Are you a parent or teacher who wants to talk more with your kids about what’s going in the world? Educator and longtime Destination Imagination volunteer, Dan Buck, created a podcast and video show, called Little News Ears, to do just that.
Little News Ears aims to be positive, inspiring, challenging, funny, and educational—but it is something quite different than ‘kiddie news,’ and complex concepts are broken down whenever possible.
‘Super parents’ and teachers can see hundreds of educator-curated lesson plans, quizzes, and vocabulary to teach and learn.
During the pandemic, for however long it is, all Little News Ears podcasts, videos, and resources (quizzes, lesson plans, and vocabulary) are free to teachers. The site is generally geared toward 4-year-olds through elementary school students. The video and podcasts are completely free to parents during the pandemic as well.
You can also find Little News Ears on YouTube here.
Though sitting near a parent is not required, it is advisable, especially for the video quizzes.
About Dan Buck: Dan Buck became a teacher in 2002 after five years in Los Angeles as a professional actor, writer, and director. He worked as an elementary teacher in Sri Lanka, The US Virgin Islands, Germany, and Brazil. There in Brazil at the Escola Americana do Rio de Janeiro, he was told “he’d be a great Team Manager for DI.” In 2010, he led three elementary students to the DI tournament in Sao Paulo and he has never looked back. His next post was as a teacher in Norway, where he brought Norwegian elementary students to a DI tournament in the UK in 2012 and in Poland in 2013. He was able to bring the first Norwegian team to the Global Finals in 2013. He became an assistant principal in Morocco and brought teams to Turkey in 2015 and Qatar in 2016. In 2017, he brought an Albanian DI team back to Poland. He is currently the Head of School at Tessa International School in New Jersey. He brought a team to the New Jersey Affiliate Tournament last year, including his four-year-old son, who was a Rising Star and loved it.
