As schools and districts in the Central Florida area and across Florida transition to virtual learning to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, WUCF TV, Central Florida’s PBS station, today announced a plan to support at-home learning for students by delivering a new weekday television schedule of educational programs aligned to state standards and by creating a suite of free digital learning resources accessible from home.
“WUCF is here to support families, educators, and students as a community classroom during these challenging weeks. These school closures bring unique challenges for teachers, parents and caregivers in how to keep kids and teenagers engaged and learning,” said Dr. Phil Hoffman, WUCF executive director. “WUCF is helping to play a critical role in creating a learning environment with trusted and quality resources outside of the classroom and at home.”
WUCF TV will dedicate the daytime weekday schedule to educational programming provided by PBS. The new 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. schedule includes specific blocks of time for pre-K through 12th grade levels and covers subjects, including English, language arts, social studies, science and math. Programs such as Wild Kratts, SciGirls, NOVA, History Detectives, American Masters, Breakthrough: The Ideas That Changed The World, and Africa’s Great Civilizations will air weekdays from 6 a.m. through 6 p.m. View the daily schedule here.
WUCF, in partnership with PBS and other PBS stations across the country, have developed corresponding free digital content for at-home learning and support for teachers navigating this new learning landscape. Aligned to the same content standards and topic areas as the broadcast service, WUCF is creating and sharing the following free resources for teachers on our Educator Resources for Digital Learning page at wucf.org/digitallearning.
Educators at Central Florida schools and districts can contact WUCF’s education staff directly at wucfeducate@wucf.org with at home learning support questions and requests.