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PBS Educator Resources | November 2022

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by
Ian Cruz
• Published on
PBS LearningMedia: Native American Heritage Collection
KLRN Education

Dear Friends,

This month, we honor our military families and Native American heritage. We invite you to watch these and so many other outstanding PBS programs which teach and inspire us, including these programs (click on the links to learn about when and where to use these programs):  Native America, First Civilizations, Finding Your Roots, Elvis and the USS Arizona, and New Leash on Life: K9s for Warriors Story.

Thank you to Firstmark Credit Union for their sponsorship of educator training sessions. Please learn more about upcoming sessions and events at klrn.org/events.

On PBS Learning Media, you can find thousands of high-quality educational resources for all grade levels for free! Setting up an account is easy to do (and completely free!) Visit https://klrn.pbslearningmedia.org/signup/ and you can sign up with your email in just a few easy steps: enter your first and last name, email address, and create a password, and you are all set to access any of the over  30,000 state standards-aligned educational resources for free! Some highlighted collections we recommend this month are: 

Soldiers, Veterans, and War in American Life (Grades 3-12) These videos, images, and media-rich lesson plans allow you to bring stories from the battlefront into American history, world history, and health classrooms. Compare veterans’ recounted memories of World War II and Vietnam to understand how these wars shaped American culture. Analyze artifacts and oral histories that reveal important experiences of a nation during times of conflict. Use recent veterans’ personal stories to engage in a discussion of how the choice to become a soldier and the experience of serving relate to personal values and goals.

 

Student Reporting Labs: Military Families (Grades 6-12) This Daily News Story from PBS NewsHour Extra was created on November 11th, 2013. On Veterans Day, most Americans think of the men and women in uniform. But military life also has a huge effect on their children.

Sitting Bull | Spiritual Leader and Military Leader (Grades 3-8) In this lesson, students will learn about Sitting Bull’s determination to protect Native American land and culture in the face of Westward Expansion and the overwhelming power of the US military. After viewing a video about his life, students will examine an 1885 photograph of Sitting Bull and read excerpts of his description of the Battle of Little Bighorn. The lesson concludes with students imagining a dialogue between Sitting Bull and a more cautious counterpart.

Military (Grades 6-12) Programs relating to the military in the West Virginia @ 150 video series are included in this collection. They include Woody Williams, WV Reserve Units in Iraq, USS West Virginia, and Chuck Yeager.

Native American Heritage Collection (Grades 3-12) Take a look at Indigenous art, history, and culture as told through the historians, artists, students, and scientists in this featured resource collection.

Before There Were Parks: Yellowstone & Glacier through Native Eyes (Grades 6-12) From time immemorial the lands we now call Yellowstone and Glacier have been regarded by Native Americans as significant and sacred. In this unique film, more than a dozen of these leaders and experts from all across the region offer a respectful introduction to the knowledge that tribal people have passed down here for at least the past 12,000 years. Viewers will discover why Glacier and Yellowstone are so important to American Indians—for reasons far beyond their recent status as National Parks.

Where Words Touch the Earth (Grades 3-12) Students from American Indian Tribal Colleges interview Elders, other students, and community members to provide a Native American perspective on climate change and its effects on their communities.

 

The Warrior Tradition (Grades K-12) Native Americans enlist and serve in the U.S. military at rates that proportionally far exceed every other ethnic group. The Warrior Tradition explores the many and varied reasons why Native Americans have chosen to fight on behalf of the U.S. throughout history. These curriculum materials include lesson plans for grades 2 through 12, a discussion guide, and a classroom poster that will help students learn about Native American culture, traditions, and history. The lesson plans are aligned to the National Curriculum Standards for Social Studies. Thematic Strands cover a variety of topics, such as examining culture, defining the word “warrior,” Navajo Code Talkers, honoring soldiers, and warrior women.

Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr.: (Grades 3-12) The basic drive to discover who we are and where we come from is at the core of the PBS series Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Alphonse Fletcher University Professor at Harvard University and director of the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research. Today's most compelling personalities discover the surprising stories buried within their own families in Finding Your Roots. In sharing their stories, Finding Your Roots uses every tool available, from cutting- edge DNA research to old-school genealogical sleuthing, to reveal long-buried secrets about our guests' ancestors. Each episode, audiences learn about guests’ ancestors. Together, the arc of each guest’s family personalizes history while emphasizing the human connections that unite everyone. 

U.S. History:This Collection is growing all the time! Expand students’ understanding of U.S. History with culturally inclusive resources that bring the major people, events, and trends in history alive, while integrating often untold stories into the curriculum. Curated clips of trusted PBS programs and a diverse array of other media and interactive resources develop students’ historical thinking skills while broadening their appreciation of history’s multiple perspectives and complexity. The Collection is being added to and will include resources in all Eras and Skills by November 2022. Please come back to see the Collection grow! 

 

 

KLRN’s The Healthy Kids Project: (Grades PreK-2) The Healthy Kids Project uses song, movement, and animation in ten engaging lessons that support healthy choices and attitudes--teaching not only successful actions (limiting refined sugar, choosing water as a beverage, choosing fresh foods over processed foods), but also successful strategies (valuing the body, not letting past mistakes impede future success, taking one step at a time toward a goal, helping others to make good choices.) Each lesson contains a 60-second video and is accompanied by an overview, lesson plan and student activity. It’s a turnkey kit for teachers to impart critical life lessons about health, without taking time away from core subjects.

Watt Watchers: (All Grades) Watt Watchers of Texas is a state-sponsored STEM program to help boost energy literacy for K-12 students and help schools save money by saving energy. Through the program, students, teachers, and families will have access to energy saving tips, activities, and lessons. Launched in 1985, Watt Watchers of Texas is an updated resource that builds upon the original beloved program and provides a modern look at energy, sustainability and conservation.

DPLA Primary Source Sets: (Grades 6-12) Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) Primary Source Sets are designed to help students develop critical thinking skills by exploring topics in history, literature, and culture through primary sources. Drawing online materials from libraries, archives, and museums across the United States, the sets use letters, photographs, posters, oral histories, video clips, sheet music, and more. Each set includes a topic overview, ten to fifteen primary sources, links to related resources, and a teaching guide. These sets were created and reviewed by the teachers on the DPLA's Education Advisory Committee.

As always, at the bottom of this post, you will find a list of links of organizations, both local and nationally, that provide mental health resources. Please know that the world is nicer because you are in it. Reach out to us anytime at education@klrn.org. 

With appreciation,

KLRN Education Team

 

Mental Health Resources

If you or someone you know is hurting or in crisis, call or text 988 or visit 988lifeline.org to reach the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline