Ready to Learn builds upon the principles of the Learning Triangle, or VIEW, READ and DO. By combining selective television viewing of the curriculum-based programming, reading, and doing activities that relate, caregivers can expand the learning outside of just watching the program.
Click on the portions of the Learning Triangle above to learn more about each principle.
Tips to get the most from your TV Viewing
TV is a tool—what children get from it depends on how well it's designed and how well children are guided to use it. PBS has taken care of the design. As your child's first teacher the guidance comes from you. Children learn by doing—by interacting with the people and objects around them. Hands-on experiences and repetition help them to digest and learn information. PBS can give you some great ideas for fun and interesting ways to do this.
Make your viewing choices from the TV listings, not the remote control. Instead of turning on the set just to fill time, or surfing channels until you find something you don't mind watching, use a TV guide or a newspaper. Highlight the programs you really want to watch and only turn on the set for those programs. It may not be a rule your children are happy about, but consider making the remote control a tool that only grown-ups and older children can use.
Balance Viewing Time
Sometimes kids who watch a lot of TV don't spend enough time doing the other things they need to grow up strong and healthy, like talking, reading, playing, and relating to others. Limit viewing time to 10-20 hours a week, and make sure kids have other fun activities to choose from. Keep handy a list of fun things your children like to do and when they ask to watch TV, suggest something from the list!
View Actively
It's fine to watch TV to relax, but remember that children learn TV viewing habits by watching adults. For example, if you tend to be quiet and still when you watch, so might your kids. And, when kids don't interact with the set, they don't learn how to view actively. So, at least sometimes, watch with your kids. Talk back to the set. Ask kids to predict what will happen next or to imagine a different ending. Encourage your children to sing and dance along with the program.
Make Connections
Talk about the connections between what you see on TV and your child's daily life. Be ready to talk, read or do activities that can build on or extend any topic you see on TV. If you and your children watch a show on penguins, do a web search together about penguins. If you watch a show where the kids are in a poetry contest—write your own poetry! Other handy activities that can reinforce any program or storybook include: Making a graph; Taking a vote; Writing your own story; sending a postcard; Painting a mural or chalking up the driveway; Interviewing one another or other people; Sharing a storybook.
Extend the Learning with BooksLearning to Read Begins Early—
even long before an infant can understand what you are saying. Reading with children can become a special way to spend time together and helps young children to develop language and listening skills; build a vocabulary; learn the relationship between sounds they hear and written words; understand the world around them; express themselves; and, become good readers.
Smart TV—TV That Teaches
TV can lead your children to good books! If you see a TV show about dogs, choose books about dogs to read with your children. If a show is about cooperation, read a story in which the characters work together toward a common goal. Here are a few more tips for bringing TV and books together:
Talk about the story in a book and the TV show you watched. How are they alike? Talk about how they are different. Encourage your children to talk about how the book and TV show are like the things they do at home or in their school.
Encourage your children to read to you. After you have read a book again and again, encourage pre-readers to "read" it to you. Encourage them to use the pictures to tell you the story from memory. They may skip some parts or get a few details wrong—but that's okay!
Help your children to write their own books based on stories you've read and programs you've watched. Ask children to think about what story they would like to write. Have materials available so they can write down their own story ideas. For children who need help, write down their words exactly as they say them. Encourage them to draw pictures for their story. Ask them to read their stories to you and to others again and again.
Share all kinds of stories: stories about your day, your childhood, fantasies, and classic tales. Some shows bring a wide range of stories into your home. Check out books from your local library. Finding books at garage sales can be an inexpensive way to encourage your child's love for reading.
Make Reading Time Special
Turn off the TV, find a comfortable space to be together, and enjoy sharing the pleasure of a special story. Set aside a special time each day—maybe after breakfast or before a nap—to share a book or two together!
Activities to Build On
What You've Watched
The learning doesn't have to stop after you turn the TV off or close a book. In fact, after you watch something on TV or read a story, the learning can grow and grow.
Below are a few activity ideas for building on what you watch on TV or read in a book. The following activities are related to the goal of developing self-confidence and awareness of others. This is an important goal in all of the programs on PBS.
Make an "I Can Do List"
Hang up a long sheet of paper in a place where your children can see it easily and write the title—"A List of Things I Can Do." Whenever your children learn a new skill, such as "I can slide" or "I know about dogs," add it to the list.
Celebrate Your Children's Work
Create a special area to display your children's artwork, drawings, and graphs. If you watch a show on kites and then make kites, include a sign that says something like, "We learned to make kites." Or, "We took a nature walk." Let your children choose what gets put up and when it should be taken down.
Do Activities with Your Kids
These next two activities relate to the goal of nurturing your child's imagination, a goal that is important in all of the programs and services that make up Ready To Learn.
Play the "What-if Game"
This is a good activity for long car rides, waiting in lines, or drying off after the bath. Give your children a situation and ask them to figure out what should happen. "What if you got to day care and your new teacher was a giraffe? Use examples from the programs you watch to talk about how to solve problems. For instance, "What if—name a character in a show you've watched—didn't finish his/her homework? What did he/ she do? What would you do if you didn't finish your homework?
Play "The Continuing Story Game"
Start a story and stop right in the middle of a sentence. For instance, "One day, when I was in the park and saw three elephants..." Ask your children to add to the story and to stop when they want you to take it over. Keep the story going until one of you comes up with an ending.
These next two activities relate to the goal of thinking about what we hear and see. These are goals important to school readiness and are a part of many programs on PBS.
Become "Sound Detectives"
Pick a place to go for a walk with your children. Perhaps to the park, a grocery store, the post office, a place you saw on TV or a construction site. Encourage your children to listen to all of the sounds they hear along the way. Then help your children name each sound and Write them down. After the walk, ask your children how many things on the list they can remember. Read the list together and imitate the sounds. If you go on several trips you can put your lists together and make a "Sounds In My Neighborhood" book.
Play "The Look Closely Game"
Gather together a few indoor and outdoor objects, such as leaves, stones, paper napkins, and coins. Don't be afraid to use someone's newly lost tooth, hair, a bug, or a spider web! Let your children look at the objects under a magnifying glass. Describe how it looks, both with and without the magnifying glass. Encourage them to draw what they see and label their
drawings.
