Since each episode was created with the aid of an educational consultant, there is always an underlying message that is great for teachers or parents to discuss with young children.  Entire lesson plans can be constructed around playing an episode for a class.  All of these materials can be found on the Anne Toon site.

Take the episode, “The Avonlea Herald”, for example.  In this episode, Anne and her friends think that newspapers are boring and that they don’t offer them anything interesting.  In fact, they use the Avonlea Chronicle to make paper airplanes.  So Mr. Gresham, Avonlea’s minister, advices them to form their own newspaper and tell the compelling stories they believe the existing newspaper isn’t finding.

Under the guidance of Rachel Lynde – the society columnist for the Avonlea Chronicle – the children begin their own weekly newspaper, The Avonlea Herald, with Anne at the helm as chief editor.  But things aren’t exactly going Anne’s way and she becomes increasingly frustrated with the “inept” journalism skills of her fellow pupils.  When everyone quits the newspaper because of her attitude, she soon realizes what it truly means to be a good leader.

The purpose of this episode is to show children the difference between someone who is an effective leader and someone who is just simply bossy.  It shows that if everyone respects each other and works together with the same goal in mind, they’ll be able to reap the rewards.

Questions that could be brought up in the classroom include asking the students what they would want to include in a newspaper if they could write articles.  Or a discussion on what makes a person bossy and how that affects other.

It also gives teachers and parents an opportunity to introduce newspapers into the lesson plans or daily routine of their children, so that both an awareness of current events and a promotion of literacy are encouraged.