When: March 30, 2013, 9 – 11 a.m.

Where: Alamo Drafthouse Lake Creek and Alamo Drafthouse Slaughter

• Come dressed in your best Hollywood glamour or mad scientist outfit.
• Walk the red carpet and take photos in our photo booth.
• Meet Clifford the Big Red Dog.
• Enjoy hands-on science activities in the lobby with the KLRU-TV, Austin PBS education team.
• If you are not already, now’s your chance to become a KLRU Explorers family!

RESERVATIONS REQUIRED: Click here to go the Alamo Drafthouse reservation site.

ALL AGES ARE WELCOME, BUT CHILDREN MUST BE ACCOMPANIED BY A PARENT. PLEASE RESERVE ONLY THE SEATS YOU EXPECT TO USE, AND RESERVE ENOUGH SEATS FOR ALL ATTENDEES, REGARDLESS OF AGE. ALL UNCLAIMED SEATS WILL BE RELEASED TO THE WAITING LIST AT 9:30 AM.

AGENDA:
9:00 Doors open, guest check in, red carpet photos and lobby activities
9:30 Movie starts. Fidgety guests are welcome in the lobby for activities during the show.
11:00 Event ends

Airing on KLRU 18. 1 Tuesday, Nov. 6, 3:30 pm

• Rundberg and Lamar
• IH-35 and William Cannon
• E. 7th St. and Pleasant Valley
• E. Riverside
• Ed Bluestein Blvd. and Manor Rd.

The PBS Kids Summer Learning Initative connects watching of PBS Kids programs with reading and other activities. Kids who participate can return to the HEB after August 17 to pick up a certificate that they can show to their new teachers!

Now that it’s REALLY HOT outside, not just HOT, we know kids will be spending more time indoors and screen time will go up. To make sure that kids have access to quality content and quality activities, along with our friends at the Literacy Coalition of Central Texas, we’ve started the KRLU Summer Challenge.  To get started, read and download the materials below!

PBS highlights one show each week during the summertime. KLRU starts from here and asks kids to do the following:

WATCH - Here are the shows for each week, and the times they air

June 4-8: Wild Kratts, Zach Attack Week 4:00 pm
June 11-15: WordGirl, Tobey's Robot Summer 3:30 pm
June 18-22: Arthur, Baby Kate Adventure Week 3:00 pm
June 25-29: Curious George, Monkey Business Week 8:00 am
July 2-6: Super Why! Royal Reading Week 9:00 am
July 9-13: The Electric Company Prankster Planet Week 4:30 pm
July 16-20: Dinosaur Train Gone Fishing Week 9:30 am
July 23-27: Martha Speaks Dog Daze Week 2:30 pm
July 30-August 3: The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That Creepy Crawley Week 8:30 am
August 6-10: Sid the Science Kid Get Up and Move Week 10:00 am

READ – We want kids to read at least 15 minutes a day, or 75 minutes a week. To track progress you can download a chart here or download Scholastic’s Reading Timer for iPhone, iPad, or Android devices.

DO - Whether your kids are completing pages in the packet or playing PBS games online or on mobile devices, they are learning!

Click here to download an activity packet for ages 4-7.

Click here to download an activity packet for ages 6-10.

Click here to download a Reading Progress Chart.

For online games, go to:

PBS Kids (ages 2-5)
PBS Kids Go! (ages 4-8)
PBS Kids It's My Life (ages 8-12)
PBS Kids Mobile for all mobile downloads (all ages)

PLAY - Not just video games! Get off the couch and go swimming, ride a bike, and run around. Kids should be active at least one hour a day, 365 days a year.

And when you’ve done all of these things, after August 13th you will be able to download a certificate that you can complete and show to your child’s teacher in the new school year.

Curious George 2: Follow That Monkey
In Curious George 2: Follow That Monkey, the fun-filled sequel to the hit animated movie, Curious George and the Man with the Yellow Hat set out on a madcap cross-country adventure to reunite Kayla, a homesick elephant, with her family. This unlikely trio faces all types of comic calamities and colorful characters and in the end learns that with family, friends and determination you can achieve anything. Curious George 2 features the voices of Tim Curry, Matt Lauer, Jamie Kennedy and Jerry Lewis.

Curious George: A Very Monkey Christmas
In A Very Monkey Christmas, Curious George and the Man with the Yellow Hat are having a wonderful time getting ready for Christmas. There’s only one dilemma – neither of them can figure out what to give the other for a present! In the end, both gift-giving predicaments are simply and beautifully resolved, revealing the true spirit of the holiday season.

Photo, from left to right: Maury Sullivan, KLRU’s VP of Community Engagement; Bill Stotesbery, KLRU’s CEO and President; Carl E. Erhart, Verizon’s President [Southwest Region]; Helen Soto Knaggs, Verizon’s Director of External Affairs

KLRU-TV, Austin PBS, Announces $15,000 Grant from Verizon Foundation

Grant to support PBS Raising Readers, a project to help teach literacy using public media in our schools

KLRU announced today that it has received a $15,000 grant from the Verizon Foundation in support of local implementation of the PBS Kids Raising Readers program, a national partnership with the Corporation for Public Broadcasting that surrounds children ages 2 to 8 with research-based literacy content.   Funded by a Ready To Learn grant from the U.S. Department of Education, from 2005 to 2010 Raising Readers developed an innovative blend of media across all platforms – TV, online, mobile, and more – and related community engagement activities designed to help young children learn to read.

“KLRU is first and foremost, an educational organization,” said Bill Stotesbery, CEO and GM of KLRU. “Through the generosity of the Verizon Foundation and other foundations we are able to help bridge the gap for young children entering school, using PBS’ award-winning programs such as Super Why and Between the Lions.”

Raising Readers helps empower parents and caregivers to create language–rich environments by teaching strategies that build early literacy skills anytime, anywhere – strategies that incorporate PBS children’s media.  In Central Texas, KLRU’s workshops assist low-income families with children between the from birth to eight-years-old, some of whom have English as a second language at home.  In the 2010-11 school year, the program is partnering with educational nonprofits and Austin-area schools to serve thousands of parents, caregivers and children through workshops and events.

“Providing educational resources to help students develop a strong foundation for success in the classroom is a key priority for the Verizon Foundation,” said Carl E. Erhart, Central Region President for Verizon Communications.  “We are proud to support initiatives such as KLRU’s Raising Readers and the effort to help Austin-area school districts develop young minds.’’

About KLRU:

KLRU-TV, Austin PBS, reflects, celebrates and inspires Central Texas through creative excellence, community engagement and lifelong learning. In addition to providing locally produced and quality national television programming, KLRU is also a non-profit organization helping to build a stronger community through educational workshops, community engagement projects and public events. Known as the producing station of the longest-running live music television show AUSTIN CITY LIMITS, KLRU has also worked on several other national productions including the documentaries CITIZEN ARCHITECT and LAST BEST HOPE. Get more information about KLRU at klru.org.

About The Verizon Foundation:

The Verizon Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Verizon, uses its technology, financial resources and partnerships to address critical social issues, with a focus on education and domestic violence prevention. In 2010, the foundation awarded nearly $67 million to nonprofit agencies in the U.S. and abroad. Through Verizon Volunteers, one of the nation’s largest employee volunteer programs, Verizon employees and retirees have volunteered nearly 6 million hours of community service since 2000. For more information on the foundation, visit www.verizonfoundation.org.

About Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ),

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE, NASDAQ:VZ), headquartered in New York, is a global leader in delivering broadband and other wireless and wireline communications services to mass market, business, government and wholesale customers.  Verizon Wireless operates America’s most reliable wireless network, serving 94.1 million customers nationwide.  Verizon also provides converged communications, information and entertainment services over America’s most advanced fiber-optic network, and delivers innovative, seamless business solutions to customers around the world.  A Dow 30 company, Verizon employs a diverse workforce of more than 194,000 and last year generated consolidated revenues of $106.6 billion.  For more information, visit www.verizon.com.

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Broadcast Dates:
Wednesday, November 24th, 8-9 a.m.
Thursday, November 25th, 2-3 p.m.
Saturday, November 27th, 8-9 a.m.

Becky just wants to read a book on the last day of summer but Tobey and his latest robot creation are AGGRAVATING her. Can WordGirl figure out how to stop crime and PROLONG her last day of vacation?

Then, when TJ foils a crime during his baseball game with an EXTRAORDINARY home run, he becomes “the Home Run King,” the city’s latest superhero. FORTUNATELY, WordGirl steps in to save the day when he gets in over his head fighting real crimes.

Six new episodes will broadcast throughout the fall beginning September 13th.

Starting School

As families prepare for a new school year, parents can ease the transition by initiating some conversations and trying new routines.

http://www.pbs.org/parents/goingtoschool/starting_school.html