Bethel Park school third in nation for PBS family learning program
Lisa Bielozer works on a project with sons A.J., left, a second-grader, and kindergartner Dominic.
Angie Tena works on a project with son Jack, who is in kindergarten.
Second-grader Liliana Centrofanti and her mother, Dyan, work on a project.
First-grader Tessa Jackna works on a project with her mother, Bethany.
Third-grader Rena Diorio works on a project with her mother, Ellen.
First-grader Jiale Manuelli works on a project.
Projected onto the screen was a googly-eyed character in a blue suit, waving as he watched a dolphin swim back and forth, and do flips.
In the middle of the forest.
The audience of students and their parents at Bethel Park’s Abraham Lincoln Elementary School laughed at the silliness of the scenario, an expression of the creativity of kindergartner Jack Tena.
Jack and his mother, Angie, were among the 19 students and their family members to participate in the PBS KIDS Family Creative Learning Project held at the school on four consecutive Thursdays through October.
Lincoln is just the third school in the nation to participate in the program, through which children and family members have the opportunity to learn together in producing multimedia projects on electronic tablets. They use the PBS KIDS Scratch Jr. application, which is geared toward children ages 5 through 8.
“The funny thing is, our 5- to 8-year-olds are often much better at it than the adults, which is why this is a great thing for family learning,” Cathy Cook, manager of education projects for WQED, observed. “Those little ones are digital natives.”
Her station was selected as one of 11 PBS affiliates to be part of a Ready to Learn grant, funded by the U.S. Department of Education. WQED has joined locally with Lincoln school, Bethel Park Public Library and South Hills Interfaith Movement for program implementation.
“The fine folks at Abraham Lincoln approached us a long time ago about partnering with the library to do some inclusive things with families at their school,” Cook said. “We loved their ideas and thought it would be a great place to work.”
Volunteering to work with the 19 families participating in the program at Lincoln were school librarian Denice Pazuchanics and first-grade teacher Dawn Douds.
“They know the families,” Cook explained. “They’ve tweaked what PBS Kids has set out for Family Creative learning to look like, and they’ve matched it to our audience.”
Douds primarily worked with the children, in kindergarten through third grade.
“It was interesting for me to see how much they knew, their skill sets they brought to this whole process. I loved seeing them sitting side-by-side, shoulder-to-shoulder with their parents and working on something together,” she said. “The kids were very eager to share what they knew, what they learned. So I thought it was worthwhile from a family being together standpoint and from a technology standpoint, too.”
Pazuchanics, who worked with the adults, was especially impressed with the way the participants bonded.
“The first week, it wasn’t like they knew each other, even though they’re all from the same school,” she said. “Watching them now, the community that has arisen between them, is nice, as well.”
The multimedia projects were encouraged to tell a story with a beginning, middle and end, and the students had free rein to use elements available within the app. On the final night of the program, the entire group had an opportunity to see each project on the screen.
“I really enjoy working with my children,” Dyan Centrofanti, who has a daughter and son attending Lincoln, said about their participation. “It’s nice to spend time working on a project together and learning together.”
Second-grader Liliana and kindergartner Enzo have participated in similar programs at the school.
“I wanted to continue with the learning,” their mother said, “because they both enjoy it so much.”