(light music) - Good morning everyone!

I'm so excited to be here with you today.

- [Jason] It's story time for preschoolers at Hidden Valley Elementary.

- I'm so excited!

Do you remember, what do we call our program?

- [Jason] Story Stars with Sarah.

- Can you say Story Stars?

- [Group] Story Stars!

- [Host] Led by PBS Charlotte Education and Outreach coordinator, Sarah Woldum.

- Say "I'm a Story Star!"

- [Group] I'm a Story Star!

- I'm a Story Star!

- I'm a Story Star!

- Yes!

- [Host] Before getting to the story of the day, Sarah leads the kids through some fun voice exercises to get those vocal chords ready.

- [Sarah] Open, shut them, give a little quack, quack, quack!

- [Host] She's a natural in the classroom and there's good reason for that.

- I taught for about seven years and I taught toddlers, so like 15 months to three years old and it was a Montessori program.

This book is called "We Are Different, We Are the Same, and We're All Wonderful," so I'm gonna need your help while I read this story.

- [Host] Engaging the kids and keeping them involved, Sarah frequently stops to ask them questions along the way.

- This person looks happy, they have a burger.

How do you feel?

How do you feel?

- So like the story they did today, we actually have been talking about feelings.

So that actually related back to what we actually have been learning about how people have different feelings and it's okay to have a different feeling.

- I think one of the things I was the most worried about is getting over kids being really shy around me or something, but that has not been a problem.

They're all so excited to be a part of it and they all wanna answer questions.

They wanna be part of activities, they wanna participate, which is really fun.

Our skin is different.

Our skin is the same.

It tells us something's cold or hot or wet or dry.

It knows a lot.

- [Host] The Story Stars program was designed to get preschoolers excited about reading and learning because as studies has shown time and time again, kids that know how to read at a young age are set up for later success in school.

- I can't emphasize the importance of the fundamentals of learning how to read while you are in pre-K. Students' literacy skills is basically a great determinant on how they're gonna succeed in life.

And so for PBS to continue their partnership and use characters that the students are aware of via what they watch on TV and Sesame Street, it just further draws them in to this great program that PBS is doing with literacy now.

- If you go outside today and you don't have a coat on, your skin will tell you it's cold!

Go put a coat on!

- [Host] And having a different voice in the classroom keeps kids engaged.

Giving teachers like Allyson Armstrong a little break in their busy day.

- When I told them yesterday that Miss Sarah was coming back, they were like, "Oh, miss Sarah.

Yeah!"

So they really look forward to her coming in because she brings different things that we may not have given to the students yet.

- And they're not just sending volunteers out here.

These are trained professionals that PBS send out here to work with our students.

So it's a dual experience in which the students learn, but also our teachers get to see other techniques on delivering literacy content to their students.

So a lot of times they'll take that content that they use, that they saw from PBS and they'll implement it within their lessons going forward.

So it's been a win-win for both.

- [Host] The Story Stars program is also taking place at University Meadows Elementary.

Between the two schools, Sarah is working with eight preschool classes, over 160 students total.

She's also doing a version of the program for PBS Charlotte's YouTube channel.

The program was all made possible by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

PBS Charlotte was thrilled to be awarded a two year grant to fund and support the initiative.

- That grant, they wanted it focused on children ages two to eight, and they wanted it focused on computational thinking, everyday literacy, and the world of work, like early career awareness.

Part of the grant process was going into the community and talking with people and finding out what they want and what programs are already out there and how we can build on those programs.

Or maybe there is a gap that we can fill.

Our bodies are the same.

They stretch and bend and work and play.

They all need food and rest each day.

- [Host] And this isn't the first time a grant has allowed PBS Charlotte to assist in early childhood education.

The Creative Coders program taught kids the basics of coding all while having fun.

- Once again, I want to thank PBS for our over three year partnership that we've had here at Hidden Valley Elementary School working with our pre-K students.

The coding program was an absolute success, especially during the Covid shutdown because it gave students, pre-K students, an opportunity to do online work doing coding, - [Host] And you don't need to be in preschool to take advantage of what PBS Charlotte has to offer.

Visit us at wtvi.PBSLearningMedia.org There you'll find hundreds of free digital resources in every academic category, and it's all tied to state academic standards from preschool through to 12th grade.

And did we mention it's free?