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CARY, N.C.–Before the school day begins at Northwoods Elementary School, a group of fifth grade students are already hard at work preparing the morning news show.

The show is called the “Koalaty News Network”, or KNN for short. It is nicknamed after the school's mascot, the koala bear. KNN began four years ago with the collaborative efforts of school counselor Beverly Mitchell, Media Specialist Renee Duncan and the Oral Interpreter for the Hearing Impaired Program, Barbara VanDyke.

The idea for KNN sparked after the school appointed Mitchell the duty of handling the morning announcements. Mitchell wanted to go beyond the traditional style of reading announcements over the intercom, as well as give the students an avenue to expand their skills.

“Most of all the students really look forward to their opportunity to go on camera and be an anchor,” Mitchell said. “Some of them are nervous at first, but they all enjoy a chance at each position.”

The news segment is a maximum of five minutes long and has the following structure:

• Today in History Fact
• Morning Announcements
• Local Sports (Monday and Friday only)
• The Monthly Character Trait, chosen from the list of Character Traits on the WCPSS Website
• The closing thought for the school motto of “CLIMB”