At KUED, we use the power of public television to engage your mind and enrich your life. KUED is Utah's premiere public broadcasting station, providing the full PBS schedule and serving the entire population of Utah plus parts of four surrounding states with programs 24 hours a day. We are a vital community resource, producing and broadcasting high-quality commercial-free programs and valuable community outreach projects that educate, enlighten and entertain.

Description:
Ready To Learn: A KUED Educational Outreach Literacy Initiative

In an ongoing effort to help parents become more involved in their children’s education and support educators become more adept at utilizing 21st century media skills in the classroom, KUED offers special programs, activities, and resources to Utah communities through the Ready to Learn program.

The initiative uses award-winning PBS children’s television programs as a springboard to bolster children’s literacy, strengthen families, increase library usage, and encourage parental and early childhood educator involvement in children’s education. Through the Ready to Learn initiative, KUED strives to increase literacy levels and promote success in school and in life for Utah’s children and families – with the goal that all children enter school ready to learn.

For more than a decade, tens of thousands of Utah children and families have benefited from KUED’s early childhood educational programs, resources and services. Although most of the activities target at-risk children in Salt Lake County and the surrounding metropolitan areas, many resources and services extend throughout the state.

The Need

The state of Utah has some very unique early childhood education challenges, with more than 400,000 children under the age of nine (20% of the state’s total population), and 18% of children under the age of five living in poverty (40,845 children). Utah is one of 12 states that do not provide state funding for preschool. KUED is well positioned to help address this need.

Every week, KUED provides more than 50 hours of non-violent, commercial-free, educational programs to Utah children. Our daily broadcasts include award-winning PBS KIDS programs such as Arthur, Postcards from Buster, Dragon Tales, Clifford, Between the Lions, Reading Rainbow and Sesame Street. Newer programs include Curious George, Dinosaur Train and Sid the Science Kid which are focusing on the current emphasis on STEM curriculum Locally, KUED uses these programs as a backdrop to work with a wide range of community partners to provide literacy activities and workshops, and offer a host of educational resources.

The PBS philosophy is to make a positive impact on the lives of children through curriculum-based entertainment. PBS programs leverage a spectrum of media, technology, and community to build knowledge, critical thinking skills, imagination and curiosity. Providing the highest quality programming and learning environment for children, PBS children’s programs are non-violent, age-appropriate and offer positive role models for children to learn from and grow with. The programs and online resources teach problem-solving skills and teamwork, promote hands-on exploration through science and math-related play, encourage inquiry and curiosity, and reinforce general reading and math skills. In the changing digital children’s media landscape, commercial content providers view children primarily as “consumers in the making.” KUED views children as “citizens in the making.”





Educational Outreach Activities & Resources

Building on the strength of PBS children’s programs, supported with funding from the DOE and CPB, KUED provides a number of community activities and services to involve parents, teachers, caregivers and librarians as learning partners to empower children for success in school and in life.

Parental Involvement and Early Childhood Educator Literacy Workshops: These free workshops provide simple, substantive training for parents and educators that teaches them how to utilize media in an educational environment using PBS children’s program, a related activity, and story book with their children in their home or classroom. KUED currently presents 207 workshops to more than 4,000 parents. Many are offered bilingually. Most workshops target at-risk children and families in Salt Lake County through Salt Lake City School District Title I schools and the Salt Lake Community Action Program (CAP) Head Start. KUED distributes a free book to every child whose parent attends a workshop – approximately 500 books per month. The literacy workshops address a host of early childhood education issues, including child development, coping with feelings, cultures, families, geography, health care and hygiene, overcoming fears, parenting, media literacy, music, nutrition, safety and self esteem.
In addition to these activities KUED incorporates the following education focused activities to reward and encourage children for their reading achievements.

KUED’s 19th Annual Reading Marathon: This partnership with Utah public libraries and community groups promotes literacy among 3,000+ children each year. The three-week marathon will take place in November 2009. As a reward for children who reach their reading goals, a Super Reader Party will be held at the Utah State Fair Park in January 2011. At the Party, children receive free books and participate in fun, educational activities hosted by community partners such as Clark Planetarium, Utah Museum of Natural History and Utah Museum of Fine Art while parents receive free PBS literacy and educational resources. Outside the metro area, KUED provides mini-grants to support marathon activities in rural libraries across the state. This year’s theme is “PBS Kids Village; A World Awaits.”

KUED’s Writers and Illustrators Contest: This contest encourages children in grades K-3 to write and illustrate their own original stories. Several hundred children statewide compete in the contest each year. Winners’ stories are posted on KUED’s web site and are eligible to compete for prizes in the national contest. Local winners are announced at the a celebration at Thanksgiving Point and the children’s stories are placed on exhibit within their gallery for six months..

The Utah PTA Golden Apple Awards: This annual awards ceremony honors six Utah educators and two exceptional volunteers. The hour-long broadcast program features the awards ceremony and includes video profiles of each winner. The profiles present the classrooms and teaching styles of each recipient, and include comments from students and peers. Awards are presented by Utah’s Governor and First Lady. This is a twenty year collaboration with the Utah PTA and UEA.

Contact people:

Elise Peterson, Program Coordinator, (phone), (email) Erika Thompson, Assistant, (phone), (email)

Address:

101 S. Wasatch Drive, Rm 215 Salt Lake City, UT 84112 (See a map)