WSRE and PBS KIDS Offer Resources To Help Kids Bridge the Summer Learning Gap
This summer, WSRE and PBS KIDS are making it easy to help kids bridge the summer learning gap by offering fun and educational content and tools to families for free on-air and online. Research shows that children who don’t maintain reading skills over the summer are likely to start the upcoming school year at a disadvantage. To combat this summer slump, WSRE is running special PBS KIDS on-air programming and PBS KIDS is offering a variety of online resources and partnership activities with iVillage.

On-air Summer Reading Theme Weeks
WSRE is supporting literacy with themed weeks of PBS KIDS programming. Each week, WSRE will feature reading-related episodes from a different PBS KIDS series. The line-up includes:

• SID THE SCIENCE KID – “Weather Week” – starting May 23
• ARTHUR – “Arthur Author Week” – starting May 30
• CURIOUS GEORGE – “Country Monkey Week” – starting June 6
• DINOSAUR TRAIN – “World Tour Week” – starting June 13
• SUPER WHY – “Family Story Week” – starting June 20
• MARTHA SPEAKS – “Martha Summer Fun Week” – starting June 27
• THE ELECTRIC COMPANY – “What’s the Story? Week” – starting July 4
• WORDGIRL – “WordGirl’s Ludicrously Literate Library Week” – starting July 11
• WILD KRATTS – “Wet Kratts Week” – starting July 18
• THE CAT IN THE HAT KNOWS A LOT ABOUT THAT! – “Cool Cat Week” – starting July 25

 

Online and Mobile Resources for Families
A variety of online resources are also available to keep kids learning all summer long. Keep visiting this webpage to find links to new and updated sites for kids and parents that include interactive games that kids can play to build literacy skills, including PBS KIDS Island, an amusement park-themed game experience for preschoolers, and the Great Word Quest, an online scavenger hunt-style activity for kids ages 6 to 9. PBSParents.org has an array of content available for parents, including downloadable printables featuring PBS KIDS characters, as well as tips and activity ideas for families to do together. Parents can also download free episodes of select PBS KIDS series – each week through August – and a variety of PBS KIDS educational apps, including the new free PBS KIDS Video for iPad App, which features over 1,000 videos from PBS KIDS series. The free episodes, along with PBS KIDS programs and apps, are available in a special PBS KIDS Raising Readers boutique on iTunes located at www.itunes.com/PBSRaisingReaders.

Perfect for Parents!
Sign up with the iVillage PBS KIDS Summer Reading Community Challenge and receive daily emails with tips and free literacy-building resources for parents and children designed by the experts at PBS Parents and PBS KIDS. As Challenge Coach, Angela Santomero, Creator, Executive Producer and Head Writer of SUPER WHY! and host of The Parent Show on PBS Parents, will provide daily reading activity assignments, answer parent questions and offer advice throughout the online event. Guest coaches such as cast members, characters, authors and series creators from PBS KIDS will also provide activities and ideas each week. iVillage, an online community for women, and PBS KIDS will also host reading parties with parent bloggers and within the iVillage community, reaching over 1,500 kids across the country.

 

Nominate Your Favorite Libary
Visit soarwithreading.com for activities and the chance to enter and nominate your favorite library for its chance to receive a $10,000 collection of Random House Children's Books, and you will be entered for a chance to WIN a JetBlue Getaways family vacation to Atlantis, Paradise Island, Bahamas!