Schoolhouse Rock
Posted on June 28, 2008 at 8:00 am
Just after the Children’s Television Workshop realized that if children could memorize advertising jingles they could learn the alphabet and numbers and other important lessons through lively short films for PBS, a group of advertisers and educators got together to create “Schoolhouse Rock,” a series of fifty-two short films with irresistibly catchy songs about history, grammar, math, science, and economics shown on ABC in the 70’s and 80’s.
Schoolhouse Rock was discontinued because for technical reasons it did not count toward the network’s obligation for educational programming. But the films are delightful and the content is valuable. They are available today on DVD and YouTube. Here is one to help children understand why we celebrate Independence Day.
Families will also enjoy Schoolhouse Rock! Rocks
I love these… I’ve shown my kids all the ones I could find on YouTube and we go around singing ‘Interplanet Janet’ all the time 😀
To this day you cannot begin a lessons on civics and legislation without someone starting to sing quietly (for a while, until the whole group chimes in), “I’m a Bill”. And no grammer lesson is complete without a chorus of “Conjunction junction, what’s your function”. These little bits of education were positively brilliant, and have had an effect on more than one generation of learners.