It's amazing that the amount of news that happens in the world every day always just exactly fits the newspaper.
Jerry Seinfeld
My daddy LOVES to read the newspaper. My mother would let him read it at the breakfast table. He would stack the issues in the one kitchen chair set off to the side by the wall. The newspapers would collect. I remember liking the smell of the newspaper as it mixed with the smell of Daddy's coffee. I would read the comics along side my daddy in the morning. My fingers would turn black after I had tracked the words with them, ink sticking itself to my tiny, breakfast crusted fingers.
Even those enjoyable memories have not made me think of buying a newspaper. To hear about news I watch TV (which can be recorded if I am not ready to set my life down for a bit to watch it) or I can Google anything online. Today I decided to teach my kids that news was at their fingertips.
We were able to dive into the online life of online news. At Miller Elementary we subscribe to Time for Kids in 3rd grade. I have always loved this magazine - and still do. Today, to make things a bit more interesting, I decided to show the kids (safely) a bit of news online.
For the "lesson" I began, like always, handing out the magazine and the children could spread out around the room in pairs or by themselves to read. After about 15 minutes I called them together and showed them how to go to the site www.timeforkids.com. There are MANY ways to do this:
- Open your browser and type in www.timeforkids.com to go to the site.
- Print out the QR code. All kids would then take their iPads to where the QR code was located in the room and use their QR code scanner app to scan the code. The website pops up automatically. This is helpful for the children who might type slowly or get lost with too many directions to follow.
- Also there is an APP from Time For Kids. It has issues of the magazine that you can buy after downloading a FREE app. This app was created more for using at home with family. Famlies can also buy their children a year's subscription to the magazine.
Today we went the old fashioned way and typed in the URL. Our QR code isn't installed yet.. I am thinking that I am going to make a wall of QR codes and label them with favorite sites to visit.
The site www.timeforkids.com is lovely. It will let kids explore the articles, some movies, things about countries - all for free. It is a GREAT site to partner with the magazine. Kids can even search for an article or movie on the article. The searches also find other things related to what you are searching for on the site. This teaches my students to "search" on a site to find information quickly.
After about 15 minutes exploring the site on their iPads, I called the kids together to discuss what they were thinking. I held an iPad up to "capture" their discussion. The kids talked about how they liked certain articles. One article that continued to come up in our conversation was about the SportsKids of the Year.
Sports Kid of the Year (Watch the movie by clicking the link.)
My students talked about how the article in the magazine was good, BUT the video was "MOVING." (Moving here is literal - they are literal thinkers.) They also said they liked "being in the moment." I would SHOW the video of their conversation, but I have to admit I forgot to press "record." (Lesson learned.)
After the discussion I sent them to our private classroom site www.edmodo.com. They logged in and had to vote on one of three choices and tell WHY they voted the way they did.
One of the answers:
I pick both because there is a lot of stuff on the magazine and the time for kids website on the ipad because it tells a lot of stuff on both and they have a lot of cool stuff on both. i like it because you get to read and watch videos.
As you can see, my kids liked the iPad OR using both paper and iPad. They think they can learn more if they use more resources.
Please respond to this post and type how YOU like to get your daily dose of news. My students would LOVE to hear from you!
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