MVES Newsletter

For many of us, we either start or end our day with the news (some of us do both). Whether it’s just for the forecast or for an in-depth exclusive on a recent event, it’s important for us to know what’s going on in the world around us. At Mountain View, our three 5th grade classes typically listen to KidNuz each morning to not only hear about current events, but also to work on important literacy skills like determining importance and checking for retention and understanding (the show includes a brief quiz at the end of each podcast). Yesterday Ms. Layman’s class got a “shout out” and they were pretty excited! You can hear the entire show here: https://www.kidnuz.org/podcast/episode/8bdc7685/04052023 or you can skip to about 6:30 to start hearing the shoutouts.

As a parent who pays a lot of attention to the news, I wanted to teach my sons the importance of staying informed, the role that bias plays in the media, and the joy of being a lifelong learner. Here are a couple of resources that I’ve found useful as both a father and former middle and high school educator:

AllSides Does a good job showing how a current event is portrayed through various news sources across the political spectrum.

Newsela | Instructional Content Platform This news outlet is geared for kids of various ages and reading levels. You and your child can click on an article and adjust the reading level based on your child’s ability. There is a drop down menu with various Lexile ranges (these are numeric values that are supposed to represent a student’s reading ability or a text’s difficulty). You can either try and login through your student’s Clever account or quickly create a free account.

Thanks for partnering with us as we seek to instill a lifelong love of learning in our kids!