Category Archives: Families Learning Across Boundaries

In March 2020, schools, libraries, and businesses all over the country closed their physical buildings as we began the long effort to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. But community leaders rallied to bring their services to children and families at home, adapting to new circumstances with new technologies. Claudia Haines shares how the Homer Public Library  transitioned from in-person to remote programs to keep families engaged throughout the pandemic.    Just about a year ago, my library closed the building because…

One could say the only constant during this unprecedented time is change. Childcare centers and schools are adjusting from one day to the next in order to keep the children and families in their communities safe. Another constant, however, is the value of connecting with well-trained children’s library professionals. This is why the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) developed Look to Libraries, a collection of materials intended to assist parents and caregivers during the COVID-19 pandemic. ALSC is…

On Thursday, March 12, 2020, PBS SoCal, KCET and the Los Angeles Unified School District, the second-largest district in the nation, announced a plan to provide Pre-K–12th grade educational programming throughout the daytime on PBS SoCal, KCET, and KLCS channels. This partnership has the potential to serve more than 600,000 students across Southern California. This multi-platform initiative includes robust digital resources, created in collaboration with KQED in San Francisco, through our online platform, PBS LearningMedia. Public television has long served…

Youth Services Librarian Claudia Haines recently hosted a family screening of the new PBS Kids show Molly of Denali at Homer Public Library in Homer, Alaska. This post from her blog is republished here with permission.   I’m always looking for media, in all formats, that authentically reflects Alaskan families’ experiences. Today, a new show produced by WGBH in Boston for PBS Kids does that and more. I’m excited about the show, and the advanced screening we offered at the library…

On October 26, 2018, over 50 key stakeholders in early education gathered at the Idaho Early STEM Summit in Boise. Led by the Idaho STEM Action Center (STEM AC), this convening of professionals—comprised of representatives from research institutions, government agencies, libraries, and community-based organizations—is the first of its kind in the state to focus on advocacy for STEM opportunities for young children ages birth through age 8. Boise State University’s College of Education opened our morning with a presentation on…

In 2011, The Cooney Center formed six action teams, based on geographical location.  The teams were charged with building promising practices and scalable models of the ways that media, and particularly digital media, can promote children’s learning in environments outside of school. These teams were an integral part of the Learning From Hollywood Forum where they had the opportunity to network with industry and policy leaders across media, technology, education and philanthropy, and where each team walked away with hard…