This week on our WCTE Get Ready To Learn radio show, host Cynthia Whittaker Putman welcomes Jodi Pitts, Director of Engagement and Education.
First, they talk about MOLLY OF DENALI, an animated series that premiered earlier this summer on PBS stations, the 24/7 PBS KIDS channel and PBS KIDS digital platforms.
Produced by WGBH Boston, MOLLY OF DENALI is an action-adventure comedy that follows the adventures of feisty and resourceful 10-year-old Molly Mabray, an Alaska Native girl. MOLLY OF DENALI is the first nationally distributed children’s series in the U.S. to feature an Alaska Native lead character. Molly helps her mom and dad run the Denali Trading Post, a general store, bunkhouse, and transport hub in the fictional village of Qyah, Alaska. Each episode follows Molly, her dog Suki and her friends Tooey and Trini on their daily adventures in Alaska, from fishing to building snow forts to delivering a camera to friends on a volcano via dog sled.
MOLLY OF DENALI is designed to help kids ages 4-8 develop knowledge and skills for interacting with informational texts through video content, interactive games, and real-world activities. A foundational aspect of literacy education, informational texts are designed to convey information, and include written words, images, and oral language. In each episode, Molly’s life and adventures are enhanced, illuminated, and broadened by using and creating a variety of informational texts, including books, online resources, field guides, historical archives, indigenous knowledge from elders, maps, charts, posters, photos, and more.
The next new show from PBS KIDS is XAVIER RIDDLE AND THE SECRET MUSEUM which will premiere on Monday, November 11, 2019. Based on the children’s book series Ordinary People Change the World by New York Times bestselling author Brad Meltzer and illustrator Christopher Eliopoulos, the series will introduce kids to inspiring historical figures and the character virtues that helped them succeed.
XAVIER RIDDLE AND THE SECRET MUSEUM takes a fresh and accessible approach to teaching kids ages 4-7 about important historical figures and the experiences that shaped their lives, while exploring social emotional concepts and character traits such as courage, resilience, and setting and accomplishing goals.
The series follows the adventures of Xavier Riddle, his sister Yadina and their friend Brad. In each episode, the three face a problem and must turn to the Secret Museum to help them solve it. The Secret Museum allows the three friends to travel back in time to meet real-life historical figures when they were kids.
Each episode is designed to help young viewers make the connection between the attributes that made each historical figure a hero and those same qualities within themselves, helping them to recognize their unlimited potential.
“At PBS KIDS, we always want children to see themselves in our characters,” said Linda Simensky, newly named Head of Content for PBS KIDS. “XAVIER RIDDLE AND THE SECRET MUSEUM aligns with this commitment, showing kids that they can be change-makers through the relatable stories of history’s most iconic figures. We hope that it will help kids across America discover that anyone can change the world.”
To learn more about these and other PBS KIDS programs, visit https://pbskids.org/everything/.
