Granny Ranny's Coming Attractions

Twelve children have been selected as winners of the national PBS KIDS GO! Writers Contest, an initiative designed to promote the advancement of reading skills by encouraging children to develop original stories and illustrations.  The winning entries (first, second and third place from grades K-3)  for the national-local Contest were chosen from over 25,000 submissions from across the country by a panel of America’s foremost children’s authors, illustrators and content experts including Ann M. Martin, author of The Baby-sitters Club® series; R.L. Stine, author of the Goosebumps® series; Marc Brown, creator of Arthur; Tony DiTerlizzi, creator of The Spiderwick Chronicles; and Lisa Henson, CEO of The Jim Henson Company, among others.  A complete list of the honorary judges can be viewed here .
 
The winning stories can be found on the Contest website, located on ReadyToLearnReading.org, along with audio recordings of beloved PBS KIDS GO! characters from MARTHA SPEAKS, WORD GIRL, and THE ELECTRIC COMPANY reading the winning entries aloud.  The website also features interactive writing activities as well as a special message from singer-songwriter and American Idol winner Jordin Sparks about the influence of writing in her life.
 
The national winners include:
 
Kindergarten
1st – Best Friends in Space, by Brooks Daniel/WHUT – Howard University, Washington, DC
2nd – Betsy’s Blue Feet, by Briar Ainscough/New Hampshire Public TV
3rd – The Ladybug Doesn’t Find Her Spots, by Farah Isabella Novoa/KCTS, Seattle, WA
 
First Grade
1st – Naughty Gnomes, by Meriah Nicole Fearon/WTVP 47, Peoria, IL
2nd – How to Get Rid of the Shy Bugs, by André F. Gomes Lopez/WXEL – West Palm Beach, Boynton Beach, FL
3rd – My Next-Door Neighbors, by Evan Kerr/HoustonPBS, TX
 
Second Grade
1st – The Forgotten Shadows, by Michaela Stell/WHUT – Howard University, Washington, DC
2nd – My Angel Wings, by Filumena Muro/Milwaukee Public Television
3rd – The Cat Who Went to Israel by Mistake, by Jordan Sara Barbour/Vermont Public Television
 
Third Grade
1st – The Secret Ingredient, by Tatiana Ortiz/KEDT, Corpus Cristi, TX
2nd – DESK: A Totally True Tale of Terror, by Ethan Hansen/Milwaukee Public Television
3rd – The Adventures of Sniffy, Pete and Drono, by Quinn Kribell/South Dakota Public Broadcasting
 
“We are proud that through our partnership with PBS KIDS GO! and PBS stations around the country, we are able to celebrate the success of all of the Contest winners and participants as they explore the importance of literacy and creativity,” said WNED President and CEO Donald K. Boswell.
 
The PBS KIDS GO! Writers Contest is a part of PBS KIDS Raising Readers, a national initiative which uses the power of public media to build the reading skills of children ages two to eight, with an emphasis on children from low-income families.  The effort is funded by a Ready To Learn grant from the U.S. Department of Education, part of a cooperative agreement with the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), PBS and The Ready To Learn Partnership. 

One of the official KIDS FIRST! Film Critics’ Search titles, The Secret of Moonacre, will screen in up to 150 theaters nationwide this Thursday, August 12. A list of theaters can be found here: http://www.screenvision.com/s/showing/SecretOfMoonacre/

SYNOPSIS: After being orphaned, young Maria Merryweather (Dakota Blue Richards must leave her luxurious home and live with her eccentric uncle Sir Benjamin (Ioan Gruffudd) at the mysterious Moonacre Manor. There, she discovers a magical moonlit world torn apart by an ancient feud and inhabited by outlandish characters and mythical beasts. Now, Maria must unearth the secrets of her past in order to fulfill her destiny… all before the 5000th moon rises and Moonacre Manor disappears into the sea forever.

Length: 103 minutes; Recommended for Ages: 8-12; Actors: Ioan Gruffudd, Tim Curry, Natascha Mcelhone, Juliet Stevenson, and Dakota Blue Richards

For more details and a discussion guide, go here.

Would you like to visit the set of the upcoming film THE HELP, and meet the all star cast? Here’s your chance!
Enter the contest, hosted by iVillage, and encourage others to do the same. We hope to see you on set! T

o Enter: http://the-help-ivillage-community.fotobabble.com/  

For Official Rules: http://www.ivillage.com/official-rules-help/1-a-218422  

ABOUT THE PROJECT: The Help has captivated readers and become one of the most talked-about books in years is coming to the big screen. DreamWorks Studios, Participant Media and Touchstone Pictures are excited to share Kathryn Stockett’s best-selling debut novel with you.  Published over a year ago, and propelled by passionate word of mouth, The Help spent the summer of 2009 circulating on everyone’s “Summer Must Read” lists. It continues to sit on The New York Times’ best-sellers list, where it has remained for 60 straight weeks. DreamWorks’ Stacey Snider and Holly Bario were early fans of the book and jumped on board after the project was acquired by 1492 Pictures. Participant Media recently joined the film and we all couldn’t be more thrilled to bring The Help to life on the big screen, especially for the book’s enthusiastic fan base. 

SYNOPSIS: The Help is a provocative and inspiring look at what happens when a southern town’s unspoken code of rules and behavior is shattered by three courageous women who strike up an unlikely friendship. Set in Mississippi during the 1960s, the film features Skeeter, a southern society girl who returns from college determined to become a writer, but turns her friends’ lives—and a small Mississippi town—upside down when she decides to interview the black women who have spent their lives taking care of prominent southern families. Aibileen, Skeeter’s best friend’s housekeeper, is the first to open up—to the dismay of her friends in the tight-knit black community. Despite Skeeter’s life-long friendships hanging in the balance, she and Aibileen continue their collaboration and soon more women come forward to tell their stories—and as it turns out, they have a lot to say. Along the way, unlikely friendships are forged and a new sisterhood emerges—but not before everyone in town has a thing or two to say themselves when they become unwittingly—and unwillingly—caught up in the changing times. 

ABOUT THE CAST: Headlining the cast are newcomer Emma Stone (from last year’s breakout hit “Zombieland”) as Skeeter and two-time Tony® winner and recent Oscar® nominee Viola Davis (“Eat Pray Love”) as Aibileen. Joining them is Bryce Dallas Howard (“The Twilight Saga: Eclipse”) as Hilly, the Junior League President whose obsession with maintaining the social status quo pushes everyone to their breaking point. Octavia Spencer is headstrong Minnie, Aibileen’s hot-tempered best friend, whose blatant honesty is always getting her in trouble. Jessica Chastain is Celia, the outcast from the wrong side of the tracks who marries a man above her “station” and whose desperation to fit in with polite society hides a painful secret.  Tate Taylor, a childhood friend of the author’s, is directing the film from a script he wrote. Brunson Green is producing along with 1492’s Chris Columbus and Michael Barnathan. The film’s executive producers are Tate Taylor, Mark Radcliffe, Dean Jones, Nate Berkus, Jennifer Blum, Jeff Skoll and Mohamed Khalaf Al-Mazrouei.  

Filming begins this summer in Greenwood, Mississippi, and will be released in theaters in 2011 and YOU have the chance to visit the set of the movie and meet the all star cast! We’d love for you to enter the contest, hosted by iVillage, and encourage your readers to do the same. We hope to see you on set!

A panel of America’s foremost children’s authors, illustrators and content experts will serve as final judges in the PBS KIDS GO! Writers Contest, a national-local contest designed to promote the advancement of children’s reading skills through hands-on, active learning.  The Contest, sponsored by PBS KIDS GO! and WNED-TV Buffalo/Toronto, encourages children in grades K-3 in communities across the country to celebrate the power of creating stories and illustrations by submitting their original work.
 
Eighty-seven (87) public television stations participated in this year’s contest, which generated over 25,000 submissions.  The national Contest winners are expected to be named in July 2010. The winning stories will be posted on the Contest Web site at ReadyToLearnReading.org , alongside a message from singer-songwriter and American Idol winner Jordin Sparks about the influence of writing in her life. Other new site features allow kids to create “Story Mashups,” put together “Story Stuff Pages,” vote for their favorite stories, and use a customized search tool to explore over 1,100 kid-created stories.
 
The PBS KIDS GO! Writers Contest is a part of PBS KIDS Raising Readers, a national initiative which uses the power of public media to build the reading skills of children ages two to eight, with an emphasis on children from low-income families. The effort is funded by a Ready To Learn grant from the U.S. Department of Education, part of a cooperative agreement with the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), PBS and The Ready To Learn Partnership. 

Presented by AFI Silverscreen Education, as a special feature of the AFI-Discovery Channel Silverdocs International Documentary Conference, SchoolDocs is an innovative strand of workshops, panel discussions and films investigating cutting edge practices in visual education directed to the needs of 21st century educators and students.

Activities:

• 3 days of engaging discussions
  Exposure to new technologies
  New pedagogical techniques with more than a dozen panels and hands on workshops
  one on one networking with documentary filmmakers
  An examination of race and representation in film
  Critical literacy: making connections with film
  Using filmmaking to help students understand subtext
  Turning curriculum into dynamic student movies
  Best practices and fair use for education
  Web resources for educators
  Stay ahead of the new technology for education

For more info go to www.silverdocs.com