At The Goddard School of Sugar Hill, a classroom became a newsroom for World News Day on Sept. 28. Preschool students took turns hosting and interviewing, talking with teachers, parents and members of the media about what journalists do. Georgia Public Broadcasting reporter Amanda Andrews visited the school and documented the activity. The children asked what a typical day looks like for a journalist and what everyone should know, turning a classroom exercise into a chance to practice curiosity out loud.
The event was part of a nationwide Goddard School initiative for World News Day. In a Sept. 28 announcement, the school system said children at nearly 700 locations would take on junior-journalist activities, including interviewing classmates and teachers, holding press conferences and reporting classroom news. The company described the exercise as a way to connect children’s natural questions with journalism. At Sugar Hill, GPB’s report showed what that idea looked like in one classroom: students making a newsroom of their own and taking turns asking questions.
Andrews reported that the Sugar Hill children spoke with adults about the work of journalism, not simply about headlines. One student, asked whether he knew what a newspaper was, said he did but had never read one. The exchange captured the distance between a familiar word and a young child’s experience with it. The activity gave children a way to ask, answer and explore together.
Another four-year-old student was asked what he loved most about his teacher. He paused, then answered, “When she’s teaching me.” GPB included the exchange in its report and identified the student’s age. The moment was small and specific: a child considering a question, taking time to answer, and describing a relationship through the act of learning. It also showed the open-ended format of the newsroom activity, where children could bring their own thoughts into the conversation.
The school’s education director, Emily Price, told GPB that asking questions is part of how children learn. She described natural inquiry as a child’s way of learning and said she hopes children continue asking questions and staying curious as they grow. Her comments align with the official campaign announcement, which said the activities would use age-appropriate interviews and exploration to help children practice asking questions and sharing stories.
World News Day is a global initiative recognizing journalism and the role of trustworthy reporting, according to Goddard’s announcement. The school system placed its classroom activities within that day, while GPB independently reported on the Sugar Hill event. The two sources offer different kinds of evidence: the school system outlined the national program and its aims; the broadcaster described what students in one Georgia classroom actually did.
Goddard said selected schools would also welcome professional journalists into their classrooms, giving students a chance to ask questions of their visitors. The company’s broader celebration included interviews with children by Julian Shapiro-Barnum, creator of Recess Therapy. That national component is separate from the Sugar Hill classroom report; GPB identifies reporter Andrews as the visiting media member at that location. The local story does not claim every Goddard school held the same activity or hosted a reporter.
The company announcement says nearly 700 Goddard Schools were included in the nationwide initiative. GPB similarly described Sugar Hill as one of about 700 locations celebrating World News Day. Those numbers refer to the participating school network, not the number of children in the Sugar Hill newsroom. Neither source gives a local attendance total, and this account does not estimate one.
At Sugar Hill, the confirmed details are modest and vivid: children made a newsroom, practiced interviewing and asked adults about journalism. The report records both a child who had heard of a newspaper but never read one and another who connected his teacher with learning. These moments do not prove a lasting change in the students’ skills, but they show a classroom activity making space for children to ask questions and answer in their own words.
A World News Day classroom can introduce journalism through something young children already do: wonder about the people and world around them. The Goddard School set out a nationwide activity plan; GPB’s on-site reporting showed students carrying it out in Sugar Hill. Their questions were simple, but the exercise treated them seriously. For one afternoon, children took the host’s seat, spoke with adults and practiced the basic work of finding out more.
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