TodayGood News FridayOct 12 to 18, 2026
Good News Friday
Good news for kids this week.
5 classroom stories from 5 places, across 4 sections. For Friday, October 16, 2026.
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Teacher note
Plan on 10 to 15 minutes with ages 6 to 11 (about grades 1 to 6). An adult reads aloud. Show the photo, read one story, ask one discussion question, and point to the place. If you have time, read another story or do the kindness challenge. The rest of the pack can wait. Skip any part a story does not include.
In this pack
- About 600 adult Murray cod went into Lake Bonney · Lake Bonney, Australia
- A Bucksport 10-year-old rallied volunteers to write 1,100 veteran cards · Bucksport, Maine, United States
- Twelve children galloped up to Imabari's Kamo Shrine · Kikuma, Kamo Shrine, Japan
- A Vermont horse logger and his Belgian, Ted, keep an old craft going · Greensboro, Vermont, United States
- Kids performed teddy bear surgery at OSU's vet school open house · Stillwater, Oklahoma, United States
AnimalsStory 1 of 5
About 600 adult Murray cod went into Lake Bonney
Where in the world: Lake Bonney, Australia
Oct 18, 2026
Read aloud
Ages 6 to 11. An adult reads this.
Murray cod are large Australian fish that can grow about a metre long. At Lake Bonney, beside the town of Barmera, people released about 600 adult cod in early October 2026. The fish had disappeared from the lake after it was cut off from the River Murray and after fish kills. A scientist said cod can shape the places they live by moving the bottom and feeding other animals. He did not say they will remove the carp. People may fish for them again under catch-and-release rules from January 1, 2027, outside the breeding season.
Discussion
- Why had Murray cod disappeared from Lake Bonney?
- What is the difference between shaping a habitat and removing carp?
Source: ABC · Full story
HeroesStory 2 of 5
A Bucksport 10-year-old rallied volunteers to write 1,100 veteran cards
Where in the world: Bucksport, Maine, United States
Oct 18, 2026
Read aloud
Ages 6 to 11. An adult reads this.
Evan Hunter, who is 10, got his mother and 27 volunteers together in Bucksport, Maine, and wrote thank-you cards to veterans. They filled out 1,100 of them on a Saturday. The family has held the same writing day every year since 2020. The cards are notes, not a big program. The count is how many they finished in that one sitting, with the same neighbors coming back each year. A short message, written by hand, was the whole gift.
Discussion
- Why might a handwritten note matter to someone who served?
- How does doing the same kind project every year change it?
Source: FOX Bangor · Full story
CommunityStory 3 of 5
Twelve children galloped up to Imabari's Kamo Shrine
Where in the world: Kikuma, Kamo Shrine, Japan
Oct 18, 2026
Read aloud
Ages 6 to 11. An adult reads this.
On October 18, 2026, twelve riders, all 15 or younger, galloped decorated horses up to Kamo Shrine in Kikuma, part of Imabari, Japan. Ehime Shimbun reported that the path is about 300 metres and ends uphill. The riders wore bright festival clothes, and the crowd clapped when they finished. The city lists it as a prefectural folk tradition on the third Sunday of October, with a parade the day before. Horse owners and a local teaching group pass the ride on. The news is that this year's children made the run. It is not a count of every horse in town.
Discussion
- What did the children have to do to finish the ride?
- Why do towns keep a festival that is hard to learn?
Source: Ehime Shimbun · Full story
ScienceStory 4 of 5
A Vermont horse logger and his Belgian, Ted, keep an old craft going
Where in the world: Greensboro, Vermont, United States
Oct 16, 2026
Read aloud
Ages 6 to 11. An adult reads this.
In Greensboro, Vermont, John Smolinsky still hauls logs with a horse. His Belgian horse, Ted, weighs about a ton. They work on small woodlots that are steep or easy to damage. Horse logging is a Vermont craft about 200 years old. A horse lifts its feet, so it packs the soil much less than a heavy machine does. That difference is why Ted still goes into woods where a big skidder would leave a deeper mark. The work is slow, and it is chosen on purpose.
Discussion
- Why can a horse be gentler on a forest than a heavy machine?
- What kind of woods would you choose a horse for?
Source: Vermont Public · Full story
AnimalsStory 5 of 5
Kids performed teddy bear surgery at OSU's vet school open house
Where in the world: Stillwater, Oklahoma, United States
Oct 18, 2026
Read aloud
Ages 6 to 11. An adult reads this.
Oklahoma State University's veterinary school opened its doors and let families perform surgery on teddy bears. Children practiced the careful handling a vet student learns, on a stuffed patient that could not be hurt. One student now in the real program first tried it at the open house when they were 8. The bears are a way in. For at least one person, a stuffed-animal operation was the start of the training they are doing now. Play, done with care, can point toward a job.
Discussion
- What can you practice on a teddy bear that you should not practice on a real animal?
- Why might a childhood visit change what someone studies later?
Source: KOCO 5 · Full story
Kindness Challenge
This week's stories are about animals, heroes, community, and science, from Lake Bonney, Bucksport, Maine, Kikuma, Kamo Shrine, and 2 more places. After the read-aloud, ask the class what happened in one story. Stay with what they just heard. Then choose one small kind act the class can do at school before next Friday.
Tazzora · Good News Friday · Oct 12 to 18, 2026