Time to Turn on the Electric Company

In the last five years that I have been a reading intervention teacher, I have worked to find ways to make reading accessible to older children. When a child is in fourth and fifth grade, if he or she has not yet grasped the basic concepts of reading, it is very difficult to provide the student with content and lessons that are appropriate for their particular age. They don't want to read about kittens and trips to the store; they want to read about skateboarding and movies. They need to be interested in the content.

I am so very pleased that the Electric Company is back and providing these very valuable lessons to children. Geared toward the interests of children in third grade and high, the electric company has combined eye-catching graphics with music and popular culture in order to teach very basic reading concepts (first and second grade level). The skills they teach are the very same skills that I fight to teach my struggling fourth and fifth grade students. The show is interesting, funny, and filled with celebrity guest spots. The lessons are straight and to the point and provide students with easy ways to remember basic concepts that most students with educational gaps lack. Specifically, the show aims to fill the following gaps that older struggling readers often exhibit:

• Decoding: Children increase their ability to manipulate sounds in spoken words and map those words to print. The most basic and vital skill for readers.
• Vocabulary: Children expand the amount of words (vocabulary) that they use and understand.
• Comprehension of Connected Text: Children learn strategies that good readers use to understand connected text (phrases and sentences).
• Motivation: Children are motivated to read connected text and express themselves using text.

The executive producers of the show are dedicated to providing children with high quality entertainment rich with opportunities to learn. I am thankful for this program and plan on recommending it to my intervention students' parents this school year. And not only do I recommend encouraging students to watch the show, but I also encourage students (and parents) to follow up on the concepts presented on the show by logging onto the show's website at http://pbskids.org/electriccompany to check out the games, videos, and more. I plan on keeping up to date on the parents and educators section of the site at http://www.pbs.org/parents/electriccompany.

Mister Rogers Is On Your Television and Online

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood...espeically when it comes to Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood. It was recently announced that 26 favorite episodes will be part of the national PBS KIDS Saturday morning broadcast lineup beginning September 12 (check local listings) and will be available to stream online later this fall at PBSKIDS.org/rogers for fans to enjoy whenever they want. Mr. Rogers has been a caring friend to millions of children and for the first time I turned the show for my four year old just last weekend and he was mesmerized.

There is a newly redesigned Mister Rogers' Neighborhood website complete with full episodes mentioned as well as video clips and memorabilia. It also features virtual field trips with Mister Rogers to visit a penguin exhibit, a dinosaur museum exhibit, an art museum, a pediatrician's office and cellist Yo-Yo Ma, along with the ever-popular factory visits. The site also encourages parent-child interaction with Parent Tips on every screen to help adults understand what their children are working on through their Web experience.

• In the all-new Neighborhood of Make-Believe area, children can explore two new environments -- inside Lady Elaine’s Museum-Go-Round and Daniel Striped Tiger’s clock.
• In the Museum-Go-Round – never depicted before on TV or the Web - children can create artwork of their own, make a kaleidoscope, or just delight in the simple joy of discovery as they make things spin and go up and down.
• Inside Daniel’s clock, Daniel Tiger is getting ready for bed, offering an open-ended activity which gives children an opportunity to reflect on their own feelings about bedtime and separation from the ones they love. As they turn out Daniel’s lights or get him his blankie or teddy bear, they can listen to a Mister Rogers bedtime song or hear Mister Rogers tell a bedtime story.
• And for fans of all ages, the all-new “Neighbors of All Ages” section invites kids and adults to share their memories of growing up with the Neighborhood and provides tools through photo sharing site Flickr to post photos and letters.

Parents and teachers can also continue to access content and resources that support essential childhood themes in MISTER ROGERS’ NEIGHBORHOOD through PBS Parents (PBSPARENTS.org) and PBS Teachers (PBSTEACHERS.org). PBS Parents offers articles, activities, tools, recipes and printables that parents and caregivers can use to extend the learning at home. PBS Teachers provides classroom resources from the series that educators can download and use to support education in community engagement, the arts, mental and emotional health and many more topics.