KLRN strives to provide valuable educational content to every family in our viewing area, from great drama, world-class music, in-depth news, fascinating "how-to" programs and, best of all — non-violent educational programs for your children.
During these uncertain times, KLRN is adapting and creating educational resources in an easy-to-follow format. We aim to provide educational content and resources that support every family in our community.
With these daily blog posts, you will find two PBS Kids programs featured, and accompanying educational activities that will help extend learning into your home. In addition to that we have added a new 4 PM time slot that aims at providing some content for older school age students. You will find resources tied to each of these programs aired daily with lessons from our PBS LearningMedia site.
We hope that this will provide your family a way to enjoy the PBS shows you love and extend the learning into your home.
All the best,
KLRN’s Education Team
Daniel Tiger
Thursday, April 16 at 9AM
Daniel learns he can have fun on his own, with creativity and imagination; Daniel and his friends make up silly games to play.
Children love to play—anytime, anywhere, and with almost anything. As they do so, they’re exploring the world around them and practicing important skills crucial to brain development. Consider the relationship between play and learning as you play together!
Infant
Infants are born with a natural drive to explore and make sense of the world around them. They are curious explorers and they wonder how and why things work the way they do. Their natural curiosity and creativity are enhanced and supported through nurturing, responsive relationships with their families.
Play ideas to develop baby imagination and creativity include:
- peekaboo, play peekaboo with objects like scarves or tea towels
- books and treasure boxes to explore
- nature walks around your backyard or neighborhood.
Toddler
- Turn Chairs Into a Pretend Trolley
Children often feel left behind when their favorite grownups go off in cars and planes. This pretend play activity can help your child with the idea of going away and coming back. - Print and color this print out of Trolley. Ask your child where he would ask Trolley to take him. Explore your child’s imagination with fun questions and help him or her tell a story. Here is a foldable trolley for a 3-d version of Trolley.
- Word Play Game
Playtime and story time are great opportunities for you to talk with children and build vocabulary. Choose one of the interactive stories. As you share it with kids, point out and talk about the new vocabulary words. After reading, you might act out some of the scenes together, and pretend to be snow monsters or playground detectives. - Video Set Your Piggies Free | Sesame Street
Celebrities come together in this silly song about the fun of playing with no shoes on! This resource focuses on the environment and physical health.
Preschool
- Stop and Go games allow the child to practice control over his body and revel in his mastery of this control. Inhibitory control is important in social interactions where taking turns is involved, and, as such, is an important skill for success in school. Try this fun Stop and Go Game, play this traditional backyard game during everyday outdoor fun.
- Inspire your child to put on a puppet show by crafting this Daniel Tiger finger puppet. Daniel Tiger Finger Puppet activity.
Grades PreK-2
- Get Up & Go Play!: Playing with Pets
Playing outside makes kids happy and healthy! In this segment kids learn about how to take care of pets as they enjoy playing outside. This segment shows different types of animals as kids explain what it takes to take care of their pets. - Slow-Mo Catch | Get Up and Go!
Center for Healthy Minds well-being expert Chad McGehee leads children through a brief breathing practice that can be used to foster attention and calm.
Parent Resources
- Learning Through Play parent video. Children love to play—anytime, anywhere, and with almost anything. As they do so, they’re exploring the world around them and practicing important skills crucial to brain development.
- Children do some of their best learning when they play. In this workshop, you’ll celebrate the importance of play and help parents brainstorm ways they can encourage play-based learning at home and on the go. Enriching & Extending Play parent video.
- Parent article, “Why Is Physical Play Important?”
- Ideas for Play Cards for children 0-6 years.
Cyberchase: An Urchin Matter
Thursday, April 16 at 3:30
There's a mega mystery in Megabays - the once-healthy kelp in Big Bay is washing ashore. The CyberSquad must work with Captain Skuttlebutt, keeper of the bays, to get to the bottom of it. Is it nature at work, or is something - or someone - causing the underwater kelp forest's collapse?
Infant/ Toddler
- Make an Ocean sensory bottle
Take an empty water bottle, fill it halfway with water, add ¼ cup of cooking oil and add small items such as beads, sparkling items and some blue food coloring. Seal the top back on the bottle and secure with hot glue. Let your child explore the sensory bottle and talk about ocean animals. For more ways to explore sensory bottle check out this post by Preschool Inspirations. - Make a Bubble Bottle Fish
We can all do something to help keep our oceans healthy. In this activity, kids will upcycle materials that are commonly discarded into the sea to make their own plastic bottle fish. Try this activity and
Preschool
- Grades PreK-1
O Is for Ocean | Sesame Street
Expand vocabulary by taking an underwater journey to discover all of the different words that start with the letter "O." - Grades PreK-3
Motion of the Ocean | Nature Cat
Sing along with Nature Cat, Nature Dog, and their friends and learn about how the ocean currents work with this “Motion of the Ocean” song! From the Nature Cat: Ocean Commotion special. - Make an Ocean Mobile
Building an ocean mobile helps show how remarkable the ocean is and reminds others that it’s a place worth protecting. Use materials from the recycling bin to create creatures and capture the environment. Real ocean items such as shells, pieces of driftwood, and dried seaweed are great, too, if you have them. - Make Ocean Zones in a Jar
There's one big ocean and lots of things living in it! Make an Ocean Zones jar so that your child can clearly see the ocean layers and learn about liquid density in the process. - Explore the Sea With a Paper Plate Aquarium
Use paper plates to bring the magic of an aquarium to your own home! - Ocean Guide Game
In this interactive field guide, your child can learn more about animals, plants, and non-living items that can be found in the ocean.
Parent Resource
PBS parent article: Exploring the Ocean with Kids
History Detectives: Amelia Earhart
Thursday, April 16 at 4 PM
Amelia Earhart Plane - John Ott believes he may have a piece of Amelia Earhart's airplane, the missing Lockheed L-10E Electra in which she made her ill-fated around-the-world attempt. Ott says his grandfather served as a flight mechanic on the airfield in Honolulu where Earhart had a mishap on her first attempt at the flight.
Fillmore Pardon - A Portland, Oregon, man inherited what looked to be a U.S. presidential pardon signed by Millard Fillmore in 1851. In it, the president commutes the death sentence to life in prison for a solitary Native American named See-See-Sah-Mah, convicted of murdering a St. Louis trader along the Santa Fe Trail.
Grades 1-2
Amelia Earhart Reader | Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum
Print and fold this 2-page biosketch about Amelia Earhart into a booklet!
Grades 2-5
Archaeology Adventures: Early Alabama History (full episode)
Three young kids venture outside their 2-D animated world to learn about early Alabama history for their upcoming school report. Aided by their hyper-intelligent robotic friend Roto and a magical portal, they visit some of Alabama’s historic sites to learn about Native American societies, early settlers, and the beginning of Alabama’s statehood. With the help of local archaeologists and historians they just might make it back home in time to get to school and turn in their report!
Grades 3-7, 13+
Amelia Earhart | Aviator, Record-breaker, and Activist
In this lesson, students will learn about Amelia Earhart’s groundbreaking career as a female aviator. After viewing a video about her life, students will examine her first pilot’s license and will read a letter she wrote to an aspiring aviator. The lesson concludes with students designing a compass rose to honor Earhart’s legacy.
We hope you enjoyed some of these activities. If you follow KLRN on your facebook account please be sure to share your activities and use the #KLRNeducates and #KLRNLearnatHome tags.
Tune in tomorrow for more learning fun with your favorite PBS Kids programs.
Parent Resources:
- The most recent KLRN Family Newsletter can be foundhere.
- Find food assistance, help paying bills, and other free or reduced cost programs, including new programs for the COVID-19 pandemic here.
- New Sesame Street site with Autism resources in English and Spanish. Resources highlight that all children are amazing in their own ways. And, at a time when many families are experiencing unprecedented uncertainty, the resources provide coping strategies for parents of children with autism, supporting them as they adjust to a “for-now” normal while still addressing their children’s unique needs.
- United Way of San Antonio various resources.
- Temporary emergency childcare assistance (up to 3 weeks) will be provided for licensed and registered childcare center or licensed/registered home care. Info here.
- Mental Health & Substance Use Resources from Texas Health and Human Services
Recursos para Padres:
- Recursos para ayudar a las Familias durante el COVID-19 de Fred Rogers Productions aqui.
- Como hablar con tus hijos sobre coronavirus
- Recursos de PreK-12 para Cierres de Emergencia de PBS LearningMedia
- Sesame Street el Autismo: Ver lo maravilloso en todos los niños.
- Recursos para Salud mental y consumo de sustancias de Texas Health and Human Services aqui
