Featured Resources: The Science of Movement and Importance of Exercise

Springtime offers the perfect backdrop for promoting physical activity and engaging students in immersive learning experiences. Use these resources from PBS LearningMedia to explore the science of movement and to highlight the importance of exercise in their daily lives:

Mixie’s Boogie Buffet  (Grades 1-4) What better way to kick off a lesson on exercise than to get students up on their feet with this “Fizzy’s Lunch Lab” interactive?

Power Your Body with Exercise  (Grades 5-8) Invite students to examine the changes that occur in the body in response to physical activity.

Increasing Physical Activity in Schools (Grades 13+)  High levels of physical activity  support learning on-task behavior and the development of life-long wellness.  Learn how to increase the activity level at your school using this self-paced lesson.

Titanium Chairs & Cheetah Legs  (Grades 6-12) Introduce students to the specialized wheelchairs, prosthetics and other high-tech tools that allow Paralympic athletes to compete.

The Truth About Exercise (Grades 6-13+) An obesity expert proposes that the best way to lose weight and improve health is to increase your “NEAT” level.  Ask students to investigate his theory.

PBS LearningMedia is honored to be counted among this year’s recipients of the 2013 SIIA CODiE Award for both “Best Education Reference Solution” and “Best K12 Solution” in the Education Technology category!

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Hispanic History, Culture & Spanish Speaking Skills

Expand  students’ understanding of Hispanic history and culture while helping to develop their Spanish language skills with resources from PBS Learning Media.   These  featured interactive games, video clips, and lesson plans  are designed to engage learners and enhance curriculum.  If you’ve  yet to do so, you can  create a free account on PBS LearningMedia to search, save, and share your favorite resources.

The Storm that Swept Mexico: Revolutionary Art
Grades 9-12 | Video | Visual Art and History
Explore the Mexican Muralist Movement and consider the role of art as social commentary using this video resource from Latino Public Broadcasting.

Rough Riders
Grads 6-12 | Video | Spanish American War
Use this resource to enhance lessons on the Spanish American War, Roosevelt’s Rough Riders, and New Mexico’s path toward statehood.

Baseball and Social Change: The Story of Roberto Clemente
Grades: 5-8 | Blended Lesson | Literacy Skill Development
Invite students to examine the relationship between culture and identity through the story of baseball legend Roberto Clemente.

Hispanic Exploration in America
Grades: 4-12 | Media Gallery | Teaching with Primary Resources
Gain insight into the Hispanic exploration, colonization, and conquests in North America by examining a collection of primary sources from the Library of Congress.
*If you like this resource – you might like this online course.

The Red Balloon
Grades K-2 | Lesson Plan, Games | Spanish Vocabulary
¡Pruébalo! Develop your students’ Spanish language skills using this collection of videos and interactive games from “Oh Noah!”

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Learning New Words While WordGirl Saves the Day!

Word Girl makes it fun to teach new words to preK-2 learners.  In this recently released DVD, Miss Power, along with her sidekick, Colonial Giggle Cheeks, is new in town.  Is she a friend or a foe?  She uses mean words against others and is certified bully!  Will Word Girl be able to defeat Miss Power without sinking to her level and save the city?

Bonus: “A World Without Wordgirl.”  The video introduces 16 new vocabulary words. You can borrow “The Rise of Miss Power” (I.D. 2255) for a month by clicking here .

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Frontline: The Holocaust’s Last Living Survivors

In the most recent of his critically-lauded autobiographical films, Never Forget to Lie,  Marian Marzynski explores for the first time his own wartime childhood and the experiences of other child survivors.  The filmmaker teases out their feelings about Poland, the Catholic Church, and the ramifications of identities forged under circumstances where survival began with the directive “never forget to lie.”

Airing on WGBY on Tuesday, May 14 at 10:00pm, Never Forget to Lie chronicles the poignant, painful recollections of other child survivors. The film rescues haunting pieces of the past while exploring the conflicting feelings about national, cultural, and religious identity that mark many survivors.

Watch a preview, where you can also learn the latest about Marzynski’s documentary.  At the Frontline Teacher Center you’ll find new classroom activities with streaming video, downloadable lesson plans, and web-exclusive resources to accompany FRONTLINE programs in the classroom.

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Venom: Nature’s Killer from NOVA

From Emily Dickinson’s poem “Narrow fellow in the grass” to the story of Adam and Eve, snakes are likely to get our attention as they will this Wednesday, May 8, at 9:00pm when WGBY airs NOVA’s Venom:  Nature’s Killer. 

Over the millennia, thousands of creatures have developed that most sophisticated of biological and chemical weapons: venom. These complex chemicals can scramble our brain signals, paralyze muscles, puncture blood cells, even begin digesting us from within. But nature’s most potent toxins might also contain the keys to a new generation of advanced drugs to help doctors treat serious illnesses such as heart attacks, cancer and diabetes.

Follow NOVA crews as they join scientists on a dangerous quest to track down and capture the world’s most venomous animals—to find out both how they can kill us, and how they can save us. Watch a preview.

You can find classroom resources on venom and snakes at NOVA’s Beta site for teachers and at PBS LearningMedia.

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Constitution USA

On Tuesdays on WGBY at 9:00pm, starting May 7,  you can breathe new life into the traditional civics lesson with Constitution USA with Peter Segal.  Traveling across the country on a Harley Davidson to find out where the U.S. Constitution lives, Peter Segal looks at how it works and doesn’t work, how it unites us as a nation, and how it has nearly torn us apart.  Watch a preview.

A vast digital library of classroom resources, PBS LearningMedia is continuing to add new content from Constitution USA.  Here are just a few highlights for grades 9-12:

Separation of Powers The framers of the Constitution feared too much centralized power, adopting the philosophy of divide and conquer.

Federalism Federalism is one of the most important and innovative concepts in the U.S. Constitution, although the word never appears there. Federalism is the sharing of power between national and state governments

Rights What is a right, and where does it come from? A right is a power or privilege that is recognized by tradition or law.

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Arthur Stands Up To Bullying

ARTHUR, television’s longest-running children’s animated series, kicks off its spring season with a week of all-new episodes, including two devoted to the issue of bullying. The week begins with “The Last Tough Customer” on Monday, May 6. In this episode, the Tough Customers realize it’s time to quit bullying and set out to find a new hobby – but can Molly ever truly change her ways? Watch a sneak preview!

Then on Friday, May 10, in “So Funny I Forgot to Laugh,” Arthur thinks his jokes about Sue Ellen’s new sweater are all in good fun, but Sue Ellen’s feelings are hurt. Has Arthur become…a bully?

Visit ARTHUR’S parents and teachers’ site for more resources, including lesson plans like Arthur’s World Neighborhood with activities, resources, and tips to help kids explore cultural diversity within their own community and around the world. The curriculum was developed especially for students in grades 2-3 but activities can easily be adapted for younger or older audiences.

To also help raise students’ awareness on bullying and tolerance, you’ll find preK-3 resources on bullying as well as those for older grades at PBS LearningMedia.

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TED Talks Education – The High School Dropout Crisis

TED Talks Education, hosted by John Legend, premieres May 7, 2013 at 10:00pm on WGBY.  PBS and TED, the non-profit organization devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading, share a deep commitment to addressing the high school dropout crisis. The TED Talks Education one-hour program brings together a diverse group of teachers and education advocates delivering short, high-impact talks on the theme of teaching and learning.

These original TED Talks are given by educational leaders including Geoffrey Canada, Bill Gates, Rita F. Pierson and Sir Ken Robinson. TED Talks Education is part of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting’s American Graduate initiative. See all speakers and performers.

For more TED talks on a wide range of ideas worth spreading from innovative, influence thinkers around the world, you’ll want to explore the TED site for yourself http://www.ted.com/talks. You can search by subject and speakers as well as look for those talks with descriptions such as “inspiring,” “jaw-dropping” and courageous.

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Lesson Plan Feature: Mathematics x 2

Here are two mathematics lessons from PBS LearningMedia for grades 5 – 8.  The first, Multiplying Fractions of the Form a/b of c is from Cyberchase, the PBS Kids program that shows kids that math is everywhere and everyone can be good at it!  Students study fractions and practice writing arithmetic sentences using multiplication and specific proportions.  In the Cyberchase activity, Harry gets a job in a candy store. Customers request boxes containing different types of truffles in differing proportions. This activity extends the problem into the case where there are a variety of numbers of candies in each box and students learn to multiply the fractional part times the number of candies per box to produce the number of candies of each type.

The second lesson, Percentage of Population with Diabetics, is from TV411, the Emmy Award-winning program that focuses on parenting, money matters and health, employing subjects like practical mathematics.  Students learn about percentages in relation to the study of diabetes and look at a nutrition label and apply various skills to answering questions about the label. The video clip in this activity explores how to tally the amount of carbohydrates one consumes each day. Students then learn to calculate the percentages of people who have diabetes.

Both lessons provide Quick Time videos, handouts, assessments and support materials.

 

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New Content Collection from PBS LearningMedia: Think Garden!

With red buds popping, this season can be a great time to arouse students’ curiosity about garden miracles, and Think Garden – one of PBS LearningMedia’s great new content collections  – has just the video resources you’ll need!  This engaging video collection produced by KET (Kentucky Educational Television) helps teach elementary students about the art and science of growing food, with an emphasis on biological and environmental concepts. It also addresses topics related to nutrition and economics.

One of the videos, Think Garden:  Cool Crops explores the possibilities of gardening in the cooler temperatures of spring and fall. Students learn about which vegetables like cool weather and what techniques help plants, like raised beds and hoop houses, grow in these conditions.  They’ll also find out why cool crops are ideal for school gardens.

We hope you like the new look and feel of the PBS LearningMedia site.  Try viewing it on your tablet or phone for an optimized experience.

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