Latino Americans: Empire of Dreams
Air Date: Tuesday, December 1 at 3pm on 9.2 or stream episode here
Grade 3-7
Cesar Chavez: Labor Leader and Civil Rights Activist: Video (for grades 3-7)
Cesar Chavez: Labor Leader and Civil Rights Activist: Lesson (for grades 3-7)
In this lesson, students will learn about the remarkable organizational skills of Cesar Chavez. In addition to watching a biographical video, they will analyze a photograph of Chavez during a protest against grape growers, and they will read a speech in which Chavez reflects on the accomplishments of the farm workers’ movement. They will then evaluate how Chavez’s tactics could be adapted to a current day labor-related issue.
Grade 6-9
Latino Americans Share Their Experiences
Students examine the challenges that three Latino Americans faced and overcame as they achieved success in their careers. This interactive lesson introduces students to playwright Lin-Manuel Miranda, actor Judy Reyes, and astronaut José Hernández through interviews from MARIA HINOJOSA: ONE-ON-ONE. Students ultimately consider how the life experiences and achievements these individuals describe helped shape how they identify as Americans in the 21st-century United States.
Grades 10-12
Latin American Immigration and the Importance of Food: Pupusas: Your Story, Our Story
In this activity, use an image and personal essay from the Your Story, Our Story website to learn about Central American migration through the lens of a grandmother looking for a better life for her family.
John Denver: Country Roads
Air Date: Tuesday, December 1 at 8:30pm on 9.1
Grades K-10
Stained Glass in the Style of Chris Dutch
Use glue, chalk, and paper to create "stained glass" art by following the steps in this demonstration video.
Grades 5-12
The Artistry of Charly Hamilton
Examine the career of visual artist Charly Hamilton. The content coordinates with the video and lesson plan "Zany Human and Animal Portraits in the Style of Charly Hamilton".
Grades 5-12
Zany Portraits in the Style of Charly Hamilton
Learn to create your own art in the style of Charly Hamilton by following the steps modeled in this demonstration video.
Generation Nation: A PBS American Portrait Story
Air Date: Wednesday, December 9 at 4pm on 9.2 or stream episode here
Grades 6-12
Generation Nation: Self-Reflection & Interviewing Activity
A PBS American Portrait Story explores how people in different age groups, from adolescents to seniors, see themselves and their place in the United States. It reveals the common experiences that bind people together within and across age groups and the generational differences that can put us at odds with one another. In these activities created by two young journalists and recent PBS NewsHour Student Reporting Labs alumni, students will draw inspiration from the program to complete a self-reflection about their life, goals, and anxieties. Students 13 years or older are encouraged to share their responses to PBS American Portrait and/or on social media. Next, students will interview people in their lives from different generations, practicing Covid-safe social distancing measures while doing so. Students will have the opportunity to compare their own reflections to those of the people they interview, and consider if the experience of interviewing peers and elders has caused any of their personal responses to change.
Nature: Santa’s Wild Home
Air Date: Wednesday, December 9 at 7pm on 9.1 or stream episode here
Grades 5-12
Art to Preserve Culture and History: Sami-Inspired Bracelets
In this media gallery, which includes videos and a lesson plan, the question is asked, how can art be used to preserve culture and tradition? Artist Norma Refsal explains the steps to creating a Sámi-inspired bracelet. Keep in mind that making a Sámi-inspired bracelet is far more complex than the final product appears!
Climate Change: The Facts
Air Date: Wednesday, December 16 at 12pm on 9.2 Stream Episode Clips Here
Grades 3-12
Climate Change is Changing When Plants Grow
Use this media gallery from Climate Central to explore how climate change is shifting growing seasons across the country. In the accompanying classroom activity, students can use the video and interactive as a starting point to explore how ecological relationships shift when one member of the ecosystem is affected by climate change. Students analyze data from various states and create a graph exploring changes in growing seasons in the accompanying teaching tips.
Grades 6-12
In this lesson with an accompanying video from Clue into Climate, produced by KQED, students will learn about the greenhouse effect and find out how scientists use data collected from ice cores to study climate change. Increasing greenhouse gases are contributing to global warming, which is changing our climate. With this video and accompanying lesson, find out how scientists use data collected from ice cores to study climate change.
NOVA: Einstein’s Quantum Riddle
Air Date: Wednesday, Dec 16 at 8pm on 9.1 or stream episode here
Grades 9-12
Quantum Entanglement: Einstein's Quantum Riddle
Conceptualize quantum entanglement, the idea that particles can instantaneously influence each other even when they are spatially separated, in this video from NOVA: Einstein’s Quantum Riddle. Use this resource to visualize the idea of the Einstein–Podolsky–Rosen (EPR) paradox, or quantum entanglement, and to provide opportunities to communicate explanations.
Grades 4-6
States of Matter: Science Trek
This episode of IdahoPTV's Science Trek defines matter as anything that takes up space and has weight. You will see examples of different kinds of matter and learn that matter can have a physical change but not change its chemical make-up.
NOVA: First Man on the Moon
Air Date: Wednesday, Dec23 at 1pm on 9.2
Grades PreK-2
The Right Stuff: Moon Landing Game
As one team working together, kids complete engineering and design challenges and learn interesting facts about the first Moon landing and other human accomplishments in space. Do you have “The Right Stuff” to cross the lunar landscape?
Grades 3-12
"Exploration at its best" is how astronaut Dave Scott described his experience as he stepped onto the Moon on July 30, 1971. The Moon is probably not humankind's final frontier. However, more than 30 years after the completion of the last mission to the Moon, the Apollo missions still stand out as six of the most ambitious and heroic voyages in exploration history. These interactive images from NOVA provide panoramic views of each of the six Apollo landing sites and offer a hint of what astronauts faced on the surface of the Moon.
Nature: Snowbound Animals of Winter
Air Date: Wednesday, December 23 at 7pm on 9.1 or stream episode here 12/23-1/11
Grades 5-9
Learn what animals live in the arctic region and how they have adapted to this inhospitable environment, in this excerpt from NATURE: Invasion of the Killer Whales. Students use video, text-dependent questions, teaching tips, and handouts to gain a thorough understanding of arctic animal adaptations.
Grades 6-12
In this video from the PBS series NATURE, a troop of snow monkeys raises their young in the forests of Japan. Snow monkey babies learn valuable survival skills by observing their mothers and other troop members.
NOVA: Decoding the Great Pyramid
Air Date: Monday, December 28 at 11am on 9.2 or stream episode here
Grades 3-12
How the Ancient Egyptian Pyramids Were Built
Explore how and why the pyramids were built in ancient Egypt and analyze the architectural breakthroughs necessary to build ever-larger pyramids and the religious purpose for building them in these two video segments from NOVA: This Old Pyramid. Pyramids were more than monuments for the people who built them; they were doorways to the afterlife for the pharaoh.
Grades 5-8
Building the Pyramids of Ancient Egypt
In this blended lesson supporting literacy skills, students learn how historians think the pyramids were built and why they were built—as doorways to the afterlife for the pharaohs. Students develop their literacy skills as they explore a social studies focus on ancient Egyptian society and how those at the top organized the rest of the population in order to build these amazing structures. During this process, they read informational text, learn and practice vocabulary words, and explore content through videos and interactive activities.
Anne of Green Gables
Air Date: Tuesday, December 29 at 8:30pm on 9.1
Grades 3-8
Anne of Green Gables: Anne's First Day of School
Everyone’s first day of school can be a nervous and exciting experience, but rarely does it end with breaking a chalkboard on someone else’s head. Take a step into this small Canadian classroom and see how Anne deals with distracting classmates. One of the most iconic scenes from L. M. Montgomery’s work is brought to life in this excerpt from L. M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables: The Good Stars.
Anne of Green Gables: Anne's First Taste of Ice Cream
Watch as a Victorian summer picnic comes alive in this clip of L. M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables: The Good Stars. See how the clip introduces a new character Gilbert Blythe, and follow along with Anne's introduction to a new treat: ice cream.