Sunday, January 27, 2008

Super Why

Super Why!

Super Why is a new show on PBS for ages 3-6. It is helping kids to learn to read, alphabet skills, word families, spelling, comprehension, and vocabulary. Super Why is the first original program Out from the Blue Enterprises as an innovator in interactive children’s entertainment. The creator Angela C. Santomero is also a co creator of Blue’s Clues.

Each episode is 24 minutes long in 3d magical world hidden behinds bookshelves. You then meet 4 best friends who star in each episode. You have Red from little Red Riding Hood, Pig from the Three Little Pigs, Princess from Princess and the Pea and Whyatt the curious little brother from Jack and the Beanstalk. Whyatt discovers he has a magical power of flying inside books from find the answers to his questions. Each of the characters are re-imagined as an everyday kid: Red rides roller blades; Pig drives a trike; Princess loves tea parties and dress-up; and Whyatt is the group's natural leader.

Each episode starts with a problem the kids can relate too (example that Jill from Jack and Jill was not being nice to Jack.) Then Whyatt calls all his friends to meet in the clubhouse where they then turn into their super-heros. Pig turns into Alpha Pig with Alphabet power. Red turns into Wonder Red with Word Power. Princess turns into Princess Presto with Spelling Power and Whyatt turns into Super Why with Reading Power. Each adventure they pick a story that is similar to a problem that one of the 4 characters are having. Once the Super characters are inside the book they read the story and find super letters that at then end of the story tells a message. Which helps the children on identifying each different letter, how to read and understand the stories at to work at a team.

At the end of episode all of the characters fly back to the clubhouse and they go over what just happened and what they learned, saying the alphabet with Pig and rhyming letters with Red or spelling with Princess. While Whyatt reads the story out loud. They go over the super letters they have found in the stories and find out that the super letters spelled. If the esposide was that Wolf from the 3 Little Pigs was mean they find out why he was mean, it was because the Wolf had no friends and he did not know how to act. So they will change the story around a little so that the Wolf is nice to the 3 Little Pigs and they can all be friends.

I have a 2 year old he loves this show. We were watching it and some of the Super Letters came on the screen and he knew2 out of the 4 letters he said them before Whyatt read them out loud I was so impressed, that he is learning so much about letters and reading.

Wonder Pets

Wonder Pets

Wonder Pets is an animated children’s television show for preschoolers. It was first debuted in March 2006.

Wonder Pets is about 3 classroom pets Linny a guinea pig, Ming Ming a duckling and Tuck a turtle that travel around the globe saving animals. These 3 pets do not have real super powers like any preschooler. They work as a team to save the animals in trouble. Each episode encourages teamwork, empathy, problem-solving skills, and an appreciation of music and humor.

About the Wonder Pets Characters

Linny the Guinea Pig she is the most educated out of the three. She often provides different zoological and geographical information to the other Wonder Pets. She is the one to remind the other Wonder Pets about team work and other values like sharing and empathy. Linny’s catch phrase is “this calls for some celery”, she says this at the end of each show after the save the animal and bring the animal back to it’s parents.


Ming-Ming the duckling, unlike the other Wonder Pets, she is able to fly. She can also speak "bird", allowing her to talk to other birds that the Wonder pets encounter. Ming-Ming also believes that her great grandfather was an eagle. Ming-Ming also likes to try to take on doing things herself, when she finally realizes that she can not do it alone, Linny has to reminder her about teamwork when they all can help each other.

Tuck the turtle who is very down to earth who sometimes disagress with Ming-Ming. As a superhero he wears a white french sailors hat and swimming shoes and a red cape. Tuck is the most empathic one out of the three he usually gives the rescued animal a hug whiling keeping them company while Linny and Ming-Ming get their plan together.

Each eposide follows the same pattenerd. The children are leaving the classroom saying goodbye to the animals and then you hear the telephone ring( a tin can full of pencils). The classroom is usually decorated in the children’s artwork for the animal that they are going to save. When the three superhero’s hear the phone ringing they all get out of their cages and answer the phone. While singing the “The phone is ringing”. When they answer the phone on the other end is the animal that needs to be saved. The 3 superheros jump in a box full of fabric and they get their superhero costumes on and then head over to the toy area where they have to assemble their flyboat (which is a frisbee on the bottom and somes wheels and they fly off to where they need to go to save the animal. All working together as a team. When they reach the animal they have to try a couple of times to save the animal the first time they usually fail then they all have to put their heads together and think of a new solution. They are singing “What’s gonna work Teamwork while they are putting their new plan in affect. Once the animal is saves the animals Mother and Father come and say Thank you to the Wonder Pets and then the Wonder Pets head off the in Flyboat back to their classroom when they all have a snack of celery.

WordWorld

WordWorld

PBS has done it again with another great television show for preschoolers, it is Worldword. Worldword is show where the characters bodies are made up of the letters that spell their word they are. It teaches preschoolers how to spell from sounding out the words and what the letters look like. The Wordfriends are characters first and words second. The show is about the Wordfriends that go on a crazy adventure and face challengers on there way and the only way to resolved the problem is to build words. The word is build letter by letters and they sing a great song” It’s time to build a word”. Once the word is built it morphs and comes alive into the thing that it is. Building words reinforces preschoolers’ pre reading concepts that letters and their sounds make words and that all words have meanings and power.

Here are the characters: Sheep is very shy but loves to play pretend. She likes to play detective, princess, super hero or anything to help out her friends.

Frog is very smart and an expert with words who has crazy inventions which sometimes don’t work.

Then there is Frog’s neighbor Duck, who is a very good friend and silly. He is also like your preschooler who is still learning about his letters and social skills and Frog usually helps him out of trouble.

Pig who is a great chef and very silly too, he lives for them moment and his best friend is ant.

Ant who is very hard working and full of energy, he also keeps Pig is check. He runs the studio where Pig has his own cooking show.

Dog is a word friend who is always ready to play and build words.

Bear is the adventures one she is up for anything. She likes to play basketball or painting. She is always up for something new.


While watching Worldword my 2 years has not started repeating the letters the characters are building. It is really wondering seeing him learn and grow each day. I know that he does not realize that he is actually in the early steps of reading and understand that each letters has a different sound and they spell all different words, words that he already knows and uses.

Tuesday, June 5, 2007

Clifford - The Big Red Dog

Clifford the Big Red Dog

Clifford is an animated television show for the preschool aged children (ages 3-7) based on the books of the same name used in classic storytelling to present universal social, emotional and moral messages to young children. Each episode follows Clifford and his friends (dogs and humans) and they play and discover and interact with each other on Birdwell Island, learning that goods friends is what life is all about. Each of the episodes deal with what kids have to deal with in their daily lives whether it is bragging, not wanting to share, learning to tell the truth is the best policy, and most of all they learn to discover the world around them. In episode they try to put in all ten of the ideas that represent social and emotional challenges that children face in the course of their development.

Be a Good Friend

Clifford teaches the children to make friends, and when you have a friend, be the best friend you can be, because a healthy friendship early in life will lay the foundation for a rewarding relationship and social growth as a child matures. It also teaches that while you interact with other children that will experience many disputes and trials, which will help teach them empathy, understanding, compromise and other skills that friendship requires.

Be Kind

Kindness is a great quality that a person young or old can posses. Being king requires empathy, the ability to imagine how another person is feeling. A great example of kindness is the Emily Elizabeth loves and takes care of Clifford even when he continued to grow and grow.

Be Responsible

Being a responsible child comes from observation and practice. It is a child natural instinct to please and every child wants to be recognized for good work. Encouraging a child to retell the events of the story, make predictions, and interpret character feelings allows you to informally assess the child's comprehension and conceptual understanding

Be Truthful

Communicating with a child about choices, consequences, and honesty on a regular basis gives the child positive reinforcement about the value of being truthful. By encouraging discussions about honesty and truthfulness, you can help the child become more aware that this characteristic is an important part of his or her individual personality. In many of the episodes it shows that every action honest or not has it consequences. Children can learn the value of being honest and truthful by relating their own experiences to those of the characters.


Believe in Yourself

Children are so impressionable at a young age. Most children need encouragement to try again after making mistakes or having an unsuccessful experience. Welcome life’s new encouragements with enthusiasm and confidence at an early age.

Having Respect

Learning to respect and accept others is the basis of social maturity. It is not always easy to accept people at first glance. Children sometimes have fears and apprehension about people they are not sure about. As a parent you need to teach them the importance of looking beyond appearances is one way of helping them understand themselves and others. Having respect for individual differences, personal space, and the ideas and feelings of others will help a child appreciate what others have to offer, make friends, and cooperate in groups. Clifford and his friends often find themselves in situations where differences are really strengths, and where having respect also means not teasing or being boastful, even when you are better at something and someone else.

Help Others

Children love to help one way they can help is sharing their knowledge and skills with someone who needs their assistance. For many children helping is like a reward to them, because it boosts their self-esteem. Some of the episodes illustrate that it is quite normal for people to be unsure or afraid in situations that they can't handle on their own and that it is ok to ask for help people will not judge you because you can not do it.

Play Fair

The foundation of playing fair is treating others how you want to be treated. Teaching them at you need to treat people fairly and equal. Taking turns, following the rules, avoiding favoritism sharing roles or game pieces equally, and other learning experiences within group activities and games all promote good social and emotional growth. Reinforcing acceptable behavior in situations where a child has to play fair to get along with someone else is great experience for the social challenges that all children face as they grow.
Sharing
Sometimes it can be hard for children to let someone else share what is really special to them. The best thing about sharing it that it brings friends together. Just think of a time when someone shared something with you, recall your feelings, and you'll recognize that sharing rewards both the person who gives and the person who receives.

Working Together

Children learn to interact with others most often through observing how others treat them within their own environments. By cooperating with other children to achieve a goal, a child learns to enjoy people for their individual strengths and their contributions to a team effort. Clifford and his friends often experience the concepts of teamwork and cooperation. The characters model working together in a group successfully to meet a cooperative goal or accomplish a personal task in fun and meaningful ways.
Even thought my son is too young to truly understand all of the great things that Clifford and all of his friends are teaching him he really enjoys watching Clifford. As a parent I don’t feel guilty having him watch television as long as I know that there is a good message behind the show.

Curious George

Curious George

Curious George is an animated series of a very curious Monkey it is aimed at the preschool child (ages 3-5); the goal of the series is to inspire children to explore science, math, and the world around them. George lives to find and discover new things in every episode. This new television show is trying to say true to the books by Margaret and H.A. Rey, in the television show Georges meets new characters and locations. Each episode features two animated stories followed by a live action segment by local kids investigating the same things that George just learned. The television show is narrated by William H. Macy and produced by Ron Howard.

Characters

Curious George is a monkey that investigates everything because everything fascinates him even things he already knows about. George usually gets into some mischief but he usually manages to get himself out of it and even saves the day.

The Man with the Yellow hat is Georges best friend and mentor, his parental presents that trust George unconditionally. He never expects him to get into trouble. He is well likes in the neighborhood and a little goofy around the edges.

Bill is George’s neighbor in the country. He has got a lot of new things for Georges to get in trouble with and explore, he has a bike, paper route, a collection of kites and a lot of bunnies.

Professor Wiseman is full of great information about all sorts of things for George. She is a good friend to the Man with the Yellow Hat. She gets excited about George’s adventures.

Jumpy the squirrel is a bit of a daredevil he loves to collect things and share them with George. He likes hanging out with George, even if George forces him out of his comfort zone from time to time.

I feel that Curious George is a very good educational television show for young children to watch. My 20 month old son loves to watch George. He will even ask to watch Curious George by name. My son is a very active little boy but when I put on Curious George he will just sit and enjoy the show. He will act out some of the scene that George is doing. If George gets into to much trouble he will yell out Ah-OO. George teaches the children not to be afraid to explore new things that it is health to get into some trouble as long as it does not get you hurt and you are learning something new.

Wednesday, May 9, 2007

Playhouse Disney's Little Einsteins

Little Einsteins


The Little Einsteins is an animated television on Playhouse Disney that takes us on adventures with four children. Its creator is Eric Weiner who also is the creator of Dora the Explorer and has an Emmy Award winning director of Olexa Hewryk. It debut was August 23, 2005 with a direct to video movie Our Big Adventure.

This show is an educational preschool series which teaches art and music appreciation by featuring famous or culturally significant art works and classical music. The music and the painting or artwork is placed in the scene of the show. The show is designed to get the preschool children to join the Little Einsteins on their mission by patting their hands on their legs to start rocket, by listening to the music to find the correct path they need to take to help who they are saving on the mission. Not only does it teach preschool children art and music appreciation it also teaches them about new countries and different environments.


Characters

Leo, who is a six year old boy, is the leader of the Little Einsteins and the one that flies Rocket. His main hobby is conducting; he always has his baton with him in all of the missions. He is able to conduct anything on the missions.

June is a six year old girl who loves to dance ballet. She also likes to look at the stars at night.

Quincy is a five year old boy who loves to play musical instruments. He is afraid of the dark.

Annie is a four year old girl who is the little sister to Leo. She is the only other one who can fly Rocket. She loves balloons and making up songs for each mission.

Rocket is the Little Einsteins main form of transportation, Rocket has a lot of accessories that help the Little Einsteins complete their mission.

Big Jet who is Rocket and the Little Einsteins nemesis, he tries to ruin parties and steal things from the Little Einsteins so they can not complete their mission. But the Little Einsteins in the end always steal back what Big Jet stole from them and teach him a lesson.

Even through my 19 month old son really does not know what he is learning I really enjoy this show for him. It is teaching him classical music and to always help other people in need. He loves to pat his hands on his legs to make Rocket go and when Annie starts to sing her songs he moves his head back and forth. Watching this show has also educated myself with the composers and the artwork they show.

Playhouse Disney's Go Baby

Go Baby is about a 5 minute short show on Playhouse Disney in the morning. It features an African American baby and his playmate Sophie.

It is targeted for 2-6 year old age group. It is narrated by a human hand with the voice of Richard Kind (from Mad about You and Spin City) which encourages the viewers to help Baby and Sophie discover how to play a drum, build a sand castle, where a tail goes on a donkey, how to pick apples and plant flowers. After Baby and Sophie complete there new discovery they say Thank you for the viewers help.

My 19 month son who is a very active little boy will stop what ever he is going when he hears the theme song of Go Baby he sits so still and just smiles and claps with the music through out the whole show. There was one episode where Baby and Sophie where learning about animals and the sounds they make. My son was making all of the sounds with Baby and Sophie some of the animal I did not realize he knew but from watch Go Baby he has learned them.