Recently, my nine-year-old has decided to turn on the news during breakfast. Since he's pretty much a Pokemon and fantasy world sort of kid, I was surprised. He loves documentaries of many types, but he's never paid much attention to the news. This newest habit has spurred two revelations: 1) My kid is growing up on me, and 2) I had better get my butt out of bed earlier to monitor the news he is watching. Given that he is getting older, and that my 1st grade daughter's art teacher decided to give a speech about planes crashing into buildings and thousands of people dying (9/11) during a lesson on cityscapes (no, that did NOT go over well), I figured I should find some news I wasn't worried about my kids viewing when I wasn't in the same room.
I found News Flash Five by PBSkids.org:
http://pbskids.org/newsflashfive
This entertaining news show changes weekly, is hosted by cartoon kid anchors, and covers topics such as World News, Science and Technology, and Sports. The segments include quick quiz games about the stories as well. Plus, there is the opportunity for kids to post their own attempts at news stories. Great for gradeschoolers.
Q: What do you call an ex-planet?
A: A plutoid!
At least that's the newest news on the "What constitutes a planet?" front. Why not print out or direct your child to this article on the topic?
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/080611-plutoid-planets.html
For kids too young to understand or read, read the article yourself and give them the gist of it!
