The site is updated Monday through Friday throughout the year. Students can read the day's top stories using Knowledge Tools, take a news quiz about today's world, and play special crossword puzzles. They can also expand their vocabularies and practice their verbal test-taking skills, and even take a Web Exploration on a variety of topics. Teachers can access a daily lesson plan for grades 6-12, written in partnership with The Bank Street College of Education in New York City. Each lesson plan and the article it references can be printed out for classroom use.
Previous lessons are available in the archive and in thematic lesson plan units.
Teachers can also use News Snapshot, aimed for grades 3-5, to explore current events through New York Times photos and related questions. The site additionally provides teachers with the latest education news from the newspaper. Parents can enhance their child's understanding of current events using Conversation Starters, join an online discussion, explore the family movie guide, read a recent product review or participate with their children in the activities in the student section. In addition, visitors can browse Navigator, a list of recommended Web sites, access special news indexes on both current and historic events, or take a look back at a historic New York Times front page, current and historic birthdays and historic editorial cartoons in the On This Day section. And teachers and parents can join Abuzz's Teacher's Circle, a question and answer service about teaching and education today.