WHYY Early Education Programs
WHYY’s Early Education team brings literacy, social-emotional learning, and math experiences to children and families in their own communities: at schools, childcare centers, recreation centers, and parks. Our programs are part of a long PBS tradition of preparing young learners for kindergarten and beyond with fun, engaging activities, games, and resources.
Early Numeracy: Family Math
Parents and caregivers are their kids’ first teacher. Developed by PBS SoCal and trans-created in Spanish and English, Family Math gives parents and caregivers the skills, language and confidence they need to introduce and reinforce math concepts at home.
WHYY’s Early Education team partners with Philadelphia schools to run Family Math workshops for families with students in kindergarten through second grade. Families share a small meal, learn how to bring math concepts into their homes, do a hands-on activity, hear about effective resources, and reflect on what they’ve learned.
Workshops are conveniently located at the children’s school, usually around pick-up and drop-off time.
Partner schools can choose among six math concepts (counting, shapes, measurement, sorting and collecting, patterns, spatial sense) or run all six workshops as a series. WHYY delivers workshops in Spanish and English.
Early Literacy: WHYY Story Time and WHYY Little Libraries
The Early Education team partners with childcare centers to bring WHYY Story Time to Philadelphia’s Pre-K students. At weekly visits to each partner center, our team reads carefully selected culturally appropriate books and leads the children in related movement and craft activities. WHYY often leaves children with books to help build their home libraries.
WHYY also installs and maintains Little Free Libraries throughout the region. These Libraries are placed at rec centers and playgrounds and are stocked with books on a regular basis to ensure our communities have access to age-appropriate, culturally relevant reading materials.
You can find WHYY Little Libraries in Philadelphia at Tustin Rec Center in Overbrook, CommUnity Garden @ the Creek in Mill Creek, Ferko Playground in Juniata Park, Athletic Rec Center, in Brewerytown, and outside WHYY’s Independence Mall studio. We also have one library in Swedesboro, NJ, and one in Wilmington, DE.
Social Emotional Learning: Albie’s Elevator and the Infinite Art Hunt lesson plans and workshops
WHYY’s original TV series Albie’s Elevator and the Infinite Art Hunt help children learn important social emotional skills through an arts lens. Each episode has an accompanying lesson plan that features discussion guides, book suggestions, and a craft activity inspired by the episode.
All episodes and lesson plans are available in English and Spanish on PBS LearningMedia, including the dedicated collections for Albie’s Elevator and The Infinite Art Hunt.
WHYY’s Early Education has piloted a workshop series for families based on the Albie’s Elevator curriculum. The four-session workshop helps families navigate their children’s social-emotional growth through Albie episodes and their associated lesson plans.
Engaging Families: Family and Community Learning Workshops
PBS Family and Community Learning Workshops follow an eat, explore, make, share model. Inspired by PBS Kids content, each four-session workshop invites families to develop a culture of learning together. Families share a meal, learn new concepts, build together, and share their results.
Parents and caregivers are their kids’ first teacher. Developed by PBS SoCal and trans-created in Spanish and English, Family Math gives parents and caregivers the skills, language and confidence they need to introduce and reinforce math concepts at home.
WHYY’s Early Education team partners with Philadelphia schools to run Family Math workshops for families with students in kindergarten through second grade. Families share a small meal, learn how to bring math concepts into their homes, do a hands-on activity, hear about effective resources, and reflect on what they’ve learned.
Workshops are conveniently located at the children’s school, usually around pick-up and drop-off time.
Partner schools can choose among six math concepts (counting, shapes, measurement, sorting and collecting, patterns, spatial sense) or run all six workshops as a series. WHYY delivers workshops in Spanish and English.