Each school year, some 100 teachers in Rowan-Salisbury sign up for the Salisbury Post’s Newspapers in Education (NIE) program, and receive a set of newspapers to use in their classes each Tuesday. The Post lines up sponsors to cover the cost of the papers.

The Post is once again inviting teachers to sign up for the program, and this year it has a new online component, SalisburyPostNIE.com.

The site is open to anyone interested in helping children improve academic skills, not just those officially in the NIE program.

The site provides resources for parents, teachers, students and sponsors.

• Parents will find links to school menus, a reading tip of the day. Homework Helper, math and science resources and information about how to counter bullying.

• Teachers will find links to sites that offer lesson plans, complete with PowerPoint slides, as well as printable activity sheets, interactive games and more, covering a variety of subjects — reading, history, science and art.

• Students will find interactive games and resources for all grades, from a Curious Critter Counting Game for preschoolers to a blood typing game for high school science students.

• Sponsors will be listed to get recognition for their contribution to the education of Rowan County children.

You don’t have to own a computer to help a child get educational value out of the newspaper. Here are examples of activities recommended by Reading Rockets:

• Have your children cut out the letters needed to spell their names and glue these to a piece of paper. Or have them find and cut out words in headlines that they can read, paste them on paper and practice reading them together.

• Cut out a few pictures from the paper and ask your child to write a caption for each one.

• Turn a recent family event into a newspaper story. Try to write a headline and story; add photos and write captions.

• Talk about the difference between fact and opinion. Then read one of the articles from the paper. Are there facts? Are there any opinions? How do you tell the difference?

• Choose an age-appropriate story to read together, and ask your child to identify the five Ws — who, what, where, when and why?

Newspapers in Education, NIE, is an international program begun in 1955 to help advance the use of newspapers in schools. The main purpose of the program is to improve reading, spelling, writing abilities and to encourage children to become more aware and involved in the happenings of their community, region, state, country and world.

The Salisbury Post has had an NIE program for more than 10 years. The newspaper is delivered to more than 3,500 students each year in more than 100 classrooms in Salisbury/Rowan schools.

The Post is recruiting businesses and individuals to sponsor newspapers for teachers for the upcoming school year.

Teachers interested in signing up for NIE papers and people interested in being a sponsor should contact Elisha Wilson, the Post’s NIE director, at 704-797-4218, or email postnie@salisburypost.com.