04 Jul 2022 Season Two of ‘Rise and Shine’ begins today

CONWAY — Season Two of “Rise and Shine,” an extensive educational program designed to boost summer learning and offer K-5 students an engaging way to gain academic knowledge between school years, will kick off Tuesday, July 5, on Arkansas PBS. The six-week program airing weekdays from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. and livestreaming at myarpbs.org/watch, will feature lessons grounded in Arkansas academic standards and led by Arkansas teachers to reinforce learning in literacy, math, science and social studies. 

Season Two of “Rise and Shine,” a partnership of Arkansas PBS and the Arkansas Department of Education, will consist of national PBS KIDS educational programming, as well as more than 90 hours of high-quality, predominantly locally produced programming and resources available at no cost to families. The over-the-air broadcast of “Rise and Shine” will help fill the void for students who do not have internet access outside of school. The full schedule for week one – including hand-picked PBS KIDS episodes, teacher segments and more – can be found at myarpbs.org/riseandshine.

The six-week series will connect students with mini-lessons led by the following Arkansas Teachers of the Year:

• Jessica Saum, 2022 Arkansas Teacher of the Year.
• Susanna Post, 2021 Arkansas Teacher of the Year.
• Joel Lookadoo, 2020 Arkansas Teacher of the Year.
• Stacey McAdoo, 2019 Arkansas Teacher of the Year.
• Randi House, 2018 Arkansas Teacher of the Year.
• Courtney Cochran, 2017 Arkansas Teacher of the Year.
• Meghan Ables, 2016 Arkansas Teacher of the Year.

Additionally, two new guest teachers – Trey Suskie and Lady Molina – will host special segments.

Each weekday students will be taken on a virtual field trip with partners across the state. Field trips for week one will include:

• Little Rock Zoo to learn about snakes.
• Petit Jean State Park to learn about the history and the sites of the park.
• Arkansas Travelers to learn about all the different jobs it takes to make a baseball game work.
• Little Rock Rangers to learn all about how to be a great fan for the Little Rock Rangers Soccer Cub.
• City of Conway Recycling to learn about the importance of recycling and where all the trash goes.

Other special segments throughout the week will include science with “Wendy Weather Balloon”; nutrition information with “Zach Lunch”; Steve the Music Man music videos; “When I was a 3rd Grader” animated shorts; and a new segment “Spelling B’s with Benji and Bart.”

In addition to broadcasts, the programming will be available on-demand through streaming devices, the Engage Arkansas PBS app and on the Arkansas PBS website. A robust community outreach component will localize the effort in all counties. More information is available at myarpbs.org/riseandshine.

Families and organizations are encouraged to download “Rise and Shine” Power Packets – free summer learning activity kits that follow along with the series – to help extend learning beyond the broadcast. Power Packets are available in English and Spanish and can be downloaded at myarpbs.org/riseandshine.