catreg1 Posted August 9, 2017 Share Posted August 9, 2017 Our curriculum requires our elementary students to report on current events several times a week. Traditional news sources seem more like entertainment reporting. Is there a source you use for news that is reliable, serious and a little less prurient? Thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmmetler Posted August 9, 2017 Share Posted August 9, 2017 My DD's a bit older (12), but we use an article in the New York Times paired with the coverage of the same topic from the Wall Street Journal,which gives one more liberal and one more conservative biased source. Both are reliable. In general, I prefer print media to anything video-it's easier to pre-read and tends to carry less of an emotional load for a sensitive kid. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HomeAgain Posted August 9, 2017 Share Posted August 9, 2017 We use NPR for print articles and PBS Newshour for video. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Selkie Posted August 9, 2017 Share Posted August 9, 2017 My kids read the Wall Street Journal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sbgrace Posted August 9, 2017 Share Posted August 9, 2017 (edited) How young? You could just use a wire service, AP https://www.ap.org/en-us/ and/or Reuters http://www.reuters.com/ ETA: Maybe check out some of these? https://www.commonsensemedia.org/lists/best-news-sources-for-kids Edited August 9, 2017 by sbgrace Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Earthmerlin Posted August 10, 2017 Share Posted August 10, 2017 (edited) This is a good thread & wonder what's appropriate for a sensitive but bright 7 yr old. Edited August 10, 2017 by Earthmerlin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MotherGoose Posted August 10, 2017 Share Posted August 10, 2017 This is a good thread & wonder what's appropriate for a sensitive but bright 7 yr old. Personally I keep even my eleven year old away from the news of any sort. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catreg1 Posted August 10, 2017 Author Share Posted August 10, 2017 Personally I keep even my eleven year old away from the news of any sort. I've lived in this camp with both of my children, so far. They are 10 and 8. This assignment is optional, but I like the idea of the newspapers (NYT/WSJ) (oh, for the days when my city had two independent newspapers of its own!) I'm still working on ideas, but I think I'll try to curate a selection of articles that relate to current events region of the world we are studying. Someone in our group mentioned that cnn has a 10 minute children's news update. I think I'll check that out too. Thanks for all of your ideas! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catreg1 Posted August 10, 2017 Author Share Posted August 10, 2017 We use NPR for print articles and PBS Newshour for video. Thanks for responding. Do you print NPR online items for them? I've never seen anything from NPR in print. Love the PBS Newshour idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RootAnn Posted August 10, 2017 Share Posted August 10, 2017 CNN10 has some fun aspects (the host loves puns and sometimes they have a fun animal video at the end), but they do cover serious news. It is generally one or two big news topics each day. It won't cover a ton of topics in any one episode, but they do cover current events over the course of the week. There is a written transcript available to look at if you want to quickly review what the topics of the broadcast are. It is a week-day daily show. Fridays are a little shorter because it includes a review of the previous week. There have only been a few times over the handful of years that I have felt that the show was bias one way or another politically. It seems fairly well balanced (for CNN). Some of the topics can be pretty dark (ISIS, nuclear threat from Iran or North Korea), so use your knowledge of your kids to know if it will be acceptable for your kids & your family. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Earthmerlin Posted August 10, 2017 Share Posted August 10, 2017 OK, thanks for all the input! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angie in VA Posted August 10, 2017 Share Posted August 10, 2017 (edited) Student News Daily might work, but I prefer reading one liberal and one conservative paper in general or article in particular as a PP said. Edited August 10, 2017 by Angie in VA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HomeAgain Posted August 10, 2017 Share Posted August 10, 2017 Thanks for responding. Do you print NPR online items for them? I've never seen anything from NPR in print. Love the PBS Newshour idea. No, we keep it on the tablet. I needed something that was not overly-editorial or sensational news. NPR fit that niche rather well. Once a week we get the Boston Globe delivered and DH and I get the New York Times, but both of those can tend to show more of a bias than NPR. Starting in about 5th grade we add biased sources more and practice circling or highlighting key words and phrases that show the author's slant or opinion. My youngest is only 7, though, and sensitive when it comes to news. He's restricted to Newshour and NPR plus a half hour of local news in the morning now that we've researched those. I don't know who all has seen the Sinclair segment of Last Week Tonight, but it's linked in this article. I didn't link it directly because it does use NSFW language, but it is important to see in the context of deciding what our children are exposed to in the name of 'news'. http://www.rollingstone.com/tv/news/see-john-oliver-warn-of-conservative-takeover-of-local-news-w490719 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted August 10, 2017 Share Posted August 10, 2017 When my kids were younger, we had a subscription to News-o-Matic on the iPad - it's a daily news digest for younger kids. They tend to be heavy on the happy news and things that are more neutral, though they do cover harder topics and political stuff, but with such a light touch. Now that my kids are a bit older, it feels too light, but at age 8 or whenever they started it and we started using it, it really was just right. Now, we get the Washington Post, since it's our local paper. But we haven't been using it as much lately so I was thinking of suspending our subscription. We also get The Economist and I am thinking we'll use that when I want them to read an article. We also have on NPR in the car routinely and we just talk about current events among ourselves, so they get it filtered through us. BalletBoy has become super into podcasts, so he listens to all kinds of weird things, some of which sometimes are sort of news related, like This American Life. (Though others of which are about animation or dance or other things he's into.) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fralala Posted August 10, 2017 Share Posted August 10, 2017 This is a good thread & wonder what's appropriate for a sensitive but bright 7 yr old. My 7 year old likes Newsela (there is an app or the website). From what I've seen it tends toward the very gentle and positive (and you can adjust reading level), but allows them to get used to reading stories in a news format and begin to become more media-literate. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluegoat Posted August 10, 2017 Share Posted August 10, 2017 I don't really do news for my youngers. Sometimes they will sit and watch the abc evening news with their dad. For my eldest, mainly CBC and BBC. Mostly at this point she's interested in smaller news articles. Though I did give her the smartphone article from The Atlantic that was posted on the chat board and she read it and found it interesting, so it might be worthwhile to point her to some other news sources with longer articles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeartString Posted August 10, 2017 Share Posted August 10, 2017 My kids love CNN student news. Its an important part of our day. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YodaGirl Posted August 10, 2017 Share Posted August 10, 2017 I don't feel as though I've done a very good job with keeping my kids abreast of current events. I remember watching Oliver North on tv when I was a kid because my mom always watched the news. They obviously hear what we discuss regarding politics and current events, but they don't really hear unbiased news (not that I'm sure that exists anymore). I try to give them both sides, even if I disagree with one side just because I want them to be able to discuss both sides of any issue. I've thought about having my 5th grader watch https://www.channelone.com this year. I remember watching it in public school from 7th grade on up. Is CNN for kids left-leaning, or is it more moderate? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Earthmerlin Posted August 10, 2017 Share Posted August 10, 2017 My 7 year old likes Newsela (there is an app or the website). From what I've seen it tends toward the very gentle and positive (and you can adjust reading level), but allows them to get used to reading stories in a news format and begin to become more media-literate. It's funny you should mention News ELA because I have used it with my ELL students. I never thought to try it on my daughter. And if I recall correctly, you can control the lexile level as well. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madteaparty Posted August 10, 2017 Share Posted August 10, 2017 Wait Wait Don't tell me? :) A combination of BBC world service and French news. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScoutTN Posted August 11, 2017 Share Posted August 11, 2017 WORLD magazine, it's teen version, and podcasts. The WSJ, NPR, and occasionally local news. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Earthmerlin Posted September 1, 2017 Share Posted September 1, 2017 When my kids were younger, we had a subscription to News-o-Matic on the iPad - it's a daily news digest for younger kids. They tend to be heavy on the happy news and things that are more neutral, though they do cover harder topics and political stuff, but with such a light touch. Now that my kids are a bit older, it feels too light, but at age 8 or whenever they started it and we started using it, it really was just right. Now, we get the Washington Post, since it's our local paper. But we haven't been using it as much lately so I was thinking of suspending our subscription. We also get The Economist and I am thinking we'll use that when I want them to read an article. We also have on NPR in the car routinely and we just talk about current events among ourselves, so they get it filtered through us. BalletBoy has become super into podcasts, so he listens to all kinds of weird things, some of which sometimes are sort of news related, like This American Life. (Though others of which are about animation or dance or other things he's into.) I see the WP has an online kids' section. Do you know if this comes out in print as well? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted September 1, 2017 Share Posted September 1, 2017 I see the WP has an online kids' section. Do you know if this comes out in print as well? They have the Kids Post, yeah - it's on... I forget which day. But it's not all that great. Not like a mini paper for kids or anything, just a couple of little stories and educational comics. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Earthmerlin Posted September 2, 2017 Share Posted September 2, 2017 They have the Kids Post, yeah - it's on... I forget which day. But it's not all that great. Not like a mini paper for kids or anything, just a couple of little stories and educational comics. OK, thanks for the info.! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J-rap Posted September 2, 2017 Share Posted September 2, 2017 (edited) Well, we like NPR, but I don't know about elementary school kids. I wonder if there are kids' magazines that have brief age-appropriate stories/current events online. ETA: I just googled "children's current events magazine" and there were lots of sites that came up! Edited September 2, 2017 by J-rap Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rush Posted September 3, 2017 Share Posted September 3, 2017 The First News. co. uk and The Week Junior .co. uk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Earthmerlin Posted September 3, 2017 Share Posted September 3, 2017 I decided to go with Newsela for now (since I'm familiar with it from work). I like the "elementary" setting that filters out too heavy content. I like the abitity to control the reading level. There are comprehension quizzes as well. But the biggest bonus is Spanish! You can get everything in Spanish!! For our family, this is awesome!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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