City Island

CEO SPOTLIGHT

CITY ISLAND TEACHES CHILDREN HOW COMMUNITIES WORK THROUGH CIVICS AND

by GPB CEO Teya Ryan

Look for a new character on the PBS KIDS programming lineup beginning December 26. Watt, a little lightbulb with big ideas, is the star of City Island, a new series of animated digital shorts for early elementary school-aged children that features a civics curriculum, highlighting topics like cooperation, conflict resolution and city planning to foster young viewers’ understanding of how cities and communities work.

City Island main character Watt, the little lightbulb with big ideas.

City Island, a new PBS series of animated digital shorts for early elementary school-aged children.

Set in City Island, in each episode Watt meets all the cheerfully optimistic members of the community and learns about how they make the city run, exploring different locations like the library, airport, planetarium, art museum and more, all while working together to find the best solutions to simple problems and show that great ideas are one of our most precious resources.

In addition to civics, the series also touches on a social studies curriculum, including geography and economics. GPB also provides a wealth of learning resources for Pre-K – 12 students on these topics as well, including the Georgia Studies digital collection, Let’s Learn Georgia, Lights, Camera, Budget! and Econ Express. Visit gpb.org/education for more.

City Island character Wanda Wheel.