On Tuesday, September 8, MontanaPBS will begin its Learn at Home programming. To accompany this programming, the broadcast station will be offering resources and curriculum for all grade levels on their Distance Learning at Home webpage. The MontanaPBS Learning Media website has additional resources for educators as well.

According to Nikki Vrandenburg, the Director of Education at Montana PBS, the education team hopes to support educators and families as schools navigate balancing in-person and distance learning. The broadcast will launch on September 8 and continue through December 18.

“MontanaPBS is proud to provide meaningful media resources for educators, parents, and families at school, via distance learning, or at home. We have collected a list of virtual and professional development assets for educators, as well as a list of educational resources for all grade levels,” Vrandenburg stated.

MontanaPBS will dedicate its daytime weekday schedule to Montana state standards-aligned educational programming provided by the Office of Public Instruction and developed by MontanaPBS. The 6:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. weekday schedule includes specific blocks of time for pre-K through grade eight levels and covers subjects including language arts, social studies, science, and math. MontanaPBS’ regular primetime schedule will not be affected by this change.

“We have spent our summer learning from and reflecting on our spring Learn at Home initiative so we could bring back an even better version of the program this fall,” said Vradenburg. “We’re very honored to provide educators and families around the state with free online and over-the-air resources to support their learning endeavors this fall, in whatever form that takes.”

MontanaPBS has curated corresponding free digital content for the Learn at Home programming in order to better support teachers navigating this new learning landscape. Aligned to the same Montana content standards and topic areas as the broadcast service, MontanaPBS shares the following free resources with teachers:

• Distance Learning Webpage: This webpage will include the weekly broadcast schedules (with embedded links in each portable data file that link to free digital resources), as well as articles and activities created and/or vetted by the MontanaPBS Education team, other public media organizations, and other trusted education partners.

• Digital Media Collections: Visitors to the site can view and download full resource collections that correspond with the TV broadcast schedule. Collections include curated media and lesson plans, sorted by grade level and subject area.

• Unplugged Learning Menus: All of the learning menus feature activities that do not require technology or an internet connection. These menus can be downloaded from the distance learning webpage.

Anyone with questions or an interest in learning more about specific resources is encouraged to contact Vradenburg at nikki@montanapbs.org or the Early Learning Specialist at MontanaPBS, Deanna Mydland, by emailing deanna@montanapbs.org.