Five Favorite Front-Page Features...Teacher Style

I don't know if I have five things...but I have been doing current events moments with my kids at school.  So I thought I would share them with you.

First off...government shutdown:

http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/video/us-government-closed-business-essential-employees-20439083?tab=9482930&section=1206853&playlist=20439766--I like this one because of the ping pong analogy

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/3032619/ns/NBCNightlyNews/#53170284--More really life situations

Second off...Affordable Health Care Goes Live
http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/video/obamacares-day-20439111?tab=9482930&section=1206853&playlist=20439766

We have also been reading articles from the NY Times Upfront---which is a great resource for teachers that have subscriptions---but right now its free :)

Magazine logo :)

The High Price of Cheap Fashion....all about our globalization--the pros and cons

10 Things You Need to Know About Washington Part 1 and Part 2--this is great for government classes...they talk about the nitty gritty of the works of government

Has the Arab Spring Failed? --Great to talk about world geography and world events because they do a nice job bringing the kids up to speed

Five Favorite Front-Page Features

With Friday being a Bout of Books challenge day, I did not do current events yet this week.  So, I thought I would do some now.  The trick with this is that shockingly enough I have been out of the news the whole time I have been in St. Louis--so I am actually catching up to write this post :)

Manning Sentenced to 35 Years--This is a bit of a double edged sword to some people I think, on the one hand it is considerably less than the maximum sentence and he can be up for parole in 7 years.  On the other hand this is the longest someone will serve for leaks yet...so it is an interesting historical moment.

Following King's Path, and Trying to Galvanize a New Generation--It is cool that 50 years later we are commemorating the March on Washington with another one....and it is interesting that this march was more of anti-discrimination in general, not just racial.  We can always improve as humans right?

Yosemite Wildfire Increases in Size- Wildfires are the story of the past few weeks....this is the most recent one in the news between the Idaho fires and the Utah fires, we are sure are getting use to this.

This video is all about Obama's status on Syria right now....it is hard for some people to believe that we really haven't done anything here yet.  But do we want to get involved?  It is really hard to say.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

This video is all about Nidal Hasan found guilty for Fort Hood murders....not a big surprise, but to me it is nice for the trial to be over for the sake of the families.  Him wanting to be his own lawyer and say he didn't do anything really wrong must have been hard for them.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Well now you and I are officially caught up on the world's stories from this week!

Movie Review: Premium Rush

So this isn't one that has just come out, but an older one.  Premium Rush came out in 2012 and stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt.  He plays a bike messenger who is assigned a tricky delivery.  He doesn't know that the package he is carrying is worth a lot to many different people.  So everyone wants to have it.  And then there is the drama that life just creates all around him.

So what did I love?

• They did a really nice job with the graphics 
• I have a greater respect for people who live in New York City...seriously, I don't think I could live there!
• Cute love story
• Okay so lets be honest ladies, he is attractive...so that doesn't hurt.

So what did I hate?

• It really had NO plot line! There is enough of a plot line to call it a movie, but seriously this was not a very complex plot at all.
• It is flashback, flashforward...and they give you the time that the scene is starting with and you have to pay attention!!

Bottom line...do NOT pay for this movie.  Get it for free..we watched it off a cable movie channel..that we have for free for a couple of days.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/24/movies/premium-rush-starring-joseph-gordon-levitt.html?_r=0

Five Favorite Front-Page Features

This week I have decided to bring back my usual Friday ritual of discussing current events.  This week I have decided to feature New York Times this week and just do the top five from the week in no real order. I even have one for each day.

Friday: Seven Dead in Santa Monica Shooting This is just sad....more shootings.

Thursday: IRS Targeting of Conservatives Wrong, Most Say in Poll The IRS is in a lot of trouble, and it is possible that this isn't going away any time soon.

Wednesday: US is Secretly Collecting Records of Verizon Calls Yeah this was nice to hear, I have Verizon but then later on in the week we found out it doesn't really matter which cell carrier you have.

Tuesday: US-China Meeting's Aim What was surprising to me about this was how much people are worried about the fact that Mrs. Obama will not be there

Monday: Don't Trust the Pentagon to End Rape The interesting thing about this it is an op-ed.  This story fascinates me because of all of the men involved in what is usually a women's issue.