Four Texas Districts, Schools Select PBS KIDS PLAY!

Tribal Nova, co-publisher of PBS KIDS PLAY! with PBS KIDS, today announced that Bastrop Independent School District (ISD), San Marcos ISD, Caddo Grove Elementary in Joshua ISD, and Calvary Episcopal School & College Preparatory selected the adaptive online learning program to help students develop school readiness skills, such as literacy and critical thinking. In addition, Aldine ISD, a Houston area district of 75 schools, has incorporated PBS KIDS PLAY! Classroom Edition into a pilot program to supplement early education classroom activities.

The public school districts and private school selected PBS KIDS PLAY! since it aligns to TEKS and Common Core State Standards and supports personalized and blended learning.

The program uses interactive games, popular PBS KIDS characters and cross-curricular content to engage students in preschool, kindergarten and first-grade classrooms and computer labs. PBS KIDS PLAY! adapts the level of challenge based on students’ individual learning progress in 35 skill areas, allowing them to learn at their own pace while exploring their interests.

Bastrop ISD incorporates the program into 12 district classrooms, two daycare centers and five Head Start centers. Allison Higginbotham, a Pre-K teacher at the district’s Bluebonnet Elementary School has been using PBS KIDS PLAY! in her classroom since October 2012. She has seen an improvement in language and social-emotional skills, as well as technology and computer skills.

“PBS KIDS PLAY! has been a significant asset to my Pre-K classroom,” said Higginbotham. “The program targets a variety of age-appropriate, academic skills through interactive games that allow the students to work at their own pace and ability level. My students know all the characters from their favorite PBS KIDS TV shows, and the characters keep them motivated to continue exploring and learning.”

Higginbotham explains that the program helps enhance computer and technology skills, since students must use the mouse and keyboard to engage in the games. Her students’ parents were impressed with the computer skills their children were learning from the program, and were equally pleased that the program includes home access, so their children could continue learning beyond the classroom.

The product’s new Home Access feature also enables parents to stay apprised of their child’s progress and assignments at no extra cost. Another new feature allows teachers to assign lessons and to track student progress at the individual and classroom level through an easy-to-use administration and reporting tool.