The start of Hispanic Heritage Month is still a couple of months away, but we can’t wait to let you know about  LATINO AMERICANS — the first major (and bilingual!) documentary series for television to chronicle the rich and varied history and experiences of Latinos. The much-anticipated series, narrated by Benjamin Bratt, will air on PBS on September and October, 2013: Tuesdays – September 17, September 24 and October 1 – 8-10 p.m. ET. Additionally, the series will broadcast nationally in Spanish on Vme, the Spanish-language channel on public television, over six consecutive Fridays beginning on September 20.

We’re thrilled to finally have such a comprehensive tool to truly educate our Latino kids, and others, about our heritage in this country. Our history is definitely as varied as we are, but there are so many things that bind us together — language being the main one — and give such rich color to our tapestry.
 

Educational Curriculum in English and Spanish

 
Education continues to be one of the most important issues Latinos in the US face today.  To this end, the LATINO AMERICANS project has a commitment to leverage the stories and content in the series to inspire youth and their families to learn more about their unique cultural heritage, history, and contributions to this nation.  A team of Latino educators developed a rich curriculum that will be available at no cost via the PBSLearningMedia.org web site in September,

A total of 14 multi-media lessons and activities have been developed to enrich the learning experience offered through LATINO AMERICANS:

• Six comprehensive lessons address themes across diverse Latino experiences, communities and events.

• Eight mini-lessons focus on a particular event, experience or community in the story of Latino Americans.

• All 14-lesson modules include supporting materials such as discussion guides and lesson plans, and correlate to the program’s web resources such as timelines and maps.

• Resources for grade 4 through college, with an emphasis on critical thinking and writing skills for grades 6-12 in the areas of social studies and civics.

• Teachers, parents and tutors will be able to search content by grade level, subject area, topic or standard.

• All materials are aligned to relevant Common Core and National Social Studies Standards.

• All content are free and accessible online, as of September 2013, at www.PBSLearningMedia.org .

• Story Share: Teachers and students are invited to construct and share their own stories through the program website’s story sharing interface. 

Here are some easy things your community, school or organization can do to participate:

 
Ask for a complimentary one-on-one coaching session on how to use the content in learning settings or with community groups by emailing LatinosPBS@gmail.com.

Promote broadcast tune-in gatherings at local schools, PTA committees, faith organizations, and other service and nonprofit agencies.

Tweet during the broadcast, #LatinosPBS.

Contact LatinosPBS@gmail.com to obtain video(s) for screenings in your local community.

Upload a 2-minute video about your family, history, Latino pride: http://www.pbs.org/latino-americans/en/

There are 13 different location-based categories to explore, including “En El Parque,” “La Ciudad,” and “La Cocina.” Each category includes a game and a thorough list of activities, broken down by age, that parents can do with kids in each location. I got some great ideas from this app, including how to make up fun rhyming games that are age-appropriate for my son.

Parent notes are included with each game, explaining exactly which literacy and math skills are present in that particular game.

If you’ve covered all the games or you want to let your kids enjoy a cute, relaxing activity, there is a sticker section, where kids can move the characters, animals, and objects around to create their own scenes.

As with all PBS creations, this one is wonderful. It’s a truly unique concept and the fact that it’s in both English and Spanish makes the PBS Parents app the perfect companion to any SpanglishBaby reader’s phone or tablet.

Find PBS Parents Play & Learn/ Play & Learn HD in iTunes and the Amazon Appstore

Available for iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, Kindle Tablet, and Android Phone

Recommended for parents of children ages 0-5

Price: FREE

Check out more from PBS Parents on their website, Facebook, and Twitter.

From our friends over at PBS Kids comes Curious George games en Español!

Here at SpanglishBaby we have been strong advocates and a loud voice expressing to PBS Kids how eager we all are to get more of their quality educational on air and online content in Spanish. It´s great to see these companies taking strides to promote the love of español and language-learning in our kids. Last year we also announce the PBS Kids launch of the Noah Comprende interactive original web series aimed at introducing 6-9 year old children to the Spanish language.

The Curious George show has several on-air episodes which celebrate the Latino culture and traditions through the stories of George´s friend Marco. The great thing about these Curious George games, besides that they are in Spanish, is that they also help our niños with their engineering, math, and science skills.

To play these games click here.

¡Gracias, PBS Kids!

PBS KIDS Lab is a free website from our friends at PBS Kids which offers “more than 50 cross-platform games designed to help children ages 2-8 build critical math skills.” – Now PBS has announced the addition of bilingual translations of parental instructions and resources, activities, and a new blog series with content related to kids and media.

Start out at the PBS Kids Lab in Spanish and from there you can navigate the site.

Click “Todos los juegos” and you’ll be taken to the game page where your child’s favorite characters, such as Curious George, await. While actual game play is still in English, the games are organized into categories such as “habilidades”, “edad”, “dispositivo” and “programa.” Each game also includes a description and the objective written in Spanish.

The “Actividades para hacer en casa” button will take you to crafts and activities to do at home while the “Actividades para hacer en el salón de clase” page is designed for classroom and group activities. Both pages include complete and comprehensive directions in Spanish.

Another great page is their Ideas to Go page – (“Ideas para el camino”), which features over 50 creative ideas on how to incorporate math into your niño’s every day life, whether you’re in the bathtub (durante el baño) or at the zoo (en el zoológico.)

My favorite part of the website was the encouragement offered on the “Actividades Caseras” page:

I think a lot of women and mothers out there are like me – they’re used to thinking of themselves as being “bad with numbers” – but just because math isn’t necessarily your best subject, doesn’t mean you’re incapable of teaching your kids what you do know, and you can even have a little fun while doing it, too.

For more about PBS Kids Lab in Spanish, visit their about page. PBS and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) are partners on this project, which is part of the Ready To Learn Initiative, a U.S. Department of Education-funded effort that aims to help kids build the skills they need for school success.

Tracy López is a writer living outside the D.C. Metro area. Her blog, Latinaish.com, examines cultural differences she discovers as she navigates life in a bicultural, bilingual family. She can also be reached via Twitter @Latinaish.

My girl and I have a ritual every single night to give thanks for our health and all the blessings we receive every day.  Now that she’s four and can grasp more concepts, I’ve started introducing a prayer for all the babies and kids in the world that don’t have a family to care for them, a home to sleep in or food to feed them.  This bit has really impacted my girl because she can’t believe some kids have no toys, families, a home or food. But, it’s very real, and not only across borders, but within our borders, it’s just not quite that visible to us, and much less to them if we don’t expose kids early on to all the realities and shelter them from experiences.

That’s why I was excited to see that Walmart is supporting a very important Sesame Street one hour primetime special called Growing Hope Against Hunger,  airing nationwide on PBS on October 9th at 7:00 PM ET/ PT (check local listings). In addition, a Spanish version of the special will air on October 22nd at 1pm ET/PT on Univision and on October 23rd  at 1pm ET/PT it will air on Telefutura.

Starring Brad Paisley, Kimberly Williams Paisley and the Sesame Street Muppets, Growing Hope Against Hunger will also introduce a new Muppet named Lily whose family has an ongoing struggle with hunger.  Children watching this will witness families’ personal stories to raise awareness of the widespread issue of hunger in the United States, as well as strategies that have helped these families find resources and grow stronger together.

I need my daughter to watch this. I need for her to grasp how ridiculously lucky and blessed she is to get to choose if she wants a quesadilla or chicken soup for dinner. I want her to know her trips to Disneyland and the movies are truly very special and something to be thankful for everyday. I want her to know she’s lucky to not be part of  1 out of 4 children in the U.S that have “limited or uncertain access to affordable and nutritious food.”

With a $1.5 million grant from Walmart, Growing Hope Against Hunger extends the [2010] Food for Thought initiative through the national television broadcast of the new primetime special, the distribution of 35,000 Food for Thought resource kits and following the premiere of the special, 15 screenings will be hosted in select Walmart communities. In May 2010, Walmart committed $2 billion to fighting hunger in the U.S. through 2015 and at the premiere in New York Walmart announced that it will be donating 8,000 pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables to City Harvest, who will distribute it directly into the hands of hungry New Yorkers through open-air, farmer’s market-style distributions in high need communities as well as deliver it to preschool and afterschool programs serving children in need throughout the five boroughs.

Is hunger something you and your children talk about? How do you talk about it?

Disclosure: As part of the Walmart Moms program, SpanglishBaby received compensation and the product to facilitate this post. As always, all stories and opinions are our own.

Image source: khrawlings

Spongebob Squarepants is not good for your 4-year-old’s brain – at least that’s what a new study from the University of Virginia says.

Researchers divided sixty 4-year-olds into three groups. The first group watched a 9-minute clip of Nickelodeon’s SpongeBob SquarePants, the second watched a 9-minute clip of PBS’s Caillou, and the third group drew pictures for nine minutes instead of watching television.

When the nine minutes was up, each group was tested in what psychologists call “executive function.” The results? The group that watched the slower-paced and more educational show Calliou as well as the picture-drawing groups performed equally well while the SpongeBob group scored significantly lower.

“SpongeBob is produced for 6- to 11-year-olds. Four-year-olds are clearly not the intended demographic for this show,” Nickelodeon spokesman David Bittler said in response to the study results.

(Read more about the study: HERE.)

As for me, I felt kind of guilty for all the Spongebob Squarepants I’ve let my children watch when I saw the study – but both my boys are honor roll students, and now that I think about it, I was much more selective in what they watched on TV as preschoolers, being careful to choose only age appropriate shows which I felt were educational and also limiting the amount of time they watched. (They’re currently ages 13 and 9 and I’ve obviously relaxed the rules slightly as they’ve gotten older.)

Choosing slower-paced, more realistic and educational programming for young children is important. Limiting the amount they watch, and creating dialogue about what is on the screen by watching with them is also encouraged. This is particularly true if you’re using television to expose your children to Spanish (or any other second language). While there’s not a lot of quality children programming for bilingual children, we’re lucky to have a variety of options. For some samples of those, you might want to check our Video of the Week category.

We recently had the opportunity to talk about the study and healthy TV watching habits for children with Lesli Rotenberg, VP of Children’s Media at PBS. Below is that interview.

SpanglishBaby: When parents pick a television show for their children to watch, what ideally should they be looking for?

Lesli Rotenberg: At PBS KIDS, we believe that the best shows for kids are educational and entertaining, as well as developmentally appropriate, so those are definitely important elements for parents to look for. We also always want to make sure that the characters in a series are positive role models – trusted guides for kids to look up to and to encourage them to learn and grow.

We have great tips and strategies to help parents make healthy media choices for their kids – from selecting appropriate and educational TV programs, to making the most of your child’s screen time – all available on PBSParents.org.

SB: What qualities do shows that benefit children have?

LR: Parents should look for educational programs that are appropriate for their child’s age and stage of development. Also, it’s important for programs to be research-based and grounded in a solid curriculum that supports learning.

SB: Which shows does PBS have currently in their programming for children which you’re most proud of for their educational value?

LR: We’re proud of all our shows for their educational value and their ability to encourage kids to explore the world around them. For example, SUPER WHY! is a series proven to help children build early reading skills. We also have a number of properties that focus on STEM – science, technology, engineering and math – skills, including CURIOUS GEORGE, THE CAT IN THE HAT KNOWS A LOT ABOUT THAT!, SESAME STREET and DINOSAUR TRAIN.

Parents can find information on all of our series, along with the curricular basis for each and supporting educational activities, on PBSParents.org.

SB: What new shows are you working on?

LR: We’re very excited for our new DANIEL TIGER’S NEIGHBORHOOD series that will be airing starting next fall! It is a new preschool media property that is inspired by the character Daniel Striped Tiger from the classic PBS series MISTER ROGERS’ NEIGHBORHOOD. The series is designed to help kids build the skills they need to be prepared for success in school – from cooperation and listening to handling emotions such as disappointment and anger.

We’re also in the pilot phase of several properties focused on math for preschoolers and early elementary kids.

SB: What are the educational standards PBS KIDS abides by when selecting new programming for kids and how are these taken off-screen?

LR: We take a research-based approach to selecting programming that will not only educate kids, but also really engage them with lovable characters and great storylines. In addition, much of our content is mapped to curriculum frameworks, which we develop to align with current teaching standards. A great example of how extensively we research the educational value of our content is the work we did on several of our literacy series using a Ready To Learn grant from the U.S. Department of Education; you can learn more about this particular project on our PBSKIDS.org website.

We see technology platforms as a new way to deliver educational content. Online, PBSKIDS.org is the go-to location for kids and parents, with a monthly average of 9.3 million unique visitors. And our PBS KIDS mobile apps have been downloaded over 1 million times. We make sure that we offer the highest quality children’s media content across platforms so that kids can interact with their favorite characters wherever they are, and so that anytime can be a learning time.

Off-screen, we have many educational activities based on our show content for kids and parents and teachers to do at home, school or daycare.

SB: How does your children’s programming help support bilingual learners?

LR: As you know, we recently introduced a new web series called NOAH COMPRENDE that introduces children to the Spanish vocabulary as well as simple Spanish phrases. We also just launched the new Little Pim Spanish iPhone app, which introduces children to 60 different Spanish vocabulary words. And we have extensive Spanish language resources for parents.

Can you believe it’s been four decades since Sesame Street first aired? This lovable and reliable educational show has been there to boost our kids education and tackle problems they might be going through, as we’ve mentioned before. Sesame Street’s 42nd season which debuts this September 26 is no exception. Sesame Workshop has lots of new and exciting material for our niños, and, as always, they have their eyes and ears on the look out for what our children need.

So what’s on the agenda for this season? A new curriculum, lots of Spanish fun, a long list of celebrity appearances, and a reliable good doze of laughter to go along.

Their new S-T-E-M curriculum, which is an acronym for science, technology, engineering, and math, focuses on these areas because Sesame Workshop has taken note that this is where U.S. kids are falling behind (yikes!). The S-T-E-M curriculum is really tackling this problem in a couple of ways. Sesame is introducing fun segments and characters like the new furry orange friend Murray in “Murray’s Science Experiments,” and some of our kids favorite characters like Elmo, Oscar, and Abby making observations and taking on hands on activities; all to reinforce our kids to say “Let’s find out!”

Our Sesame Street friends are more curious than ever, encouraging our kids to think critically and take on complex problems, all in the tradition of Sesame’s laughter and learning style. Science and math topics will be addressed throughout the season in street scenes, animations, and live-action films. Like Hubert the Human Cannonball who will visit Sesame Street, and Baby Bear will engineer a launcher for him.

The fun doesn’t end there. They have an incredible line up of celebrities for this season, and, in honor of Hispanic Heritage month, Sesame Street is premiering a special episode “The Latinization of Marco.” This episode will feature Gina teaching her adopted Guatemala-born son about his roots and his heritage language. The special guests teaching Elmo some Spanish words on this episode will be Juanes and Sofía Vergara, teaching the word “baile”, and an appearance of the Ballet Hispanico. How great is that!

Check out this sneak peek of “The Latinization of Marco.”

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wn0_ISsT9z0&feature=youtu.be

Of course, we’ll have to celebrate Sesame Street’s 42nd season with a giveaway! We love giveaways, so we have one DVD set: Sesame Street: 40 Years of Sunny Days for one lucky winner.

THE GIVEAWAY!

This giveaway is now closed. Congratulations to the winner: Shaunda!

We have one Sesame Street: 40 Years of Sunny Days for one lucky winner.

To enter just leave a comment telling us who your favorite Sesame Street character is and why.

That’s all you have to do to enter this giveaway. If you want to up your chances at winning, then this is how you can get additional entries (only after you’ve completed the step above):

**Please leave a separate comment for each so we can count them and avoid mistakes.

1. Subscribe to receive blog updates and subscriber-only content via email and leave us an extra comment letting us know you did so or that you’re already a subscriber. Make sure to leave the comment using the same email you subscribed with.

2. Follow us on Twitter and tweet about this giveaway including a link to the post and @SpanglishBaby. Copy the link to the tweet in an additional comment on the giveaway’s post.

3. Like SpanglishBaby on Facebook and join a thriving community of parents.

This giveaway ends Tuesday, September 13 at midnight EST and is open to everyone over 18 years of age.  Check out the Giveaway Rules.

Can you imagine being taken on an all-access tour that crisscrosses the rich and diverse country of Mexico with the one person that holds the golden master key: the President?  Well, that’s exactly the VIP virtual treatment you will get on September 22nd when PBS broadcasts nationwide Mexico The Royal Tour, hosted by Peter Greenberg.

Greenberg, the nation’s most-respected travel news journalist, has already been on royal tours with the president of Peru, the Prime Ministers of Jamaica and New Zealand and the King of Jordan. This time he’s on his fifth adventure and being led by the hand of Mexico’s President Felipe Calderón who takes Greenberg on an adventurous and culture-filled journey through the beloved country.

By the looks of the trailer, The Royal Tour was a massive production just by the sheer fact that the President had to travel with Greenberg and his production crew for a total of two weeks.  Calderón makes use of this time to give viewers some amazing access to places we would normally have no access to, such as inside a pyramid to discover its hidden and ancient treasures.

The Royal Tour also gives us a glimpse into the flesh and blood life of the leader of Mexico.  We see President Calderón zip line across a rain forest, scuba dive into cenotes (sinkholes) in Yucatan, whale watch in Baja California, rappel hundreds of feet deep into dark caves in San Luis Potosí, and climb almost 100 steps onto the top of a pyramid in Chichen Itzá.

This is a Mexico most of us haven´t seen, until now. Don´t miss it. Mark your calendars and your recording devices to the premiere episode this Thursday, September 22nd on your local PBS station or on September 23 on Vme if you want to catch it with Spanish subtitles.

Meanwhile, watch the trailer and get as excited as we are:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-nhlnrT384

Disclosure: I am being compensated for my work in creating and managing content as a Community Manager for the México Today Program.  All stories, opinions and passion for all things México shared here  and everywhere are completely my own.

How cute is this video?  My daughter couldn´t stop smiling when I played it for her and started laughing when she heard him saying the few words he knows en español.

I shot this video this weekend during the PBS portion of the Television Critics Association Press Tour in Los Angeles.

In the video you get to see Elmo´s puppeteer and creator, Kevin Clash.  They were presenting a very special and award-winning documentary, Being Elmo:  A Puppeteer´s Journey, which will air on Independent Lens on PBS this coming season.

I didn´t get a chance to attend the preview of the film, but from clips I´ve seen and from hearing Kevin Clash speak about it this weekend I gathered it´s a highly inspirational film about a boy driven by a dream, a calling, and how he overcame skepticism and criticism to make it real.  This man is living his dream to its fullest potential and I can tell you it´s noticeable in his face.  No wonder Elmo has charmed the world.

Share:  How has Elmo had a presence in your life?

CG: (R) & (C) 2010 Universal Studios and/or HMH. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. PBS KIDS (R) Public Broadcasting Service. FOR PROMOTIONAL USE ONLY

Growing up, Spanish was my native tongue and I was learning English at a bilingual school and during trips to Houston to visit my dad.  For some reason, I always preferred reading in English. I clearly remember spending hours reading and reading the classic Curious George book. There was no TV show or George movies back then, he only existed as an illustration by H.A.  and Margret Ray.

Over 30 years later, my daughter is now also a Curious George fan, but, not only can she see him in a book, she can now interact with him and watch him come alive on the screen on thanks to WGBH and PBS KIDS GO!

Our favorite mono is now celebrating Latina moms and our heritage with a special episode airing this Friday, May 6th called “Mother’s Day Surprise.” In this episode we get to see George and his Latino friend Marco learn how to make a piñata, or as close as they can get to one, to celebrate Marco´s mami. My daughter was actually surprised when she saw the show and heard Marco say “Mami.” She turned to me with a proud smile and said: “¡Dijo Mami!” That right there proved to me how well she can already separate both languages at 3 years of age and how proud she is of speaking español.

“This Mother’s Day, we’ll continue Season 5’s exploration of the social sciences by showing kids how Marco and his family celebrate El Dia de la Madre,” says WGBH Executive Producer Dorothea Gillim.  “We hope that through George’s adventures, kids will be inspired to explore their own family’s customs.”

Here’s a preview of the “Mother’s Day Surprise” episode where George and Marco are trying to figure out how to make a piñata.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7N4h-mtaPfc&feature=player_embedded

Visit pbskids.org/curiousgeorge/ for showtimes, fun videos, printables and games, including a new piñata game coming very soon!

Moms Celebrating Moms Twitter Party #CuriousGeorgeMoms

Check out this fun and prize-filled Twitter party to celebrate  moms and this special Curious George episode.

• What: Bilingual Twitter Party brought to you by Curious George

• When: Thursday, May 5th

• Time: 1pm EST/10am PST

• Topic: Moms Celebrating Moms

• Where: On Twitter with the Hashtag #CuriousGeorgeMoms. You can also use this customized TweetGrid (or TweetChat, Hootsuite, Tweetdeck, etc) to follow all the action from the 6 co-hosts at once.

• Hosts: @Ohmariana, @mamalatina, @thoughtsofamomy, @Tracy_Iglesias. Moderated by @LBConnect. Special Guest: @DorotheaGillim

• Prizes: Three winners will pamper themselves with a $100 gift certificate from Aveda.com

Click here to RSVP and send a tweet to invite your friends to join!

Disclosure: SpanglishBaby did not receive compensation to write this post. However, I do have a client relationship with WGBH as Latina Bloggers Connect. All opinions expressed here are my own.