Current Events

[Pen]

I want to have Current Events as a subject this next year. I know there were some posts about this in past that looked interesting, but am now having trouble finding good resources and ways to handle this as a subject.  Any thoughts and ideas would be appreciated!

[SemiSweet]

We use CNN student news, it's not on the air right now but I think it will be later this month. We just use it to discuss and every so often I'll have ds do a notebooking page on an event of his choice.

[Beth S]

Our local PBS station has a weekly kids news program, News Quiz.

You can watch it online, once it starts up again in September.

15 minutes, geared for 4-8 grades, but all our kids enjoyed it, regardless of age.

 

www.ket.org/newsquiz

[OneStepAtATime]

Agree with above.  Also, BBC has a student section.  May not be available right now.  

 

CNN student news is usually very neutral politically and is short and interesting so we frequently start the day watching that, sometimes during breakfast, when it is airing.  It does not air during the summer.

 

Also, I am going to try and have each child pick one current events topic each week to delve into a bit further.  I also think we may all pick something currently happening to really focus on following long-term, actively seek info on, etc. and maybe keep a time-line/journal entry of events relating to it.  

[Garga]

CNN Student News here as well.

 

We watch it while we eat breakfast. It's exactly 10 minutes long. While the kids watch I jot down the news events sort of like headlines without much detail. I do this because I can watch and write and eat at the same time. My boys can't.

 

After they finish eating, they copy what I wrote. We keep all their copied pages together in one book. We discuss as necessary.

 

Some days there are no new news stories, just updates of things that have been happening and I don't bother making them copy the headlines those days.

 

My DH, who is very suspicious of media bias, was watching with us one day and I could tell he was hoping for bias so he could rant about it, but he was surprised (and a bit disappointed :) ) to find that there wasn't any. They just present the news matter of factly and without making it too frightening for kids.

 

They end with a few fluff pieces. I don't make the kids write headlines for the fluff.

 

Oh, and I just found out that there are discussion questions, I think, on the CNN Student news page? I'm going to check those out soon.

 

It's free. CNNStudentnews.com. It starts up again sometime in August. No news during the summer, CNN Student News is meant to be used in classrooms.

[KarenNC]

CNN student news starts back Aug. 11. Our co-op uses the Scholastic New York Times Upfront magazine, which comes out every other week or twice a month (not positive), as the basis for a current events discussion class. We're also going to check out Student News Daily http://www.studentnewsdaily.com/, which starts Aug 25. I'll let my daughter pick between SND and CNN Student News.

[g1234]

We use NPR's 5-min. newscast at http://www.npr.org/

 

Click "listen" and then "NPR Newscast."  Or, we have the free app and just listen to it on the ipad.  It took a while for the kids (6th and 8th grade when we started) to be able to listen, since it's quite fast-paced, complex, and aimed at adults, but we stop often, discuss, and explain, and their news knowledge and ability to listen have increased astronomically.

[OneStepAtATime]

We use NPR's 5-min. newscast at http://www.npr.org/

 

Click "listen" and then "NPR Newscast."  Or, we have the free app and just listen to it on the ipad.  It took a while for the kids (6th and 8th grade when we started) to be able to listen, since it's quite fast-paced, complex, and aimed at adults, but we stop often, discuss, and explain, and their news knowledge and ability to listen have increased astronomically.

Oh, cool!  I hadn't thought of using this and I love NPR.

[duckens]

When I was in 7th grade, we had Current Events twice a week with Mr. Campbell.  Each student had to find headlines of the 8 parts of the newspaper/news.

 

1) International

2)National

3) State

4) Local

5) Editorial/Editorial Cartoon

6) ??Feature??  Business??  Can't remember.

7) Sports

8) Personal

At the beginning of the semester, Mr. Campbell went through the newspaper and talked about where one would find each type of story.  We would write down the headlines in a list (as above) and read the stories we had chosen to write down.

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As a part of the Extemporaneous Speaking team in high school, the ideal was that we read each of "the big 3" EVERY week.

 

1) Newsweek (liberal)

2) Time (moderate)

3) U.S. News and World Report (conservative)

 

If you are not planning competition, probably just reading and discussing one would be adequate. 

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Make sure that your student has a good grasp of geography.  It does no good to know that we are at war with Afghanistan (and formerly Iraq), but not be able to find them on a map.  It does not good to know that Liberia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone have Ebola, but not know where they are on a map.  It is embarrassing to assume that Guinea and New Guinea are near each other...they're not.

I would make sure that my child knew the location and capital for each country mentioned in the news.  You don't need to know them all at once.  Just pick 3 each time you do Current Events.

Sheppard Software is a good resource for geography.  You can also find hints on youtube for remembering the countries.

[ravinlunachick]

I'm not sure about the ages of your students, but the News-o-Matic app is a good source of daily news for elementary-aged kids.

[Clear Creek]

I just came across this blog post that lists a fair number of different resources that can be used for current events. I like the looks of Student News Daily; it has an app (which makes it that much more likely to be done, lol) and includes things like editorial cartoons and weekly examples of media bias. It is geared towards high school, but I am going to try it with my 7th grader this year.

[Pen]

Thanks for the many ideas so far. I hope you'll keep them coming!

[g1234]

Oh, cool!  I hadn't thought of using this and I love NPR.

 

Yeah, me, too.  I checked out all sorts of possibilities for doing current events before I stumbled on this.  I listen to NPR all the time and think there's nothing else like it (except the BBC, which NPR carries).  I was so thrilled to find their 5-min hourly news summary on demand like that.  It's not aimed at kids, which can be a challenge, but now that we've been doing it for a year I'm convinced it's worth getting over the intial hump to where they are able to listen and understand.  Now they feel like they carry the key to "regular" adult news, and they know they can handle it.  In fact, the longer NPR reports I listen to when I'm in the car or making dinner are much easier for them to understand, because they're less fast-paced and condensed.  Now kids know know that if they can handle the 5-minute summary, they can handle anything. 

 

It usually takes us at least 20-30 min. to listen, because we stop it all the time, discuss what we've heard, and go on bunny trails resesarching more about what we heard.  For instance, today when we were listening there was a section on Libya.  My kids said, "Libya's in Africa, right?  Where in Africa?"  Off went one of them and returned with the globe, where we located Africa.  Then they said, "How are the opposition groups in Libya different from the ones in Syria?  They didn't discuss Syria today.  What's happening there?"  So we stopped midstream and looked up Syria on the ipad, which is where our NPR app is that we use to listen to the news summary.  Then they said, "We forget what ISIS is.  Is that the new rebel group?"  I told them yes, and we were off looking up more info on ISIS.  Eventually we circled back and unpaused the news, until someone had a new question, and so it goes.  It has become such a nice part of our day!  We do it over lunch.  If I forget to bring the ipad to the table, one of the kids always runs to get it because they don't want to miss the news for even one day.

[aaplank]

Yahoo and the Wall Street Journal have photos of the day where there are usually 30 pictures from around the world on a given day. The photos really capture the moment and are a good way for the kids to have an image to attach to something that's happening in the world that they might not have a frame of reference for. I personally like Yahoos photos even though I can't stand their "journalism". There are big world events like the war in Gaza as well as pictures of something simple like a carnival in Colombia.

[duckens]

I also wanted to add, depending upon the age of your children, to start a notebook with the names of key figures.  If you do Current Events beyond a year, this may be a good challenge for year 2.

 

**making assumption that OP lives in the U.S. and is an American Citizen**

 

As people are mentioned in the news, write them down.

1) Heads of State (Foreign) or other international organizations -- This provides context for history and continuation as your children become savvy about world news.  I've been following the news steadily since the early 80s, and it definitely helps me to see where a country has been.

Examples:

Russia:  I remember when Gorbachev became the leader of Russia (formerly USSR).  Then Yeltsin.  Now Putin.

 

Britain: I remember how revolutionary it was when Margaret Thatcher (a woman AND  Conservative) became Prime Minister.  Since then, we've had Major, Blair, Brown, and Cameron.

When references are made to policies of Thatcher, I get it.  I have a mental place already staked out for it.

the U.N.: Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Kofi Annan, and Ban Ki-Moon 

the Catholic Church: John Paul II, Benedict, and now Francis

 

When references are made of John Paul II, I remember.  I have a place in my mind for that.

2) Leaders in OUR government. 

 

a) You don't need to write them all down.  Just as they come into the news.

 

b ) As Americans, we're rather embarrassing as a group.  We can name our president with no problem, but a bunch of us have no idea who our  vice president is.  *rolls eyes*  It's one thing if your children fall into this category in 7th grade, but puh-leeze don't let them grow up to be adult-citizens like this.

 

c) start a page for:

--Executive Branch: President, V.P., Cabinet Members, WH Chief of Staff, WH Press Secretary

--Congressional Members: state, party affiliation, and any Committees they sit on that are mentioned; how many of these will run for president/be tapped for VP in the future

--Governors from other states

Example: I feel like I'm the only person who knew who Palin was before she was tapped for VP.  And I'm a flaming liberal.  From Iowa.  And I had a positive opinion of what she had accomplished in Alaska.  :w00t:   None of my Conservative friends had ever heard of her. 

 

--Supreme Court Justices

--Your State government We're embarrassing as Americans to not know our state Lietenant Governors, Cabinet Members, or Representatives.  This is dangerous, because all politics is local.

--Your City government  Who runs Parks and Rec?  Who runs the water system?  Who is the police chief. All politics is local.

--Presidential Candidates...then you will remember them when they run again in 8 years.

 

It's amazing how many of these names recur in the decades that follow.

Philosophy: Current Events is a story, a long story starting decades before we were born.  If you jumped into the middle of a Harry Potter book, (and you had no cultural references prior to reading it), would you understand what was going on? Would you make good judgments about the characters???

 

Or not.  Knowing the story from the beginning gives context.  Knowing the history of the "characters" in our news cycle can help us to understand whether they are sincere in their policies.  If their policies have generally hurt your class (income, race, religion, family type, etc) of people in the past, then you have reason to be suspicious when they want your vote or policy support now.

[kolamum]

We like CNN Student news too, if you sign up for the emails you can get a summary about the show for the day. We also like GWN. :)

[Pen]

What is GWN?

[jenslp]

My favorite current events is from Connect the Thoughts.  They have several options for it. 

[Pen]

And what is Connect the Thoughts?

[jenslp]

And what is Connect the Thoughts?

Connectthethoughts.net

 

 

It's one of my favorite course providers now.  The have courses for all ages and we have loved everything we have ordered for upper school so far.  The courses really make kids think and are interesting but break things down enough not to be overwhelming. 

[aaplank]

Our Little Earth is another good one. It is emailed every 2 weeks and covers global current events with maps and links to short videos about the topics.

[atozmom]

What is GWN?

 

God's World News

[CyndiLJ]

We have always done Current Events...we call it "talking around the table at breakfast"...Hahaha!  

 

We ARE intentional about it though, all snark aside.  We have what we call "Morning Meeting" most school days, and everyone has to read the news for 10-15 minutes on their iPad, then everyone takes turns sharing the details of a story they read, which gives them practice a little public speaking, and we critique if they shared enough so we understood the entire story.  At the same time, I have maps of the world and US that are placemats, and we look up where anything happened to see where it is located, and I'll usually ask a related geography question or two.  We also use Connect the Thoughts as mentioned above, and work through one of their units using it twice a week.  Right now we are currently doing Terrorism.

 

We have always done this, and I can tell you that over the course of the past five years we have embedded in our kids a true love of the news. All day long they are reading and learning, watching video clips, and are more interested innately than most adults I know.  It worked, just making it a morning ritual, created the habit and the desire to know what is going on in the world.  It is one of our homeschooling accomplishments I am most pleased about.

[Alte Veste Academy]

We also use Connect the Thoughts as mentioned above, and work through one of their units using it twice a week. Right now we are currently doing Terrorism.

Loved your whole post, but thanks so much for mentioning this in particular. The offerings in their upper school slipped my notice when I investigated the site a while back, but they look so interesting, certainly nothing I have seen anywhere else!