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News From KLRN Education

2012-02-17T06:45:00.000-08:00

And the Award Goes To ...
Yvonne Yates
Director of School Services, KLRN

I have often told people that I work in my dream job. Not only do I get to work with teachers, students and community partners but I work for PBS. When people realize that I work for KLRN they often tell me their favorite children’s program and what PBS has meant in their lives. The sparkle in their eye when talking about PBS programs always brings a smile to my heart.

February is a month when many things are celebrated, including Presidents Day, Valentine’s Day, Responsible Pet Owners' Month, and, of course, Oscar Night. I have always had a love of film and Academy Award Night is like my Super Bowl. Tis the season of awards and I wanted to shed light on all the honors that PBS has received. With such a wide range of programs for all ages, it's no wonder that the PBS family has over 130 awards and nominations in the 2011-2012 awards season.

Here is just a snapshot:
- 12 Daytime Emmy Awards, including eight for Sesame Street and The Electric Company who received three awards, including Outstanding Children’s Series.
- 14 Primetime Emmy Awards including six for Masterpiece Classic “Downton Abbey,” three for American Experience "Freedom Riders" and two each for American Masters and Great Performances.
- 1 Golden Globe Award for Masterpiece Classic “Downton Abbey."
- 3 Academy Award nominations for Independent Lens “Hell and Back Again,” POV "If A Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front" and POV "The Barber Of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement."

These are just a few of the awards and nominations that PBS has received, for the full list, visit http://www.pbs.org/about/awards/

My task for you this month is to explore the PBS content and find a new award-winning show to share in your classroom.

Can you guess what I will be doing February 26th?

Resources for KLRN Education

2012-02-17T06:39:00.000-08:00

KLRN PBS Learning Media Clips to use:

Film Festival (Grades K-2)
Create a paper filmstrip of a favorite story by illustrating several scenes and taping the pictures together in a continuous strip. Retell the story as you pull the “filmstrip” through a cardboard box “viewing screen”.

Film Shoot: Day 2 (Grades 3-6)
In this video segment from Cyberchase, the CyberSquad is shooting a film and they have a limited number of snelfus to spend on food, film stock and the crew. As they work, they make a budget for each day of filming.

Billy Wilder: Film Noir Inventor and Genius (Grades 6-12)
Learn the influences of Billy Wilder as a means to deconstruct film as an art forlm, understanding the underlying social and moral messages of film and analyze stereotypes in media.

Film Scoring: Living a Creative Life (Grades 9-12)
Learn how music is used in film and advertising to influence our perceptions and emotions

News from KLRN Education

2012-01-25T13:36:00.000-08:00

Let's Write in 2012
Yvonne Yates

Director of School Services, KLRN

William Wordsworth said, “Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart.” Every New Year’s Eve many of us make a list of our goals, plans and resolutions for the new year. We write them down and post them somewhere around the house and if you are anything like me by March they are nowhere to be found. This process of writing down our ideas and forgetting about it is much like the dozens of stories that students begin to write and then forget about. Many times these wonderful ideas start in a draft but are not taken through the full writing process.

In the last few decades, the written word has been lost to some extending with the coming of age of text messaging and emails. Laugh out loud is LOL and back in five has been shortened to BI5. My last year in the classroom this change in our use of language became apparent when a student wrote “BION I BIOMN.” My curiosity got the best of me and I called the student over and asked her what this meant. She said in a very matter a fact voice, “Duh, Ms. Yates. It’s “Believe it or not I blow it out my nose.” This made sense as she was talking about drinking milk while her sister told her a joke. I explained to the student that we needed to write out all the words. She did not like that she would have to take an extra few seconds to write out every word. I drove home that day with a smile on my face as I thought of how unhip I was at 31.

Writing has been the word on the street here at KLRN because at the start of the year we kicked off the PBS KIDS GO! Writers Contest. This contest is open to students in kindergarten to third grade. We're on the lookout for stories written and illustrated by kids in these grade levels. Everyone who enters receives a certificate with top place finishers in each grade eligible for great prizes such as laptop computers, digital cameras, and e-readers!

The contest began January 1 and ends on April 2, 2012. Look for complete rules, including entry forms and more information at klrn.org/writerscontest.

Get those students writing and start sending in your stories. Can’t wait to read them all!

Resources from KLRN Education

2012-01-25T13:30:00.000-08:00

KLRN PBS Learning Media Clips to use:

Reasons to Write (Grades PreK-2) This video segment from Between the
Lions features a motivating, kid-friendly song that celebrates the reasons
to write in everyday life.

Advice for Aspiring Writers (Grades K-8) Grace Lin shares her advice
for becoming a children’s book author.

Knowing Poe Interactive Timeline (Grades 6-12) Examine
turning points that shaped Edgar Allen Poe’s life and literature with this
interactive timeline.

News from KLRN Education

2011-11-18T06:42:00.000-08:00

Learning Measurement and Math Skills this Holiday Season
Yvonne Yates
Director of School Services, KLRN

With the holiday season nearly upon us, I find myself drifting into memories of my mother’s kitchen. The holiday season, was and still is, a time when all the women in my family go into full cooking/baking mode. I learned at a young age how to properly measure the ingredients that went into my mother’s famous cheesecake. I learned to read a scale, measure out dry and wet ingredients. My mom taught me that you need to measure accurately in order to get a yummy result. Cooking and baking continues to be a passion of mine, ask any of my co-workers who blame me for their extra pounds this past year.

As teachers, a struggle that we constantly run into is the “Why are we learning this?” and “When will I EVER use this?” The holiday season is a perfect time to remind students why they need to learn measurement and math skills. Not only will the younger ones want to help in the kitchen but the older ones will be asked to help put up holiday decorations and they will need their math skills to make sure they have enough room and also that the weight of those decorations will not come tumbling down. Why don’t you challenge your students to use what they have learned — through math and science thus far — and come up with a holiday activity or gift for someone? Have children make those real world connections and come back and tell you how they used what they learned in your class to come up with their project.

These next two months race by in the blink of an eye. Teachers are looking for fun ways to not only teach concepts before the holiday vacation but also entertain their student to keep them engaged and not day dreaming of the Sugar Plum Fairy. Visit PBS.org and look through our extensive teacher resources.

How are you using PBS resources in your classroom? Leave a comment, and let us know what you find helpful. This month’s newsletter will be short, but be on the lookout in January for our next Education e-newsletter.

Resources from KLRN Education

2011-11-18T06:33:00.000-08:00

KLRN PBS Learning Media Clips to use:

Sid’s Holiday Adventure-Part 3 (Grades PreK-1)
Join Sid and his classmates for Run Time with Miss Susie as they discuss the holidays and temperature.

A Cage to Save a Whale (Grades 2-5)
In this Cyberchase video segment, the CyberSquad must estimate the measurements of Spout the Whale in order to find a cage that will fit him. It took 100 short stories and several books worth of writing before Shannon Hale felt worthy to be published

What’s a 360? (Grades 5-8)
In this Cyberchase video segment, Harry tries to snowboard and learns how to measure and identify many common angles.

Landscape Architect (Grades 9-12)
A landscape architect describes how he uses geometry and measurement in landscape design projects.

Resources from KLRN Education

2011-10-14T07:14:00.000-07:00

KLRN PBS Learning Media Clips to use:

Advice for Aspiring Writers (Grade K-8)
Grace Lin shares her advice for becoming a children’s book author. She believes that authors have to love their own writing before they can expect other to enjoy it, and that if a person wants to become a writer, he or she first has to be a reader.

Becoming a Writer (Grades 4-9)
It took 100 short stories and several books worth of writing before Shannon Hale felt worthy to be published.

Read, Read, Read (Grades 4-12)
If children want to become good readers or writers, Katherine Paterson points out an enjoyable way to learn about writing is to read often.

News from KLRN Education

2011-10-14T07:02:00.000-07:00

Get Reading and Writing!
Yvonne Yates
Director of School Services, KLRN

When a child opens a book and begins a journey of a lifetime, they can travel to faraway places, magical lands and experience adventures. This is all done without the need of an airline ticket or passport. When a child learns to read, they begin to learn that what an author writes can change their view of the world. They learn early in their lives that writing and reading go hand in hand. To be a writer, you must be an avid reader.

With each turning of the page students learn that written words have a sound and meaning. These magical discoveries turn into rough draft diamonds when students begin to write. A student is eager to write their own stories and not be limited by grammar, spelling and rules. They illustrate stories if we are lucky, they will share them with their teachers and parents. As teachers it is our job to teach our students to love to read, write and sneak in those pesky grammar lessons.

As a teacher the best story I ever read was by a student who misspelled every other word and yet the imagery and imagination of the story brought me to tears. The student passionately wrote when I told him to just write. It was not an assignment but just something he wrote over the weekend and he wanted to share with me. We fixed the spelling mistakes and submitted it to a writing contest. He did not win but he did learn to use a dictionary to help with his spelling.
It is no surprise to me that National Book Month and the National Day of Writing both fall in the month of October. My wish for each student is that they fall in love with one or more authors and that these authors aspire to write. Three authors have influenced my life, Chris Van Allsburg, Roald Dahl and Jane Austen. Who are your favorite authors that inspire you? Share them with your students.

Visit http://www.ncte.org/dayonwriting to find out more about The National Day of Writing.

So my question to you this month is: What is your class writing about this month? Share your ideas with us.

Resources from KLRN Education

2011-09-19T11:05:00.000-07:00

Try This:

Human Impact on the Water Quality (Grades K-12)
Students explore human impact on water resources, investigate the quality of their community’s water supple and consider ways to clean up and avoid further pollution.

An Alaska Native Community Helps Seals (Grades 3-12)
This video from First Alaskans Institute spotlights the Alaska Native community of St. Paul and its hands-on commitment to care for the land and animals on which it depends.

Community Garden (Grades 3-8)
Orville Edwards describes how community gardens help improve the quality of life in the city.

News from KLRN Education

2011-09-19T11:00:00.001-07:00

Let Us Join Together!

Yvonne Yates
Director of School Services, KLRN

Nothing says community like an event that gathers people from all over our city for a common goal. This year, September is full of community involvement happenings, from the 9/11 10th anniversary memorial events to KLRN’s Not in Our Town Week of Action September 18-24. San Antonio is a community that has come together many times to celebrate our diversity and culture. We each have a role to play in strengthening our community and it is the job of all educators, parents, and teachers to lead by example.

We teach our students from a young age to share and be kind and as they get older they continue to share their lunches with friends and are kind to the elderly gentlemen at the grocery store. However, how many of us take those early lessons and apply them to service in the community? Are we showing students that community service isn’t about padding one’s resume, but about realizing that by helping others we gain an understanding of each other and a sense of human compassion? We as teachers have a responsibility to show our students that it is our civic duty to provide support for one another.

Our mission at KLRN is to enrich our viewers with quality educational programing and events. One such event is KLRN’s Not in Our Town Week of Action (September 18-24), during which we’ll be having a FREE public screening of the film on Tues., Sept. 20 at 6:00 PM at the P.E.A.C.E Initiative Offices at the San Antonio Mennonite Church (1443 South St. Mary’s Street). This film documents the effects that hate can have on a community. Following the screening, there will be a panel discussion. We want our community to be informed in order to prevent this from happening in our fair city.

This is just one event that is happening in our city that can inspire your students to take action and make a difference. There are so many opportunities to work with your students to strengthen our community by engaging them in service. Plant a community garden, collect can foods for the San Antonio Food Bank or maybe just help by picking up the trash around your campus. Every little bit helps

So my question to you this month is: What are your students doing to help in their community?