If you are interested in having your children keep up with news and current events, yet are discouraged with having to sift through the gore to find appropriate topics---I have a few sites that you might be interested in:
http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/scholasticnews/index.html
http://learning.snagfilms.com
http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com
Although some material is geared for children older than ours at LPCS, there is certainly enough articles and film to satisfy the 1st through 3rd graders.
Hope everyone had a great Labor Day holiday!