Masterpiece: Elizabeth is Missing

Air Date: Sunday, January 3 at 8pm on 9.1 Stream Episode Here from 1/3-1/16

Grades 6-12

• Brain Geography
  This interactive feature from the NOVA: Coma website shows you how to make a model of the brain, using just your hands, a ball, and a pencil. With your newfound knowledge of brain anatomy and function, you will then diagnose the types of head injuries your patients have, given the specific symptoms each presents.
  
  
• Giving Voice Chorus Video and Giving Voice Chorus Activity
  Giving Voice Chorus is a unique chorale ensemble for people living with Alzheimer’s disease, their care partners and volunteers. Learn about the power of music to transcend illness and build community.

American Portrait: I Dream

Air Date: Tuesday, January 5 at 8pm on 9.1 Stream Episode Here
*Available for 2 weeks after air date.

Grades 6-12

• American Portrait: “You Don't Know What It's Like To..." and Viewing Guide
  Through video, photo, and text submissions, Sevdah, Grace, and Nubian share how factors in their lives have influenced who they are today. Choose one of their stories and identify what those factors are, analyze how those factors have impacted their present life and predict how their future life might be impacted by those factors. Then: Share your story! What factors in your early life are impacting who you are today? How did those factors shape you? How do you think they will continue to affect you in the future? After participating in a class discussion, create your own video, image or text to complete the prompt, “You don’t know what it’s like to…”. Students 13 years and older may upload their creations to the PBS American Portrait Showcase.
  
  
• American Portrait Mindfulness Activity Building Classroom Community with American Portrait: A Month of Mindfulness and Student Empowerment and Month of Mindfulness Choice Board Bring PBS' American Portrait, a national storytelling project, into your classroom this school-year! Through the use of weekly prompts, and exemplar submissions from across the nation, you and your students will be able to partake in a series of classroom discussions and journaling activities that will aid in fostering a strong classroom community. Choose a prompt from the provided options each week.

SciGirls: Going Green

Air Date: Wednesday, January 6 at 11am on 9.2 Stream Episode Here

Grades PreK-4

• Curious George: Going Green
• Curious George Going Green Handout
  George transforms his "junk" collection into a work of art and helps his friends become the winners of Pretty City Day in this video excerpt from Curious George: Junky Monkey. In the accompanying lesson plan, children make boats with materials that might have otherwise been discarded. In sailing their boats, they also learn about how air can make objects move.
  

Grades 5-8

• SciGirls: Going Green
• SciGirls: Scientific Inquiry Process
• SciGirls Seven
  The SciGirls are concerned about the amount of items being thrown in the trash vs. what items are being recycled at lunchtime in their school. They watch students as they are cleaning up and notice a problem. This video is available in both English and Spanish audio.

All Creatures Great and Small: Episode 1

Series Air Date: Sunday, January 10 at 8pm on 9.1 (series airs on Sundays, starting January 10 at 8pm)
Stream Episode Here * Available for 2 weeks after air date.

Grades K-5

• Guess How Whales Hear!
  What does the ocean sound like to a whale? How do whales hear? Dr. Darlene Ketten of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution really wanted to know. This video segment reveals how one marine biologist used the scientific process to learn more about what and how whales hear.
  

Grades 6-12

• Duck Development
  Explore the development of a duck embryo, from its earliest stages just after fertilization, through cell replication and differentiation, to the final stage, emergence from the protection of the eggshell in this video segment from NOVA: "The Shape of Things".
  
  
• Nature Excerpt: The Emotional Lives of Animals
  Using scientific research and stories from the field, Dr. Marc Bekoff reveals the rich emotional lives of animals. Read an excerpt from Bekoff's book The Emotional Lives of Animals.
  
  

American Portrait: I Work

Air Date: Tuesday, January 12 at 8pm on 9.1 Stream Episode Here * Available for 2 weeks after air date.

Grades 6-12

• American Portrait: In This Together: Storytelling Activity
  Quick Take: Produce a 1-3 minute video or written piece shedding light on your day-to-day life during the COVID-19 pandemic. Note: Students 13 years and older may submit their final projects to PBS American Portrait. There is a 1-minute time cap for videos on the platform.
  
  
• American Portrait Mindfulness Activity
  Bring PBS' American Portrait, a national storytelling project, into your classroom this school-year! Through the use of weekly prompts, and exemplar submissions from across the nation, you and your students will be able to partake in a series of classroom discussions and journaling activities that will aid in fostering a strong classroom community. Choose a prompt from the provided options each week.
  

All Creatures Great and Small: Episode 2

Air Date: Sunday, January 17 at 8pm on 9.1 Stream Episode Here * Available for 2 weeks after air date.

Grades 4-6

• Dragonfly TV: Baby Animals
• DragonflyTV How to Guide
  Matt, Kyndal, and Danny head to the zoo to find out what grows fastest: a chick, a pig, or a cow? They measure the birth weights of all three animals and then track their growth for six weeks. They find that the cow gained the most pounds, but the chick multiplied its own weight the most times.
  

Grades 6-12

• Wild Animal Rehabilitation
  See how volunteers care for sick or injured animals, and learn why human interaction is not always the best solution in this video adapted from Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. Included are stories of animals successfully returned to the wild as well as animals that couldn't be helped. The video explains how continued real estate development, accidents, and plain cruelty all contribute to the cases seen at rescue hospitals and why proper care is best administered by trained professionals. This video is available in both English and Spanish audio, along with corresponding closed captions.
  
  
  

American Masters: How It Feels to Be Free

Air Date: Monday, January 18 at 8pm on 9.1 Stream Episode Here

Grades 6-12

• Trailblazers Bio Cards: Arts and Sciences
• Note Catcher
  Utilize this media gallery, and support materials to celebrate extraordinary trailblazing women with your students.

American Portrait: I Keep

Air Date: Tuesday, January 19 at 8pm on 9.1 Stream Episode Here

Grades 6-12

• American Portrait: Family of Us
  After screening the program, or select clips if short for time, students will engage in a conversation (in-person or virtually) about what family is, what family means, and how a person’s concept of family might expand or shift with time. Students will reflect on their own family experiences and consider the qualities and traditions that define their families, whether biological or chosen. Students will work to expand their understanding of family through the stories presented in the clips above, guided discussion, and supplemental reading. To culminate, students will have the opportunity to create media sharing a meaningful story about their own family. Students’ stories add a critical perspective to our growing and more nuanced conversations about family and home. Students 13 years and older may share their stories to the PBS American Portrait platform.
  
  
• American Portrait Mindfulness Activity
  Bring PBS' American Portrait, a national storytelling project, into your classroom this school-year! Through the use of weekly prompts, and exemplar submissions from across the nation, you and your students will be able to partake in a series of classroom discussions and journaling activities that will aid in fostering a strong classroom community. Choose a prompt from the provided options each week.
  

Wild Weather

Air Date: Wednesday, January 20 at 1pm on 9.2

Grades K-2

• Evidence of Weather Interactive Drawing Tool
  Observe and annotate various images of weather phenomena in this interactive drawing tool produced by WGBH. Weather is the combination of various factors—snow or rain, wind, sunlight and clouds, and temperature—that happen in a specific location at a specific time. As the combination of factors constantly shift, the condition changes and leaves behind evidence that shows how the weather has changed. Students can use the images in this interactive tool to observe weather conditions and document evidence of weather that happened earlier in the day. In English and Spanish.
  

Grades 3-5

• NOVA: Clouds in Weather Patterns
  Learn about factors, such as wind, moisture, temperature, and air pressure, at a regional level that help produce the weather that people experience locally. This video provides students with the opportunity to visualize a phenomenon that is too big and too remote to experience in a classroom. Students learn about weather patterns over time and space, which can be used to predict upcoming weather. Support materials include: Background Reading, Teaching Tips, and Discussion Questions. In English and Spanish.
  

Grades 6-12

• NOVA: Clouds and Weather
  Learn about the relationships among the Sun, clouds, and weather in this video excerpt from NOVA's Cloud Lab. The Sun heats Earth's surface unevenly, driving global weather patterns that carry heat and humidity around the world. Differences in air pressure result in wind, causing air masses with different temperature and humidity to move. Clouds and powerful storms can form at a frontal boundary, where two air masses meet. For example, the uplift of warm, humid air over cold, dense air can create strong thunderstorms. Studying atmospheric conditions on a large scale can help forecast local and regional weather as well as the global climate. This video is available in both English and Spanish audio, along with corresponding closed captions.

All Creatures Great and Small: Episode 3

Air Date: Sunday, January 24 at 8pm on 9.1 Stream Episode Here

Grades 3-12

• Cloud the Horse
  This video segment from Nature chronicles several years of Cloud’s life documented and narrated by Emmy-winning producer/director, Ginger Kathrens. Cloud, a young horse, moves in a band of wild horses (a group or family of horses that travels together) in the Arrowhead Mountains of southern Montana.
  

Grades 4-8

• Dragonfly TV: Horse Ears
• Horse Ears Activity
  Ting and Mallory love horses. Not only do they ride horses, they also train them. Ting wanted to know if her horse would respond better to training if she communicated in a horse-like way.
  

Grades 6-12

• Horse Whisperers
  Some "horse whisperers," like Mark Rashid, specialize in helping riders and trainers communicate with their horses. Good communication helps improve a horse's behavior.

Decoding the Weather Machine

Air Date: Monday, January 25 at 11am on 9.2

Grades 3-8

• Why Does Climate Change Matter?
  Hear young Native Americans talk about climate change. Listen as they respond to the question, "Why does climate change matter?" They share their opinions about the importance of climate; their thoughts on how climate change is affecting weather, oceans, and ice; and their fears about the impacts for future generations.
  

Grades 6-12

• Climate Change
  Weather is notoriously unpredictable. From one moment to the next, any of dozens of atmospheric variables can change to create a new weather event. In contrast, climate descriptions, which identify average and normal temperatures and precipitation levels, tend to be perceived as stable, at least over time scales that humans can easily relate to. However, that hasn't always been the case. This video segment adapted from NOVA describes climate data that suggest the Earth has undergone dramatic climate shifts in relatively short spans of time.

American Portrait: I Rise

Air Date: Tuesday, January 26 at 8pm on 9.1 Stream Episode Here

Grades 6-12

• American Portrait: My Story Started When
• Student Poetry Interactive
  Calling all writers and poets! Whether your family is indigenous or has recently arrived to the United States, everyone's got an American origin story. What's yours? According to US Poet Laureate Joy Harjo, “Without poetry, we lose our way.” How could you use poetry and your powers of creation to describe your own American story? Try your hand at writing a haiku, six-word story, or original poem in response to the prompt: "My American story started when..."
  
  
• American Portrait Mindfulness Activity
  Bring PBS' American Portrait, a national storytelling project, into your classroom this school-year! Through the use of weekly prompts, and exemplar submissions from across the nation, you and your students will be able to partake in a series of classroom discussions and journaling activities that will aid in fostering a strong classroom community. Choose a prompt from the provided options each week.

Wild Metropolis: Residents

Air Date: Wednesday, January 27 at 12pm on 9.2

Grades K-2

• Animals and Plants Can Live in a City: Plum Landing
  Guide students as they explore how animals and plants meet their basic needs in a city, with help from Plum and her friends from PLUM LANDING. In this interactive lesson, students learn that animals need air, food, water, and shelter, while plants need air, sunlight, and water. Students watch videos and engage with drawing and sorting activities to reinforce their learning. This lesson is designed for teachers to present to students.
  

Grades 3-8

• City Pigeons
  In this video segment from WILD TV, we learn that pigeons were domesticated around 4500 B.C. and used to deliver messages in the days of Caesar. They were brought to North America in 1606. While pigeons are wild animals, they rely on humans for their survival in cities. Many pigeons thrive in urban centers by eating scrap foods from people. Historically, pigeons made their homes in cliffs on the European coasts but today they can be found living in the eaves and on ledges of tall buildings. They have an incredible homing instinct, which means they can fly far away and still find their way back to their home.
  

Grades 6-12

• Raccoons and the City
  This video segment from Nature: "Raccoon Nation" explores the migration of raccoons to cities and discusses traits that help them thrive in urban environments, including their flexible hands, small body size and omnivorous diet. The segment describes why raccoons are well suited for living in cities, as well as how raccoons have changed and possibly gotten smarter from living in urban settings. The segment discusses the dramatic increase in urban raccoon populations in the past 70 years, as well as the fact that raccoons have changed more in that time period than in the previous 40,000 years. This video is available in both English and Spanish audio, along with corresponding closed captions.

For more resources tied to the American Portrait Series please see the KLRN blogpost here. Also, don’t forget to visit the KLRN events page for the most recent calendar of professional development opportunities.