* That’s IT Mommy are PBS KIDS VIPS. Erika and Tee attended an all-expense paid press trip courtesy of PBS KIDS. The review is in our own words and is our opinion.
We are honored and proud to wear the PBS KIDS VIP badge! PBS offers amazing educational and fun programming for children as well as wonderful programming for families and adults. Erika and I along with the other VIPS traveled to Miami to join the Annual PBS Meeting to learn about what new programs they have in store for the upcoming year. We’ll be sharing more of what we learned throughout the week but here is a glimpse of what we covered during our two days at the PBS KIDS portion of events.
Day 1:
HOSTED BREAKFAST: SESAME WORKSHOP-SESAME STREET
Our morning started off with an exciting announcement from H. Melvin Ming, President & CEO Sesame Workshop and Carol-Lynn Parente, Senior Vice President Creative Content & Executive Producer Sesame Street. Sesame Street is preparing for a new cast member who is of Hispanic heritage. His name is Mando (Ismael Cruz) and viewers will meet him this fall!
Executives also announced the curriculum for Season 44! The focus is all about self-restraint and giving kids the tools on managing their emotions and showing self-control. Speaking of self-restraint, I have exclusive news for you! “ME WANT COOKIE!” We all know that famous line and season 44 will reveal a new side of Cookie Monster. He will be learning all about self-restraint. And we all know how tough that will be for him! I’m sure that we can all relate to overdoing it from time to time. I know that I love ice cream and chocolate! Hopefully I can pick up some tips from Cookie Monster!
PBS KIDS BREAKOUT SESSION: SESAME STREET
What an exciting moment for us all! We met with the newest cast member Mando, as well as Rosita a turquoise, Spanish speaking monster and Sesame street producer Carol-Lynn Parente. I’m a huge fan of Muppets in general. It was very cool seeing how Puppeteer Carmen Osbahr works her magic. Sesame Street decided to another character of Hispanic origin to reflect the population changes in the U.S. For the first time ever, Sesame Street held an open casting in search of their third Hispanic character. Mando (real name) was selected out of many hopefuls. I love how Sesame Street has always had a multi-cultural cast. Stay tuned for more detailed coverage coming this week! Until then you can watch a clip from the casting call!
Day 2:
HOSTED BREAKFAST: PEG+CAT – THE CHICKEN PROBLEM!
Our Final day in Miami began with a Hosted Breakfast featuring the upcoming PBS Kids Show PEG + CAT -The Chicken Problem! PEG + CAT creators Billy Aronson and Jennifer Oxley, from 9ate7 Productions were on site to talk about this adorable, educational math series from the Fred Rogers Company. Best friends PEG + CAT, which is really called PEG “plus” CAT not PEG and CAT, will be making math fun starting this fall on PBS Kids.
GENERAL SESSION: THE OPPORTUNITIES OF CHANGE
This session explained how PBS sticks to it’s founding goal of “educate, inform and inspire” by staying up to date with the rapid technological changes that are taking place all around us. Panelists addressed the opportunities which lie ahead for public education and public television. Embracing and integrating technology into the classroom was a recurring point that was made during this panel. As was the importance of preschool for children. Only 3 in 10 children are enrolled in preschool which leaves them falling behind their peers from day one.
GENERAL SESSION: PBS KIDS PROGRAMMING PREVIEW, SERVING THE NEXT GENERATION OF PBS KIDS
Next we joined Sara DeWitt, Vice President, PBS KIDS Digital , Lesli Rotenberg, General Manager, Children’s Media & Senior Vice President, Marketing & Communications, PBS and Linda Simensky, Vice President, Children’s Programming, PBS as they shared some of the many ways PBS Kids.org can enhance public television. PBS provides high quality educational content by being everywhere kids can learn. In a recent study, children who engaged with PBS Kids Content and related materials at home outscored a comparison group on standardized tests. The site averaged over 13 million unique vistors per month in 2012 and was named one of Time Magazines “50 best websites”. Way to go PBS!
PBS KIDS BREAKOUT: PEG + CAT
The VIPS were then given the opportunity to sit in on a much smaller breakout session with PEG + CAT creators Billy Arronson and Jennifer Oxley. They signed our hardcover copy of PEG + CAT The Chicken Problem book, which we received as a gift. Jennifer even added a unique illustration to the signature!
We were also treated to a Q&A session where the creators answered questions about the development of the show and some of the ways that they made math fun! The use of graph paper as the background was one of my favorites. Sara Dewitt and Linda Seminsky joined Billy Arronson and Jennifer Oxley to help us understand the PBS Watch, Play, Explore and Share approach PBS takes. PEG + CAT is part of a multimedia experience that includes interactve games online, hands on activities for families and lesson plans for teachers and caregivers. Additional interactive features are set to launch in the fall of 2013.
Our break out session also featured a surprise live performance from Steve Songs or Steve Rosnolek as some know him. Steve has been writing and performing music for the past 11 years. Since May of 2008 he has been the cohost of PBS Kids and known as Mr. Steve. He performs original interactive songs that reinforce the day’s curriculum theme. Steve performed a brand new song (sure to be a hit) featuring each of PBS Kids VIPS blog names in the lyrics (watch for the video in an upcoming post!). So cool!
I also want to give a shout out to our fellow PBS KIDS VIPS. What an awesome group of parents. Hope to see you next year!
Stay tuned for more coverage from the PBS Annual Mtg!
– Tee & Erika
* That’s IT Mommy are PBS KIDS VIPS. Erika and Tee attended an all-expense paid press trip courtesy of PBS KIDS. The review is in our own words and is our opinion.
5 comments
I think the most exciting thing that I read is that they’re going to be discussing self-restraint! I think we all could use a little self-restraint from time to time and hopefully that will help to eliminate some of the bullying that takes place on a regular basis as well.
Can’t wait to check out PEG + CAT!
Sounds like it was a great trip. Lucky ladies!
i bet it was a fun trip. Hope you enjoyed your time learning more about PBS =)
Looks like a great time!!! Fun!