Coming Soon! A Brand New Rootle's Block Party LIVE! At Home!
Coming in March 2021! Stay tuned for the next episode of Rootle’s Block Party LIVE! At Home – Read-a-roo will be back on your screen soon with more hands-on activities and fun, this time with friends from Randolph County, including RhinoLeap, the Asheboro Library, and the North Carolina Zoo! This episode will also feature content from Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood, built around the Watch Play Explore Share learning model, as well as content showcasing kindness and generosity. Don’t miss out!
WATCH NOW | SEPTEMBER 2020Rootle's Block Party LIVE! At Home!
Rootle's Block Party LIVE! At Home Television Special
We're bringing our in-person event to your living room with this 1-hour tv special!
Meet Our Partners | September 2020 Rootle's Block Party LIVE! At Home!
A Better Chance A Better Community (ABC2)
Roanoke Rapids, NC
ABC2 connects the Roanoke Valley & Down East NC rural communities with resources to activate youth power and advocates for realistic solutions and healthier lifestyles.
Little GERMinators
Denver, NC
Little GERMinators (LG) is a researched-base hygiene program that promotes a change in hygiene behaviors and practices early on. The purpose is to increase children’s awareness, knowledge and understanding in the area of germ prevention through interactive, hands-on S.T.E.A.M (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math) based activities and presentations from grades Pre-K through 2nd. One of LG’s target goals are to bridge the gap between the school and home environment in order to create a behavior change.
Concrete Rose Dance Academy
Roanoke Rapids, NC
The Concrete Rose is fully devoted to providing young dancers an encouraging environment where they are given an opportunity to grow and excel in their dance education. We wish to encourage our students to achieve their fullest potential – to support them as they grow artistically and academically and develop into well rounded individuals who are nourished in mind, body, and spirit.
Mr. Scooter
Wilmington, NC
Mr. Scooter is a storyteller, rapper and children's librarian from Wilmington, NC. Mr. Scooter is a Library Journal Mover and Shaker Innovator and NACO Award winner.
The Dancing Fleas
Shelby, NC
The Dancing Fleas, also known as America's Premier Ukulele Party Band, are a 10 piece ukulele-driven ensemble. The Dancing Fleas make high energy, fun music and love to take well-known tunes and give them a dose of "Flea Treatment." Joe Kendrick at WNCW summed the band up best when he called them "the cure for lethargy."
Haliwa-Saponi Indian Tribe
Hollister, NC
The Haliwa-Saponi Indian Tribe’s mission is to protect the interest, identity and rights of the Haliwa-Saponi Indian people and promote the cultural and traditional heritage of the Haliwa-Saponi people of Halifax Warren and surrounding counties . Additionally, the organization aims to promote the advancement of the Haliwa-Saponi Indian people by securing educational health economic development housing cultural and social programs.
Shana Tucker
Durham, NC
Cellist. Singer-Songwriter. Arts Advocate. Teaching Artist. Collaborator. Cultural Conduit. A front-line advocate for arts education, Shana is an accomplished teaching artist, with over 20 years’ experience with community engagement, workshops, lesson planning and artist residency facilitation.
Pierce Freelon
Durham, NC
Pierce Freelon is an accomplished Hip Hop/soul/electronic musician and award winning producer, director and professor from Durham, NC. He is the co-founder of Beat Making Lab, an Emmy Award winning PBS web-series and has taught in the departments of music and African American Studies at the University of NC at Chapel Hill.
Resources | Watch Play Explore Share
Learn more about how to use PBS KIDS content to deepen your child's learning at home!
Watch | Media Connection
Joint media engagement is key! By simply joining your child in viewing their favorite PBS KIDS program, the caregiver is further supporting their child’s learning and development.
Media can take many forms! Perhaps your little learner tunes into their favorite show on Rootle or chooses a book to read or even view a video on the PBS KIDS app. Here, they’re making a media connection.
Learn More: The Magical Effect of Watching TV With Your Child
Play | Media and Content Integration
Play is meaningful engagement. If you want to see the magic happen, get involved in children’s play! Observe the child’s organic play, this will open the door for further exploration.
Support and encourage play by providing hands-on activities, using authentic materials whenever it is safe to do so. For example, provide real measuring cups and cooking utensils for children’s play.
Provide many opportunities and ample time for open-ended, imaginary play, and use descriptive language to narrate children’s actions. Use phrases like, “I see you measuring the water, and pouring it into the bowl,” and “You’re combining the ingredients; the mixture is getting sticky!”
Explore | Hands On Learning
Adults can guide exploration in many ways!
- Ask children to make predictions.
- Ask children to predict/guesstimate ingredients and measurements before beginning your cooking experiment.
- Record their answers, and compare them to actual recipes.
- Highlighting mathematical terms and procedures.
- What would you do to double the recipe?
- What would you do to double the recipe?
- Encouraging them to write about their experience.
- Encourage your child to write about their cooking experience, and share their stories with other family members.
- Capture special family interactions by asking children to illustrate their experiences.
- After their pictures are done, have them dictate their comments so that you can record them on each page.
- Bind the pages to make a book.
- Asking children to recall their experience. Children learn through repetition.
- Ask the child to recall their cooking procedure in the correct sequence.
- Use ordinal numbers to repeat the preparation steps...first, second, third, etc.
- “What other ingredient would you add?”
- “Why?”
- “How do you think it would change the recipe?”
- Ask open-ended questions that begin with:
- What do you think would happen if…?
- What’s the best way to…?
- How can you…?
- How do you think we can…?
- Ask questions to scaffold further learning and exploration.
- What new family tradition would you create?
- How would we celebrate it?
- What clothing, decorations, or food would you include?
- Can you draw a picture to illustrate your ideas?
- Make a list of the people you would invite.
- What’s your favorite family tradition?
- What do you like most about it?
- How would you change it to make it better?
Share | Connections to Content
Value the process over the product!
It’s important to take time with your child to reflect and connect. You can reflect on the shared time of watching, playing, and exploration. Support your child in connecting with a peer, family member, or teacher to share what they learned!
Celebrate children’s efforts, and encourage them to take pride in their work. Give meaningful feedback to promote a sense of accomplishment for the child. For example, “I noticed how hard you worked to put that together. You put it together all by yourself!”
When a child shares, it supports critical thinking, sense of self, communication skills, relationship building, and confidence!
More Resources
Books
PBS KIDS E-Books
13 Children’s Books About Race and Diversity
11 Picture Books to Celebrate Diversity
Books about Latinos Who Made a Difference
Native American Stories
Children’s Books About Amazing Women
Room for Everyone: 10 Picture Books that Encourage Kindness
Diverse Children’s Books About Strong Girls
Children’s Books to Celebrate Black Culture
NC Guide for the Early Years
NC Foundations for Early Learning and Development
