Eight to teach preschoolers math skills with premiere of PBS KIDS program Peg + Cat

 New fall 2013 program teaches math concepts through entertaining adventures – premiering Oct. 7 on Eight

PHOENIX — (Sept. 20, 2013) Eight, Arizona PBS will premiere the new PBS KIDS’ animated preschool series Peg + Cat, Monday, Oct. 7 at 10 a.m., aiming to help kids learn foundational math concepts and skills through a series of adventures. Eight will unveil the funny and charming stories of spirited Peg and her sidekick Cat, with a special one-hour broadcast of two back-to-back episodes, along with integrated online and mobile content. The series will air daily on Eight following its premiere.

PEG + CAT is a multiplatform media experience. The interactive webpage features games, streaming video, parent and educator resources, a mobile app, and other content to support kids in learning fundamental math skills. These resources can be accessed via www.azpbs.org/peg.

Eight, Arizona PBS offers viewers a source for family-friendly programs online where they can explore PBS KIDS programming at https://azpbs.org/family/index.php. Through free, interactive games Eight allows PBS KIDS viewers a place to learn and discover more about their favorite characters, including KIP the Giraffe.

“Eight is excited to add Peg + Cat to its early childhood STEM collection of resources!” says Associate General Manager of Educational Outreach at Eight, Arizona PBS Kimberly Flack. “Everyday science and math happens first at home as cereal rolls around on the high chair tray. Open-ended questions encourage children and the adults in their lives to search for the answers together. We at PBS hope to simply help provide some additional tools to continue building on that curiosity from home to school as children grow and become ready to enter kindergarten.”

Emmy-winning co-creators Billy Aronson (Rent, Postcards from Buster) and Jennifer Oxley (Little Bill, The Wonder Pets!) have teamed with The Fred Rogers Company to bring young viewers an engaging and exciting way to experience math.

Every half-hour episode of Peg + Cat will feature two stories, each an eleven-minute adventure in which Peg and Cat find themselves thrust into an unexpected math word problem. But it’s not just an abstract academic exercise for them — it’s a messy and funny quandary they have to solve. The show focuses not only on helping kids build math skills, such as how to add or subtract, but on how to think about larger math concepts as well — concepts that form the foundation for learning math at any level, from kindergarten to calculus. In each episode, the duo use foundational concepts like relative size, geometry and algebraic thinking to solve the problem and save the day. The program’s curriculum is grounded in principles and standards for school mathematics as established by the National Association for the Education of Young Children, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics and the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics.

Eight also provides a free national content collection of resources accessible by a National and Common Core Standards search engine in http://az.pbs.learningmedia.org.  Eight’s education team travels statewide working with schools, districts, and community groups to provide professional development for educators in accessing these resources.  Preschool STEM content is included in this online collection.

Peg and Cat’s adventures take them through worlds of infinite possibilities — from farms to purple planets, from 16th-century Verona to New York’s Radio City Music Hall, from a land of pirates to a prehistoric valley — demonstrating that math is everywhere.  “Creative partnerships are the key to great children’s television, and we fell in love with Peg + Cat the first time we saw it,” said Kevin Morrison, chief operating officer of The Fred Rogers Company. “This is a math series, and if you add up Jennifer’s beautiful visual style, Billy’s sense of humor, The Fred Rogers Company and PBS, the sum will be a hit.”

The addition of Peg + Cat to the Eight PBS KIDS programming lineup will also change the daytime schedule.  For details on the new program lineup, viewers can refer to Eight’s online schedule: https://azpbs.org/schedule.php.

Media Contact:  Colleen O’Donnell Pierce
[email protected]
(602) 496-0579
(602) 478-3867 (cell)
Visit azpbs.org/pressroom

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Arizona PBS is a member-supported community service of Arizona State University and the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication.