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Current Events for Kids: Websites and Teaching Ideas

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Looking for some sources for current events for kids?  I believe it is really important for my kids needed to learn more about what was going on in the world around them. I started researching various ways to help teach this to my kids and have come up with a few ways that we have begun implementing into our homeschool routine.

Current events for kids

If you want current events for your kids, the resources are not lacking!   I was surprised to see how many options there are for kids to learn about the news online.  It is great to have so many options to choose from when you want to teach current events to kids. I feel it is important to have websites that make it easier for kids to understand the news stories and help them relate it to themselves. This list has some great options to help you and your kids do just that!

News Websites to Teach Current Events to Kids:

  • Our ALL TIME favorite for current events is an app called News-O-Matic. There is a yearly subscription fee of $7 – 8, but I feel it’s definitely worth the price.  My kids beg to use it every day. It is interactive and interesting to them.
  • Time for Kids has a website with top news stories and also a magazine subscription option. There are lots of free teacher resources there, too, which is awesome!
  • PBS Newshour–  is a current events site for upper grades (7-12). There are videos, news stories, lesson plans, student voices, and weekly e-mail updates.
  • NY Times Learning Network– This website is geared more towards teachers. It is a blog with teaching ideas, current news stories, and more from the NY Times content. They also include student ideas and polls.
  • Detroit News does a print & online news magazine for kids called Kid Scoop. It is another free weekly kids newspaper download. It includes teachers guides and lots of fun learning activities.
  • Scholastic News is a popular current events site that has teacher resources and news stories for kids. You can also purchase their weekly readers that come in the mail each week with current stories.
  • National Geographic Kids– is more nature and Earth focused but is a great site for current stories on these topics. They also have a magazine subscription available.
  • BBC News has a whole kids news section called Newsround. It is a colorful, interactive site with international current events news stories geared towards kids. There are videos, quizzes, games and more.
  • CNN Student News– offers an awesome kids news video. It is 10-12 minutes long and has music and news stories explained to kids middle school through high school aged.
  • Youngzine–  is another news site for kids. They have current news stories from around the world. You can sign up (for free) to receive teacher updates and submit stories, entries to contests play games, and more.
  • Washington Post also has a kid news section called KidsPost- This site has news, games, contests, puzzles and other activities for kids. You can download the Sunday edition each week (as well as archives). There is a teacher section with lesson plans. You can sign up to get email alerts on your favorite topics, too.
  • Nickelodeon has a news site called DOGO News– it is another great site for teachers and kids. I am impressed with the available teacher options on this site. It has current news stories and you can create lesson plans around them with their recommended resources. They have weekly e-mails, book reviews, movies and more.
  • GoGo News– is a news site as well as a teaching site. They have stories in various subjects for kids.
  • Sports Illustrated Kids– is obviously sports focused, but could be a great way to get kids who loves sports interested in reading news sites and magazines.
  • Tween Tribune-  is a site geared to kids in grades 5-8, but they also have sections of the website for other ages of kids. There is a teacher section with teaching ideas. It is available in Spanish, too.
  • Gods World News– is a Christian-based News magazine for kids. I have heard wonderful things about this magazine and would love to try it out sometime. There are six different levels based on age/grade level of kids.

 

15 Ways to Use the Newspaper to Teach:

The newspaper is going out of style a bit these days, but it is the ultimate source for current events for kids! If you still get it, or pick it up once in a while, there are so many things you can use it for in teaching!

Here are 15 Ways to Use the Newspaper in Your Teaching:

  • Reading main headlines together and discussing them.
  • Let kids choose an article that interests them and they can write about it- what they think, give them some questions to answer, how it affects them.
  • Do crossword puzzles together- great way to teach vocabulary!
  • Let them browse through and write down 20 words they don’t know and define them.
  • Give them an article and use it for your grammar lesson: parts of speech, verb tenses, punctuation, paragraphs, etc.
  • Learn about stocks and choose a few to track over time.
  • Map the news stories to see where around the world they are happening.
  • Learn about local news vs. national or world news.
  • Give them just a photo or just a headline and have them write the news story.
  • Learn about the parts of the newspaper and teach them how to use the index to find various parts of the paper.
  • Discuss the various uses for a paper: headlines, advertisements, entertainment ideas, classified ads, opinions, sports, stocks, etc.
  • Have fun with the comics. Cut them apart and have the kids put the sequence back in order. Let them create a new ending for the comic. Let them create their own strip!
  • Create a news scrapbook of important news events over time.
  • Learn about the freedom of press!
  • Look at ads and talk about money- even give them an imaginary budget to spend from the ads. Which ads are most effective?

 

Check out some more of my fun teaching resources:

30 Best Educational YouTube Channels to Supplement Your Teaching
Build a City Map: Printable Geography Set 
Famous Landmarks I Spy With Google Earth

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8 Comments

  1. This is a great blog post. Teaching current events is so important. I love the kid-related news sources you reference. I also wanted to mention that Silverdale Press provides a free weekly current events lesson plan for homeschool students, with an article, map points, key terms, and open-ended discussion questions. It’s all done for parents and goes out in the weekly newsletter.

    https://www.silverdalepress.com/current-events.html

    P.S. I’ve also loved your Ambleside guides, esp. the one on the the Burgess Animal Book.

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