Trace the World War II years and those that follow, as Latino Americans serve their new country by the hundreds of thousands – yet still face discrimination and a fight for civil rights in the United States.
Airs 5/15 at 2 a.m.
Monthly Archives: May 2019
53 posts
Today is a perfect time to send this article around to the teachers in your building. Perhaps similar to what they say in the Kevin Costner movie, Field of Dreams, “If they [read] it, they will come.”
From edutopia: Collaborating With Your School Librarian by Jamie Gregory (July 30, 2018).
The forces of nature have kept Earth on the move since it was formed billions of years ago. Though we can’t feel the motion, we experience the consequences – from tidal bores surging through the Amazon rainforest to the ruinous power of hurricanes.
airs Tuesdays at 2 a.m. beginning 5/14.
- #1 – We can’t directly see the forces that govern Earth, but we can see their shadows in the shapes of nature that surround us. If we understand why these shapes exist, we can understand the rules that bind the entire universe.
- #2 – The forces of nature make Earth a restless planet, but they also turned our ball of rock into a home for life. How did our planet’s ingredients, the chemical elements, come together and take that first crucial step from barren rock to a living world?
- #3 – Earth is painted in stunning colors. By understanding how these colors are created and the energy they carry, we can learn the secret language of the planet.
- #4 – The forces of nature have kept Earth on the move since it was formed billions of years ago. Though we can’t feel the motion, we experience the consequences – from tidal bores surging through the Amazon rainforest to the ruinous power of hurricanes.
The Irish-born inventor of the submarine. In 1873 he came to the United States, settling in Paterson, New Jersey. John Philip Holland was a self-taught genius. The great grandchildren of his invention still stalk the depths to this very day. Unfortunately for Holland, his remarkable invention was exploited by U.S. corporate interests, and his personal legacy was undermined and forgotten… until now. With financial support from the Irish revolutionaries (who planned to use submarines against England), Holland built the Fenian Ram, a small sub that proved a limited success. He carried on with his invention making every necessary adjustment until he had a working concept. In 1895 John P. Holland’s Torpedo Boat Company received a contract from the U.S. Navy to build a submarine. In 1898 a successful submarine, the Holland, the very first submarine, was launched. Soon John P. Holland was receiving orders for submarines from all over including England, Japan and Russia. Inspired by the story of the Monitor and the Merrimack from the American Civil War, Holland did much of his breakthrough design of his submarine while recuperating from a broken leg. His first submarine was launched in 1897 after construction in Quincy, Massachusetts. Holland died in Newark, NJ in 1914, not living long enough to see the momentous change he alone brought to naval warfare later in the 20th century. The film goes deep into the archives of history to piece together John Philip Holland’s story of his remarkable invention, which literally changed the course of history. This is an astonishing story of perhaps the most significant inventor you have never heard of.
Airs 5/14 at 8 p.m. (repeats 5/18 at 5 p.m.)
Thank you for all you do. The work you do is essential to our future.
Host Dr. Robert Putnam (Harvard Professor and author of BOWLING ALONE)spotlights innovative leaders and children, working together in nine communities, who struggle to create and inspire solutions that help to narrow the widening opportunity gap between rich and poor for some 30 million young people denied access to the American Dream. We hope viewers will try to build similar solutions in their neighborhoods.
Airs Mondays at 1 a.m. beginning 5/13.
- #1 – Riverside, CA & Manchester, NH. The importance of mentors is illustrated in stories like that of a police detective starting a free judo school to “bait and switch” kids onto a better path. A revolutionary accelerated kindergarten program propels disadvantaged children by celebrating their smartness. Living in a homeless shelter designed around the needs of families, a little girl expresses her pride and determination in song.\
- #2 – Children living in fractured homes and poverty can’t achieve equally with children who are financially and emotionally secure. Underserved children need extra services to be competitive. Equal is not Equitable. We illustrate this point in Duluth, MN, Boston, MA, Springfield, MO, and Nashville, TN. A grade school offers wrap-around-services including free food, family meals, clothing, laundry, and medical services.
- #3 – Detroit Educational Crisis. With deteriorating class room conditions and the worst test scores in the nation, this alarming episode casts its eye on the current educational crisis in Detroit. In this cautionary tale, both public and unregulated charter schools suffer from high teacher turnover, a shortage of up-to-date textbooks, lack of funding and financial accountability. We visit with students, teachers, parents and educational leaders in their innovative attempts to improve conditions.
- #4 – Detroit Educational Crisis. With deteriorating class room conditions and the worst test scores in the nation, this alarming episode casts its eye on the current educational crisis in Detroit. In this cautionary tale, both public and unregulated charter schools suffer from high teacher turnover, a shortage of up-to-date textbooks, lack of funding and financial accountability. We visit with students, teachers, parents and educational leaders in their innovative attempts to improve conditions.
I don’t know who came up with it, but I have heard that today, May 6th, is No Homework Day. Sounds pretty fishy right? Trying to research this “holiday” I found the following sites that confirm it: Days of the Year, Checkiday, Happy Days 365, and What National Day Is It?.
While students everywhere are celebrating no homework today, teachers prefer tomorrow’s holiday, National No Grading Day.
Journalist Ian Hislop and conductor John Eliot Gardiner reveal the story behind the creation of this iconic work. Described as the “greatest ‘great’ piece ever written,” its opening notes are among the most recognizable in history. Although no one really knows what Beethoven was trying to express with this piece, this program makes the case that his passion for the ideals of freedom and brotherhood fueled his Fifth Symphony.
Airs 5/11 at 4:30 p.m.
Did you know that the first Saturday in May is always “Free Comic Book Day”? If you’re into comics, you probably already know this.
But if you’re not into comics, this is a great opportunity to check them out! Maybe you’ll find something you’ll truly love. When Gene Luen Yang was named the National Ambassador of Young People’s Literature in 2016, he issued a challenge to readers everywhere called The Reading Without Walls Challenge. Which calls for readers to pick up a book that they normally wouldn’t. Choose something that fits one of the three criteria for this challenge:
- Read a book about a character who doesn’t look like you or live like you.
- Read a book about a topic you don’t know much about.
- Read a book in a format that you don’t normally read for fun. This might be a chapter book, a graphic novel, a book in verse, a picture book, or a hybrid book. Or it could be a comic book!
Let’s keep this challenge going and pick up your free comic book tomorrow.
In its quest to make information equally available to everyone, the Library of Congress has digitized books that were published over 100 years ago and made the collection available to the public online. The site explains, “This special collection presents children’s books selected from the General and Rare Book Collections at the Library of Congress.”
However rare, many of the books are still widely read today, such as The Secret Garden, and The Arabian Nights. These books are now in the public domain, and you can use them as freely as you like.
Access the entire collection here: https://www.loc.gov/collections/childrens-book-selections/