New Self-Regulation Curriculum Helps
Children Learn Critical Skills Directly Linked to School Readiness and
Future Academic Success Additionally, Season 44 Features New Latino
Neighbor “Armando”
Hollywood’s Biggest Stars Visit the
Street, Including Charlize Theron, Usher, Henry Cavill, Troy Polamalu,
Tyler Perry, Dwight Howard, Forest Whitaker, Anna Kendrick and Dave
Matthews
"Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit educational organization, launches
Sesame Street’s 44th season on
PBS KIDS September 16 (check
your local listings) with a funny new segment, “Cookie’s Crumby Pictures.” In each five-minute segment of
“Cookie’s Crumby Pictures” children will learn many strategies and activities that promote the
self-regulation curriculum. Additionally, Sesame Street viewers will get to watch the new Latino neighbor,
“Armando,” played by actor Ismael Cruz Córdova. Other
season highlights include new original songs and street stories; new
“Elmo the Musical” segments; new animations and, as always, new
hilarious spoofs and celebrity appearances!
Season 44 of Sesame Street continues the show’s long tradition of tackling current issues that are relevant to preschoolers and school readiness.
Self-regulation is a set of critical skills for preschoolers that
affects children socially, behaviorally and academically.
Unfortunately, children often begin kindergarten without important
skills, such as being able to follow directions, stay on task
with focused attention and regulate their own emotions using concrete
strategies. In fact,
kindergarten teachers view self-regulation as being more essential
for school readiness, than academic skills, such as counting or
recognizing letters. Yet, they report that over half their students start school lacking good self-regulation abilities[1].
In the short term, this affects school readiness. In the long term,
poor development of self-regulation is linked with aggressive behavior,
low academic achievement, delinquency and higher dropout rates[2].
Fortunately,
self-regulation skills can be taught during the preschool years and
development of these skills happens rapidly. Children can learn the
behavioral strategies such as regulating emotions, controlling
and resisting impulses and exerting self-control – skills essential for
social-emotional competence and academic success.
“By modeling strategies
and behaviors that promote self-regulation and executive function,
Sesame Street’s engaging and loveable monsters and diverse human cast
can help children learn important school readiness
skills and life lessons,” said Dr. Rosemarie Truglio, SVP Education and
Research at Sesame Workshop. “Our self-regulation curriculum offers
opportunities to develop and build children’s language skills, as well
as model appropriate vocabulary to express themselves,
reflect on the feelings of others and learn strategies for responding
to academic or social and emotional challenges.”
“Cookie’s Crumby Pictures” is a brand new segment that parodies the coming attractions of popular movies and reinforces the show’s
self-regulation curriculum. For 44 years, Cookie Monster has
struggled with intermittent success to consciously control his thoughts,
actions and emotions. Through seven hilarious spoofs, including “Life
of Whoopie Pie,” “The Spy Who Loved Cookies,”
“Les Mousserables” and “The Hungry Games,” we’ll see Cookie Monster
attempt to master
executive function skills – a key component of self-regulation.
He’ll display self-control (try not to eat the cookie), delayed
gratification (eat the cookie later), flexible thinking (think about
something else so you don’t eat the cookie), working
memory (remember a strategy that worked before to keep from eating the
cookie) and task persistence (being motivated to not give up while
waiting to eat the cookie). Along with Cookie Monster, children will
also learn about identifying and managing emotions
and empathy.
Additionally, new games available on
sesamestreet.org and
PBSKIDS.org/sesame will be launching this fall for both desktop computers and iOS/Android tablets. On sesamestreet.org,
kids will steer Cookie Monster as he drives and races along different learning-themed roads
to see how many laps they
can complete before the cookie crumbles! Kids will need to
remember, listen and follow directions
as they
race against the crumbling cookie in a variety of exciting executive function learning-based
tracks! Preschoolers
will be able to build their own cart, select from three different
tracks and collect special power-ups that will aid them along the way. On
PBSKIDS.org/sesame, kids will be able to play self-regulation-themed
games based on three new “Cookie’s Crumby Pictures” segments from the
show, and even more new games will be available on PBSKIDS.org/sesame in
the coming months.
“Cookie Monster is the
poster child for attempting to master self-regulation and executive
function skills and therefore the perfect character for preschoolers to
identify and learn with,” said Carol-Lynn Parente,
Executive Producer of Sesame Street and SVP of Content at Sesame Workshop.
Sesame Street
is constantly evolving and has a long-standing history of modeling a
diverse community. As producers were identifying the realities
of the changing American population, it was important to represent that
diversity in the new addition to the cast. “Armando,” a writer from
Puerto Rico, will join
Sesame Street’s bilingual community and share his heritage and
culture with the rest of the neighborhood. In “Mando’s” premiere
episode, it’s a Latino Festival on
Sesame Street! The neighborhood is filled with people from all
around Latin America. “Mando” teaches Rosita and friends about how each
country in Latin America is different but there is one special thing
that Latinos have in common – most of them speak
Spanish! The journey to find the new cast member began in August 2012
when hundreds of young hopefuls turned up for
Sesame Street’s first-ever open casting call held in New York
City. Actors showcased their Spanish fluency, comedic timing and vocal
abilities during a day of auditions and subsequent call-backs. You can
follow
Sesame Street’s quest to find “Mando” here.
New street stories and segments will not only highlight the 44th season’s curriculum, but also delight fans of all ages. In “Simon Says,” Simon, played by
Game of Thrones’ Peter Dinklage, comes to Sesame Street to have
players compete in the game and gives Telly and Elmo some advice on how
to pay attention and follow directions. In “The Wild Brunch,” the
zookeeper, played by Audra McDonald, helps Snuffy
learn some strategies on remembering directions and task persistence.
Additionally, a re-make of the popular
Sesame Street song, “I Love My Hair,” is now sung in Spanish by “Mando” and the same inspirational puppet-girl from the original video.
An impressive line-up of
celebrities and headline makers are featured in the new season,
including Academy Award-winning and nominated actors
Charlize Theron, Forest Whitaker and Anna Kendrick; Golden Globe-winning and nominated actors
Lauren Graham and Sarah Michelle Gellar; Emmy Award-winning and nominated actors
Hank Azaria, Audra McDonald, Tyra Banks, Benjamin Bratt
and Tom Bergeron; Grammy Award-winning musicians Usher, Dave Matthews and
Romeo Santos; Superman’s Henry Cavill; Game of Thrones’
Lena Headey and Peter Dinklage; True Blood’s Rutina Wesley;
The Big Bang Theory’s Kunal Nayyar; How I Met Your Mother’s
Cobie Smulders; Grey’s Anatomy’s Jesse Williams; Once Upon A Time’s
Ginnifer Goodwin; Mike & Molly’s Billy Gardell; actors Tyler Perry,
John Cho, Josh Gad and J.R. Martinez; Pittsburgh Steelers’ and NFL star safety
Troy Polamalu; Houston Rockets’ center and NBA Slam Dunk Champion Dwight Howard; Los Angeles Angels’ star and three-time National League MVP
Albert Pujols; Olympic Gold-medalist Evan Lysacek and musical group
Pentatonix.
As always, Sesame Street is filled with hysterical moments for both children and their caregivers. This season’s spoofs include: “Homelamb,” a spoof of the television show
Homeland where the sheep agents try to discover if Brody is or is not the Big Bad Wolf by comparing him to a picture of a real sheep. In
“Sons of Poetry,” a spoof of the television show Sons of Anarchy, The Sons of Poetry help finish a poem by coming up with words that rhyme with “blue.”
Produced by the nonprofit educational organization,
Sesame Workshop, season 44 of
Sesame Street is funded in part by a grant through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and public television
viewers. Sesame Street is underwritten in part by Beaches Resorts,
Earth's Best Organic,
PNC,
UnitedHealthcare and
Party City. "
Visit Sesame Street at:
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About Sesame Workshop
Sesame Workshop is the nonprofit
educational organization that revolutionized children’s television
programming with the landmark
Sesame Street. The Workshop produces Sesame Street programs, seen in over 150 countries, and other acclaimed shows, including
The Electric Company, to help bridge the literacy gap. Beyond
television, the Workshop produces content for multiple media platforms
on a wide range of issues including literacy, health and military
deployment. Other initiatives meet specific needs
to help young children and families develop critical skills, acquire
healthy habits and build emotional strength to prepare them for lifelong
learning. Learn more at
www.sesameworkshop.org.
PBS KIDS, the number one educational media brand for kids, offers all children the opportunity to explore new ideas and new worlds through television, online, mobile and community-based programs. Kidscreen- and Webby-award winning pbskids.org provides engaging interactive content, including the PBS KIDS video player, now offering free streaming video accessible on computer- and mobile-device-based browsers. For more information on specific PBS KIDS content supporting literacy, science, math and more, visit pbs.org/pressroom, or follow PBS KIDS on Twitter and Facebook.
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