Saturday, September 9, 2006

Teachers can help build the Eyes on the Prize Web site

"Eyes on the Prize," the award-winning and internationally acclaimed documentary on the civil rights movement by Henry Hampton, has returned to PBS, and teachers can help build an educational Web site for the series.

Essential lessons about race, leadership and justice for all are taught in this brilliant documentary. First-person oral accounts and historical footage spotlight tragedies and triumphs African-Americans went through to gain equal rights in the United States.

Teachers are invited to help build an online library of great ideas for using "Eyes on the Prize" as a classroom learning tool. Educational advisors will review the teaching and learning ideas received and the best ones will be highlighted on the Web site, launching in September.

Educators who submit ideas will be eligible to win a $100 certificate good for PBS VIDEO product. There will be ten entries drawn from all submissions on October 6.

Learn more about submitting ideas and the drawing here.

If you have questions or suggestions about the Web site, please contact Donelle Blubaugh at djblubaugh@pbs.org.

Friday, September 8, 2006

The 2007 Georgia Student Media Festival

It is time to start planning for the 2007 Georgia Student Media Festival. All students and schools k-12 are encouraged to participate.

The Georgia Student Media Festival is designed to stimulate student interest and involvement in all types of media production. This is accomplished by providing an opportunity for students to show their work to an interested audience and to have the work critiqued by a panel of expert judges. Students will also be able to gain inspiration by viewing the work of other students represented at the festival.

Project categories include, but are not limited to, 2-D and 3-D animation, electronic picture books, electronic photographic essays, sequential stills and Web sites.

Festival activities progress through three successive levels: building (school), system (county) and state. Entries must be evaluated at each level and receive a superior rating in order to proceed to the next level. Private schools are responsible for contacting the public school system in their geographic area for information on system or state level judging.

Building and system festival locations will be determined by the schools and counties. The state student media festival will be held at Georgia Public Broadcasting on April 27, 2007.

For more information about the 2007 Georgia Student Media Festival, please contact Linda Flynn at lflynn@gpb.org.

Announcing the Education Web site for Georgia Outdoors

A new education site has been created to complement Georgia Outdoors, Georgia Public Broadcasting's (GPB) award-winning environmental program, and will debut on September 8. The site pulls new and pre-existing resources together that relate to components of the program.

Georgia Outdoors covers many topics pertaining to environmental education, such as ecosystems, habitats and food webs. All of these topics correlate with the Georgia Performance Standards for students in third through seventh grade. Environmental educators, students and parents can find helpful lesson plans, activities, places to go, links and writing prompts on the new education site.

The debut of the education site for Georgia Outdoors is just in time for the debut of the show's 15th season, which airs this month. Georgia Outdoors takes viewers across the state to learn about how to enjoy and protect the environment.

Georgia Outdoors
is co-produced by Georgia Public Broadcasting and the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.

Learn more about Georgia Outdoors.

Children's Week 2006

Georgia Public Broadcasting has joined forces with the Augusta-Richmond County Partnership for Children and Families, Inc. (ARCCP, Inc.) for the 18th Annual Children's Week in Augusta, Ga. Children's Week will take place Friday, Sept. 29 to Saturday, Oct. 7.

This is a collaborative event of ARCCP and its partners to provide opportunities for parents to learn about the various resources available for children and families in the Augusta-Richmond County area. Children's Week also features a variety of fun and enriching events for children of all ages and their families.

All of the activities and events that take place during Children's Week are free of charge, enabling children and families of all economic levels to participate.

GPB has been a supporter of this event for three years. Last year, GPB reached out to over 2,000 pre-k and kindergarten students in the Augusta area with a stage performance by Doc Neil (pictured) of GPB's "What's In a Doctor's Bag" on-air spots during the opening ceremony for Augusta Children's Week. GPB also provided PBS Kid's materials to the children and fun tips for maintaining good health.

"We love partnering with Georgia Public Broadcasting. Their focus on children and families mirrors ours, and because of that we have had three successful Children's Week events. GPB is great," said Robetta McKenzie, Ed. D., Executive Director of Augusta-Richmond County Community Partnership for Children and Families, Inc.

ARCCP, Inc. is a nonprofit organization that works with more than 100 organizations and agencies in the community to improve the lives of children and families in Richmond County.

Its mission is to work with local government, agencies, businesses, service organizations, private citizens and consumers to develop partnerships in providing services to improve the lives of children and families.

More information on Children's Week.

Thursday, September 7, 2006

Free Online SAT Prep Class

Georgia students will once again have access to a free online SAT Preparation Course. The course is open to all high school students, including students enrolled in home school programs and accredited private schools located in Georgia.

The SAT Preparation Course offers students 18 interactive lessons; six full-length, official SAT practice tests and diagnostic pretests; over 600 practice questions and answers; automated essay scoring; and personalized score reports for students.

This program, created by the College Board, was offered last year, but was only available to high school students in public schools.

More information

Saturday, September 2, 2006

Broadcast of the 12th Annual Young Writers and Illustrators Celebration

The 12th Annual Reading Rainbow Young Writers and Illustrators Celebration, honoring contest winners and participants, will be aired on Overnight and Channel 410 beginning this month. It will also be available for viewing on the Web.

Georgia Public Broadcasting (GPB) hosted the celebration on May 26. Twelve winners were chosen along with eight honorable mentions for writing and illustration. All of the winners and honorable mention holders were given the opportunity to share their winning stories and receive exciting prizes.

The purpose of the Reading Rainbow Young Writers and Illustrators contest is to encourage early elementary aged students to utilize their creative abilities in both language arts and art by developing and illustrating original stories. This local production is GPB's opportunity to highlight Georgia's local winners.