Freebies

Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Quality TV?

I don't get time to watch much TV for enjoyment, but I am a loyal Daily Show and Colbert Report watcher. Instead of discussing those shows which can be somewhat controversial, I thought I'd tell you about some TV shows for young kids that I've been very impressed with.

Most of these shows have apps or computer games that could be useful in the classroom, and there are usually full episodes available online. I've found that as a mother of a 5 year old, I have quite a bit more knowledge in this area than many of my colleagues. :)



My son's latest obsession is with Wild Kratts. In Wild Kratts, the Kratt brothers get to know all kinds of amazing creatures. It's on PBS Kids.

http://pbskids.org/

PBS Kids has a free iPad video app that has lots of full episodes. There are so many good kids shows! My first grade team actually used a Curious George episode to introduce the concept of measurement last year. Martha Speaks is about a dog who ate some alphabet soup and suddenly began to talk. She has an amazing vocabulary, and each show focuses on teaching about 5 words. Other shows that teach literacy skills are Word Girl and Super Why. I also like Sid the Science Kid. These shows make great class or individual rewards. Many of them could easily be used to teach standards as well. Also, if you haven't explored the computer games on PBS Kids, you really should. They have games that are appropriate for K-2 at least.



http://www.nickjr.com/team-umizoomi/
This is Geo, Bot, and Mili.

Another great kids show is Team Umizoomi on Nick Jr. Team Umizoomi is a tiny team that uses mighty math powers to solve problems. They teach about number recognition (mostly to 10, but sometimes further) counting, patterns, geometry, and measurement. I even saw one episode where they taught estimating.

http://disneyjunior.com/the-octonauts
 
Finally, there's Octonauts on Disney Jr. The Octonauts help ocean creatures in distress. Kids learn all about the ocean and the creatures living there. One day my son asked me, "Mommy, is it true that the Mariana  Trench is even deeper than the Midnight Zone?" (Ummmmm..probably...is that what they said on the Octonauts? It's probably right if they said it on the Octonauts, I'm not really an expert on the sea.) One time he started talking about how destructive and venomous the lionfish was, and my husband and I thought it had to be wrong, then we found this online. Note to self: do not question the information your 4 year old learns on the Octonauts. I thought I could keep ahead of him at least until he turned 7!

http://bigtimeliteracy.blogspot.com/


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2 comments:

  1. Colbert can be funny. What were your thoughts on him taking over the late night spot?
    Sarah from Mrs. Jones Teaches :o)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wow I better catch up on these shows, thanks for the tip because I have no idea about any of these! My tip to you is the John Oliver show!

    ReplyDelete

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