View, Do and Read

Grover Kids can go around the world on a new season of Sesame Street
By Jessica L. Taylor

For its 34th season, Sesame Street has unveiled some significant changes to bring you and your child educationally-sound and enjoyable programming.

Some of these changes include a deeper focus on school readiness and the introduction of new segments such as "Global Grover." In response to the heightened tensions around the world, this new segment teaches children how to respect and appreciate other cultures as lovable, furry Grover travels far and wide, sharing what he's learned with young viewers. Like all of the segments on Sesame Street, "Global Grover" focuses on specific educational goals for preschool-aged children.

The new season also features several celebrity guest stars, including First Lady Laura Bush, Sheryl Crow, Natalie Portman, Diane Sawyer, Wayne Brady, and Nick and Aaron Carter.

View
Sesame Street airs weekdays at 6:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. on WHYY TV12. On Thursday, May 22 at 1:30 p.m., watch the episode "Big Bird Writes a Story" and then help your child do the following activity.

Do
Create Your Own Ending This is a great activity to do with young children because it provides them with outlets for imagination, curiosity and discussion, while teaching them the necessary tools for personal development and growth.

Begin by reading a story to your child or to a group of children. Make sure to get the kids involved while reading the story by asking questions and showing them the pictures.

Instead of finishing the book, have the children create their own alternate endings. Talk about what they think will happen and why. For fun, you can also have them draw pictures of what their alternate ending would look like.

After the children discuss their own endings to the story, read the ending of the book and encourage them to talk about which endings they liked most and why.

Crayon Fun This activity reinforces the educational goals of Sesame Street by helping your child develop alphabetical and numerical skills, which promote school readiness. Visit www.pbskids.org/sesame to print out various coloring pages.

What You'll Need:

Coloring pages
Crayons

Instructions: Each episode of Sesame Street focuses on a particular letter and number. As you watch Sesame Street with your children, pay special attention to the letter and number of the day.

When the show ends, give your child one coloring page with the letter of the day and one with the number of day. Have your child color each one of these, while talking about examples of the letter or number. (For example: "A" is for apple, alligator and arm.) Create a place for your child to hang his or her artwork where you can see it daily.

Read

The Monster at the End of the Book by Jon Stone; illustrated by Michael Smollin After watching "Global Grover," children will love reading a book featuring this funny, furry character. As the story begins, Grover is worried because there's a monster at the end of the book. He begs and pleads readers to stop turning pages, doing everything he can to avoid reaching the end. Your child will be delighted to find out who the real monster is at the end of the book! Recommended for preschool-aged children.

1, 2, 3 by Elmo illustrated by Mike Pantuso In this wonderfully charming book, Elmo shows how much he loves numbers by writing a book about them. Children can help Elmo count his shoes, the candles on his birthday cake and many other things. Elmo's personal crayon drawings are sure to be a hit, and may even inspire your child to write his or her own book about numbers! Recommended for preschool-aged children.