New Toddworld title and Bigfoot Presents on Shelves April 22
Sunday, April 20th, 2008![](https://www.kidsfirst.org/addenda/uploaded_images/toddworldmaking-new-friends-753927.jpg)
Do you remember the first Earth Day? Or the first one you celebrated? As we prepare for the 38th annual Earth Day, I encourage you to get involved. And a great organization to get involved with is Earth Day Network
Founded by the organizers of the first Earth Day in 1970, Earth Day Network (EDN) promotes environmental citizenship and year round progressive action worldwide. Earth Day Network is a driving force steering environmental awareness around the world. Through Earth Day Network, activists connect, interact, and have an impact on their communities, and create positive change in local, national, and global policies.
Mark Your celendars for these three events from The Future of Children. They are free and open to the public.
Children and Electronic Media
Trends in Children’s Media Use, The Role of Government Policy, and Social MarketingWednesday, April 23, 20089:00 am — 11:00 amThe Brookings Institution, Falk Auditorium,1775 Massachusetts Ave, NW, Washington, DCRSVP: http://onlinepressroom.net/brookings/new.%20
Children and Electronic Media: Parenting in the Technological Age
Thursday, May 1, 20087:00 pm – 9:00 pmPrinceton University,Robertson Hall, Bowl 16Corner of Washington and Prospect StreetsPrinceton, NJRSVP: http://www.futureofchildren.princeton.edu/media/parents/.%20
Children and Electronic Media: Teaching in the Technological Age
Friday, May 2, 20088:00 am – 3:15 pmPrinceton University,Robertson Hall, Dodds AuditoriumCorner of Washington and Prospect StreetsPrinceton, NJRSVP: http://www.futureofchildren.princeton.edu/MEDIA/.%20
Electronic media has become an integral part of students’ lives and a major point of interest for educators. Questions about the impact of electronic media on student learning and wellbeing have led many school districts to question how and why they should be using technology.
The purpose of this conference is to showcase innovative uses of technology in the classroom and provide school district with ways that they can enhance their classroom curriculums and professional development programs. An overview of the research regarding electronic media and its links to achievement and social development will be provided as well.
This conference is designed in conjunction with the latest journal issue of the Future of Children “Children and Electronic Media”. This issue, due to be released in April 2008 shines a spotlight on Electronic Media, focusing mainly on its impact on childhood wellbeing and policy implications.
Click here for the “Children and Electronic Media: Parenting in the Technological Age” Seminar
These events will present findings from The Future of Children: Children and Electronic Media, which is available free-of-charge on our website, http://www.futureofchildren.org/
The Future of Children is a co-production of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University and the Brookings Institution.
For more information, email [email protected].
PBS KIDS is celebrating the Earth with PBS KIDS Share the Earth Day,” a special programming and online event on Tuesday, April 22. Curious George, Clifford, Arthur and an all new episode of Super Why will explore fun and engaging ways to keep the planet beautiful. PBS Parents (pbsparents.org) will offer an Earth Day expert Q&A; with Jamie Durie, host of The Victory Garden, discussing how to introduce gardening concepts to kids and what they can learn by digging in the dirt.
On the PBS KIDS preschool block, Miss Lori and Hooper teach kids how to recycle their trash, while new stories from Dot’s Story Factory show how kids at home celebrate the planet. A special never-before-seen episode of Super Why all about the importance of water conservation will debut and join the line-up with Earth Day-themed episodes from Curious George, Clifford the Big Red Dog and It’s A Big Big World, airing alongside themed music videos from the award-winning kids’ rock band, Milkshake.
PBS KIDS GO!, for elementary school kids, celebrates Earth Day with themed programming from Arthur, Maya & Miguel, and Cyberchase. Throughout the late afternoon programming block, PBS KIDS GO! presents creative ideas of how kids can take care of the environment by recycling, cleaning up their neighborhoods and more.
To help parents connect these lessons back to kids’ daily lives, PBS Parents (pbsparents.org) will recommend ideas, resources and activities for parents to share with their children and encourage them to spend more time exploring nature and take an active role in protecting the planet.
New web content on pbskids.org and pbskidsgo.org includes a reduce, reuse and recycling theme for Dot’s Story Factory so kids can tell their own stories about saving the planet; a newly redesigned EekoWorld web site (pbskidsgo.org/eekoworld), where kids can build their own creatures and learn the basics of how life survives in different ecosystems; and a sustainability and green living site titled “Meet the Greens” (pbskids.org/meetthegreens). The Greens are an environmentally conscious family who explore different methods of saving power and reducing waste in a series of short animated episodes.
Episodes for April 22 (check local listings)
SUPER WHY! “Tiddalick the Frog”
Whyatt’s mom tells him that he’s wasting water. This is a really big problem and he’s not sure how to fix it. So the Super Readers dash into the Australian folk tale of Tiddalick the Frog and make the acquaintance of a funny amphibian whose puddle jumping is using up all the water and leaving his neighbors in the dust – literally! As the Super Readers help Tiddalick and his dry friends, they learn how important water is to the planet along with a valuable lesson about conservation.
CURIOUS GEORGE “The Times of Sand”
A hard hat, a shovel, a wheelbarrow and a ladder – George learns that all four items are necessary when digging a gigantic hole. But why are George and the Man With the Yellow (Hard) Hat digging in their own yard?
CLIFFORD THE BIG RED DOG “Doggie Garden/Captain Birdwell’s Treasure”
It’s “Keep Birdwell Beautiful” month and the kids are doing their part by planting a flower garden. Seeing this, the dogs decide to create a doggie flower garden of their own.
IT’S A BIG BIG WORLD “World Tree Day/World Tree Cuisine”“World Tree Day” — It is World Tree Day and Snook has made badges to give to all of the residents who do something nice for the tree. “World Tree Cuisine” — It is time to celebrate the World Tree’s birthday and Madge and Snook are planning a surprise party for the tree’s residents.
PBS KIDS GO! Episodes for April 22 (check local listings):
ARTHUR “Feeling Flush”
“Feeling Flush” — When Elwood City experiences a drought, Francine bets Arthur that her family can use less water than his.
CYBERCHASE “EcoHaven Ooze”
When Hacker discovers that the liquid ooze that feeds the animals of EcoHaven also gives him a super energy boost, he decides to drain the pond and take the ooze home.
MAYA & MIGUEL “Every Day Is Earth Day”
“Every Day Is Earth Day” — For a school Earth Day project, the kids decide to clean up an old lot and plant a community garden.
“It doesn’t matter whether you’re a kid voting for practice or an adult voting for real,” said Ellerbee. “What really matters is that the stakes today are higher than ever before. When it comes to voting, the more you know, the better off you are and so is your country.”
Following Election Issues ’08, Nick’s Kids Pick the President campaign will continue throughout the year, airing two additional specials. Tails from the Trail, which premieres in August, will feature stories from kids actively campaigning for specific candidates. In the final special, Kids Pick the President, which premieres in October, Ellerbee will take kids’ questions to the presidential candidates and then encourage kids to go online to www.nick.com/kpp and vote for the next U.S. President.
In Election Issues ’08, kids have conflicting views on the war in Iraq. Lydia says, “The next president should continue to support our troops in Iraq and to try to continue this stabilization of Iraq and creating a more democratic government,” while Ashley says, “We should get out of Iraq before things get even worse than they already are.”
Another important issue to kids is terrorism. Joe believes America needs “more border security on the ports of entry in our country through boats, ships, planes…a lot of boxes go unchecked that terrorists can use for bombs.” However, Mischa says, “The government should not be allowed to read your letters, wire tap your conversations or collect any personal information.”
Education concerns kids because they are directly affected by this issue, especially the No Child Left Behind Act. Tiffany, from Oakland, Calif., attends Caslemount High School, which the government considers to be a “failing school” due to students’ poor tests scores. “The education I’m getting right now is how to take a test,” Tiffany says. “I want to learn something else.” Adrienne believes “testing is not a good way to see how a child is learning because not all children are really good test takers.”
With eight million kids in the U.S. living without health insurance, health care has emerged as one of the main issues facing presidential candidates this year. And it’s not just kids’ health at stake. Tasha’s mother has asthma, an enlarged heart, and no health insurance. Tasha says she worries every day that her mother “is just gonna collapse from her heart.” Zach believes “healthcare should be the government’s responsibility. I think that if you’re an American citizen that healthcare should be free.” But Christine thinks “the government’s involvement with health care should be limited” and that universal health care is not the way to approach this issue.
As prices on gas, heating oil and food continue to rise, and as some parents are losing their jobs and unable to meet their housing costs, kids are affected. Eyke says, “The rich can afford a yacht, the rich can afford to buy stock on Wall Street but, frankly, the regular American is having a tough time paying for their health care, they’re having a tough time paying their rent and that’s not right.” Alex has another take on the issue. “Instead of using the hundreds of billions of dollars on the war on terror, maybe we should really use it on things we really need here.”
About immigration, Vika says, “I understand why the fence between Mexico and the U.S. is being built, but I don’t think that it should be there. I feel like it’s creating a barrier — it’s actually creating a physical barrier between Mexico and the U.S. and it’s making tensions rise and it really just shows our distrust of Mexico.” But Michele says, “They come here for a better life; they should be able to get a better life.”
Nickelodeon’s campaign includes four Kids Pick the President television specials created and produced by the Emmy and Peabody Award-winning Nick News with Linda Ellerbee, and a special online election website http://www.nick.com/kpp/. The website features explanations of the election process, photographs and information about each candidate and their issues, as well as a calendar of the major election events. In January, the first campaign special, The Kids’ Primary — explained how presidents are elected in the United States, the primary system, the current candidates, and what it means to be a Democrat or a Republican. After the special, kids were encouraged to go online and vote in Nickelodeon’s first ever kids’ primary, at www.nick.com/kpp. In the election, kids chose Barack Obama and John McCain.
The campaign specials will also air on Cable in the Classroom (schedule will be announced), which airs Wednesday and Friday mornings at 6:00 a.m. (ET/PT). Cable in the Classroom provides schools with commercial-free educational television programming. To complement the Kids Pick the President campaign, supplementary materials are available as resources for teachers at http://teachers.nick.com.
Nick News, produced by Lucky Duck Productions, is now in its 18th year, and is the longest-running kids’ news show in television history. It has built its reputation on the respectful and direct way it speaks to kids about the important issues of the day. Over the years, Nick News has received more than 20 Emmy nominations and numerous Emmy wins. Most recently, in 2007, “Private Worlds: Kids and Autism” won the Emmy for Outstanding Children’s Programming. In 1994, the entire series, Nick News, won the Emmy for Outstanding Children’s Programming. In 1998, “What Are You Staring At?” a program about kids with physical disabilities, won the Emmy for Outstanding Children’s Programming. In 2002, “Faces of Hope: The Kids of Afghanistan,” won the Emmy for Outstanding Children’s Programming. In 2004, two Nick News Specials, “The Courage to Live: Kids, South Africa and AIDS” and “There’s No Place Like Home,” a special about homeless kids in America, were both nominated for the Outstanding Children’s Programming Emmy. In 2005, it won the Emmy for Outstanding Children’s Programming for its show, “From the Holocaust to the Sudan.” Nick News, produced by Lucky Duck Productions, is also the recipient of three Peabody Awards, including a personal award given to Ellerbee for her coverage for kids of the President Clinton investigation. The series has also received two Columbia duPont Awards.
Check this out! I highly recommend the Classical Baby – The Poetry Show coming to HBO April 12 on HBO Family. Set to classical music, this collection includes classic poetry such as “Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening” by Robert Frost, “The Swing” by Robert Louis Stevenson, “The Red Wheelbarrow” by William Carlos Williams, “Grass Grass Grass” by Woodie Guthrie, “The Owl and the Pussy Cat” by Edward Lear, and many more. The part I loved most about is were the live action segments of real children expressing their thoughts about the poetry. “I like poetry because it can have a lot of different meanings to it.” “It’s like music in your head when you read it.” A group of elementary-age children candidly talk about how the poetry affects them and their comments ring so true. “Poetry is a pretty way of saying something.” “It’s like music. It has a beat, a rhythm … just like music. Obviously, these kids have thought about it a bit. “Sometimes you have to read it more than once to really get it.” “Maybe you love somebody so much that there are no words for it. You just have to write down what you feel.” And, they don’t miss a beat in terms of execution. “You don’t have to put in a period, a comma, or an exclamation point. You just put it down the way it comes out of your head. That’s the way it is.” Summary – “It’s just beautiful.” Try it, you’ll love it. HBO Family’s Peabody and Emmy Award-winning animation team has created yet another winner from the Classical Baby franchise. It’s all-star cast includes Gwyneth Paltrow, Susan Sarandon, Geoffrey Wright, Andy Garcia and John Lithgow. It’s the brainchild of director-producer Amy Schatz and animator Maciek Albrecht. Schatz produced the Emmy Award-winning HBO family specials “Through a Child’s Eyes: September 11, 2001,” “Goodnight Moon and Other Sleepytime Tales,” “How Do You Spell God?,” “Going, Going, Almost Gone! Animals in Danger,” and “Twas the Night.” Produced in association with the Poetry Foundation, it offers a vehicle to plant the seeds for a lifelong love of the music of words. It is scheduled to play April 12, 16, 20, 24, and 29. Tivo it! It’s also coming out in DVD on April 15 and at $9.98, it’s a great value for introducing your kids to poetry.