-by-issue features scheduled to be published, as well as other reading-related events is coming soon.

A link to Kid Scoop offers students, teachers and parents a portal to the vast offering by the syndication, including games, recipes, activity pages and writing opportunities for kids, resources for parents and a lesson library and access to the weekly Kid Scoop feature that for several years was published in The Record.

New this year, a link also will be available for teachers to access hundreds of educational resources through the Newspaper In Education Institute.

For more information on The Record's Newspaper In Education program or to sign up, visit emissourian.com or contact Dawn Kitchell at 636-932-4301. Community organizations and businesses interested in partnering with The Record to help provide classroom newspapers to local schools should contact Debbie Toebben at (636) 541-1529.