PBS KIDS offers free RESOURCES TO Fuel learning this summer

Arlington, VA, May 23, 2013 –This summer, PBS KIDS will provide families with a variety of free and educational resources to encourage young learners to continue learning and exploring over summer vacation. Research shows that students experience significant learning loss when they do not participate in educational activities during the summer months, and that loss is even greater among children in low-income communities. To combat this summer slump, PBS KIDS has developed 10 weeks of special on-air programming, a variety of online resources, and partnerships with Pottery Barn Kids, Education.com, Scholastic and Grandparents.com.

“PBS KIDS and our member stations are providing families with a wealth of resources and partnerships to keep children engaged and learning this summer,” said Lesli Rotenberg, General Manager, Children’s Programming, PBS. “The summer is a great time for families to explore together, and we know that our content can help families bridge the summer learning gap and build critical skills for success.”

Summer Learning Theme-Weeks

Starting Monday, June 3 (check local listings), PBS KIDS presents 10 weeks of themed programming to inspire children ages 2-8 to explore and learn. Each week will feature episodes from a different PBS KIDS series.

The line-up includes:

• WILD KRATTS – “Bug Week,” starting June 3                  
• SUPER WHY! – “Super You Week,” starting June 10         
• SESAME STREET – “Literacy Quest Week,” starting June 17          
• MARTHA SPEAKS – “Puppy Week,” starting June 24         
• CURIOUS GEORGE – “Creative George Week,” starting July 1                   
• DINOSAUR TRAIN – “Dinosaurs A-Z” starting July 8                     
• DANIEL TIGER’S NEIGHBORHOOD – “Let’s Play Outside Week,” July 15                
• THE CAT IN THE HAT KNOWS A LOT ABOUT THAT! – “Let’s Get Wet Week,” starting July 22         
• ARTHUR – “Sports Week,” starting July 29                      
• WORDGIRL® – “What’s Up With WordGirl Week,” starting August 5          

Partnership Activities

PBS KIDS is working with the following select group of partners to encourage children and families to explore literacy and learning all summer long.

Pottery Barn Kids: PBS KIDS is working with Pottery Barn Kids this summer to highlight the importance of reading through the Pottery Barn Kids Summer Reading Challenge.  From May 24 through August 26, families can find activities and tips from PBS KIDS, including a “PBK Favorites” booklist, certificate of completion and bookmark, in stores and online at www.potterybarnkids.com/read. Children that complete the list and bring it to a Pottery Barn Kids location will receive a free book, or parents can enter their child into an online drawing for a backpack full of books. Additionally, PBS KIDS will be providing tips to help families create a literate home at participating Pottery Barn Kids retail locations and on the Summer Reading Challenge website. For more information on the Summer Reading Challenge and related activities, visit www.potterybarnkids.com/read.

Education.com: Beginning May 20, families can visit Summer Reading Adventures hosted by Education.com to access a number of summer reading resources, including a “Do-It-Yourself” Reading Camp. “DIY” Reading Camp includes everything parents need to host 10 weeks of learning fun right from their own living rooms and backyards. Each camp week includes a dozen projects and activities, including specially selected PBS KIDS content, for parents and kids to do together. PBS KIDS and Education.com will also encourage families to read over the summer months with the “We’ll Read 10” pledge – which offers families the chance to win one of five Kindle Prize Packs. To take the pledge or learn more about DIY Summer Reading camp, visit www.education.com/read

Scholastic: As the national “Ambassador of Summer Reading,” WordGirl is challenging kids to read every day this summer through Scholastic’s Summer Challenge. The Scholastic Summer Challenge™ is a free online reading program where kids can log their reading minutes to earn rewards and help set a new 2013 world record for summer reading to beat last year’s record of 95,859,491 minutes.

Grandparents.com: Grandparents can help kids with reading, too. PBS KIDS is proud to be working with Grandparents.com to offer resources to provide grandparents with ideas and literacy-building activities that they can do with their grandchildren over the summer break.

Online and Mobile Resources

Select episodes and clips will also be featured on PBSKIDS.org/video and on the free PBS KIDS Video App. Additionally, each week a special episode will be available as a free download on iTunes.

Online, parents and caregivers will find free, downloadable activity guides and printables to host reading parties and more on PBSPARENTS.org/read. Literacy-focused games and activities will be available for kids at PBSKIDS.org/read. PBS KIDS also offers more than 25 educational mobile appsavailable on iOS and Android to help kids build key skills for learning.

Through a variety of summer learning initiatives, PBS KIDS continues to offer educational and engaging content across platforms to more and more families. PBS KIDS is increasingly serving children wherever they live, learn and play.

About PBS KIDS
PBS KIDS, the number one educational media brand for kids, offers all children the opportunity to explore new ideas and new worlds through television, online, mobile and community-based programs. Kidscreen- and Webby-award winning pbskids.org provides engaging interactive content, including the PBS KIDS video player, now offering free streaming video accessible on computer- and mobile-device-based browsers. For more information on specific PBS KIDS content supporting literacy, science, math and more, visit pbs.org/pressroom, or follow PBS KIDS on Twitter and Facebook.

You've Got Mail Monday

It's Monday, so that means another peek inside my mailbox. After returning from vacation, we had a boatload of mail. Thankfully there wasn't as much to sift through last week. I think our mail carrier is on vacation, because the mail is coming later than usual, and one day we didn't get any mail at all--which rarely happens.

A new Justice® catalog arrived. The girls try to beat each other to the table when that one comes in. The Lil Diva (10) and the Lil Princess (8) have already given me a list of things they want for back to school. Hard to believe school starts up again in month.

Another great catalog that came in was Pottery Barn Kids. We're eyeing their Larkin Bedroom Collection for the Lil Princess. Her bed belonged to her father and her dresser was the one I bought when I was pregnant for John Boy (okay, not the best nickname, but I had to call him something). Our son is now 25, so I'm impressed that the dresser is still usable. Our girl is definitely due for an upgrade. We bought the Lil Diva bedroom furniture from Bob's Discount Furniture a couple of years ago. She's tough on things, so I didn't want to spend a lot of money. It's holding up well, and she's been happy with it, so it was a good purchase.

The American Girl® doll catalog also showed up. We had a group of girls over yesterday and they all played in the bonus room with their American Girl dolls. It's cute to watch them. I think Santa is supposed to bring McKenna this year.

Our Fed-Ex® driver dropped off a package that contained a scanner and software from the National Consumer Panel. I used to participate in this program years ago, when the technology wasn't as advanced as it is now. After reviewing the contents: scanner, charge base, USB cable, and software, I've decided it isn't for me. What you are supposed to do is scan your purchases. In addition, you can complete surveys using the scanner's keyboard. You earn points for rewards.

I must have forgotten how time consuming a project it is. Though you scan barcodes, there is still a lot of manual entry: store name, if you used coupons, if you used a rewards card, and the most time consuming--price and quantity. Granted, the scanner will use the data you input to remember your favorite stores, but I buy over $200 worth of groceries a week. I pay attention to prices while in the store, but once I get home I just want to put it all away. If I need to hold onto my receipt and find a price to match up each product I purchase, it will take me an hour or more to get all the groceries put away. It's a shame, because I really wanted to do this.

That's it for You've Got Mail Monday. Look for my reviews of WordGirl: The Rise of Miss Power and Super Why: Around the World Adventure coming this week.

You've Got Mail Mondays

It's that time again. Time to peek into my mailbox. I try to head off the mail before my hubby sees what's inside. That way he doesn't know how many books are arriving.  I think he might beginning to wonder if books are more exciting to me than he is.  Okay, that's a joke, but I do get a lot of mail.

Last week, two books made their way here:  Super Luke Faces His Bully by Dr. Jackie C. Cogswell and Pearls of Wisdom: 30 Inspirational Ideas to Live Your Best Life Now! by Jack Canfield et al. I am coordinating the virtual book tour for Dr. Cogswell and participating in the blog tour for the other book.

Some great catalogs arrived last week too.  Gardner's Supply Company is offering a chance to win a $1,000 Dream Garden gift card. Details appear on their website. I'm thinking a customizable soaker hose system might be the way to go this year with the raised beds. I'll have to see what the budget looks like once I get all the seeds and raised beds put in.

The Pottery Barn Kids catalog showed up at the end of the week. I'm looking for new seating for the girls in the family room. I'm wondering if their Anywhere Chairs would be a good choice. When the girls were little, we had those fold out character couches. Then we graduated to bean bag chairs--which while comfortable, aren't easy to store or get around in our family room. The problem is we have a couch and a love seat, but the way the floor plan is laid out, it would be better to have a couch and a chair. That would give us more room to add seating for the girls. Looks like I'll be rearranging furniture soon.

I also received a package from Christian Book Distributors. I did some early Mother's Day shopping for my mother-in-law, and picked up a Veggie Tales DVD for the Sunday school kids. Christianbook.com is currently running a Spring Fever sale with prices up to 96% off.

That is it for this week. Hope your mailbox was filled with fun stuff too.