At Home Entertainment

Dozens of local and national artists, businesses, libraries, and museums are providing tons of entertainment and educational videos for families to use during this pandemic and time of social distancing. We’ve gathered some of our favorites to share with you.

Morning Story Time with Roanoke Public Library

Lunch Doodles with Mo Willems kennedy-center.org | Daily, 1 PM EST

Draw with one of our favorite children’s authors - of Elephant and Piggie fame! You can send your family’s questions and art to LUNCHDOODLES@kennedy-center. org

Join our local librarians as they read children’s books aloud on their YouTube channel, Roanoke Public Libaries, every morning at 10 AM EST!

Beginner Virtual Karate Class with Super Kicks Karate

Join our local masters as they lead your family through a beginner karate class at home! These classes are a great way for the entire family to get some physical movement during the day.

Dinner with Jim Gaffigan Nightly on YouTube and Instagram @jimgaffigan

We love Jim Gaffigan for his comedy, which often features his large and exciting family! They’ve invited fans to join them for dinner conversation and charades.

Boredom Busters with Kids Square Children’s Museum

One of Roanoke Valley Family’s FAVORITE local museums is going on Facebook Live DAILY (times vary, follow their Facebook page for details) and giving families great play-along ideas! Science experiments, pretend-play, story times, puppet shows and more! Not only that, they are giving away boredom buster kits, doing live shout outs to local kids and tons of fun surprises to keep every local family entertained while the museum is closed.

Virtual Zoo Visits Across America

Zoos across the country have closed to the public, but the animals are still having lots of fun! The following zoos and aquariums have live stream videos of animal exhibits, up-close animal investigations and even silly videos of penguins touring the zoos themselves! We’ve listed their social media handles and most common hashtags they use to share their videos. Dallas Zoo | @DallasZoo | #BringTheZooToYou Shedd Aquarium | @Shed_Aquarium Cincinnati Zoo | @CincinnatiZoo | #ZooHomeSafari Oregon Zoo | @OregonZoo San Diego Zoo | @SanDiegoZoo |#AnimalCams

As of printing, our local zoo - Mill Mountain Zoo - was continuing their regular feed of animal photos and behind-the-scenes videos of their exhibit expansions and animal care!

Virtual Draw Along with BeckaDoodles Love kitties? local artist BeckaDoodles will be livestreaming as she draws her adorable signature kittens! Your family can draw along and share your art with others! Join her on her Facebook page, BeckaDoodles The Art of Cute.

Teacher of the Month Melanie Potter

around trying to stay away from him so we didn’t get ‘stuck’ together! The other students joined in quickly to help me not get stuck to him or to help us get unstuck when he got too close. I love how easily they can make up a game and have fun. And it was a wonderful break from being an adult for a few minutes!”

Nominated by Breiton Hackworth

FUN FACTS

Q: What would you be doing if you weren’t a kindergarten teacher?

A: I’d probably be assisting my husband with his ministry job as a chaplain to local police officers and their families.

Q: What would your students be surprised to know about you?

A: I used to be very quiet and shy when I was a child. I had such a soft voice that it was hard for people to hear and understand me.

Congrats to the Roanoke Valley Family teacher of the month, Melanie Potter!

Mrs. Potter is a kindergarten teacher at Grandin Court Elementary, and was nominated by one of her students, Breiton Hackworth! She’s been teaching kindergarten for fifteen years, ten of which have been at Grandin Court. And she couldn’t imagine doing anything else.

“My favorite part about teaching kindergarten,” Mrs. Potter said, is seeing the look of wonder and excitement in students’ eyes when they learn something new. I love how enthusiastic they are about learning!”

A balance of high expectations and a loving, fun nature is what Mrs. Potter says helps make her classroom run smoothly. “If they’re having fun learning,” she said, “they don’t have time to focus on misbehaving. I also work hard to create a culture that is encouraging and positive.”

And that’s so important, because, as studies have shown, the earlyeducation classroom environment is key in cultivating positive behavior in kids. Warm teacher-student relationships build that positive foundation in their lives, and that’s what makes Mrs. Potter such an excellent educator.

It’s like Breiton said when he nominated her, “She is the best teacher because she is nice to me and loves me.”

One of the greatest things about teaching this age group, Mrs. Potter said, is the kids’ imaginations. “One of my students made up a game the other week while we were on the playground. If he got too close to me, we stuck together. I ended up running Q: What do you like to do in your free time?

A: I love reading, playing with my dogs, and doing ministry with my husband.

Q: At the end of the school year, what do you want your students to take with them?

A: I want them to remember how important — and fun — it is to be a “bucket filler.” Essentially, that means being nice and loving toward others, even when it’s hard.

to my mother to my sister to my daughter to my partner to my friend to the future to me to my mother to my sister to my daughter to my partner to my friend to the future to me I MADE A PROMISE. What ’ s your promise ? River’s Edge Sports Complex | Reserve Avenue | Roanoke, VA NEW EVENT DATE! Saturday, September 12th, 2020 | komenvablueridge.org/race to my mother to my sister to my daughter to my partner to my friend to the future to me

LOCALLY PRESENTED BY: SPONSORED BY:

Social Distancing and Your Family

Humans are social creatures - we’ve built our societies on this fact. We give new parents advice such as “It takes a village to raise a child” and remind each other than “no man is an island.” Extroverted or introverted, we need each other. But what does that community mean when it is in everyone’s interest to stay as far apart as physically possible? Thankfully, with today’s technology, we have many options to help keep our relationships with neighbors, teachers, family and friends. Roanoke Valley Family has gathered some of our favorite apps, educational programs, exercise videos and more that will not only keep your family entertained, but bonded with their community!

Zoom www.zoom.us Video Conferencing Free & Paid Plan options

Marco Polo www.marcopolo.me Video Messenger Free

Words With Friends 2 www.zynga.com Multiplayer Word Puzzle Game Free with in-app purchases Messenger Kids www.messengerkids.com Facebook Messenger for children Free with parental controls Netflix Party www.netflixparty.com Watch Netflix with your friends Desktop Only

Ticket to Ride www.daysofwonder.com Multiplayer Board Game app $3.99 iOS/ $6.99 Android

Transcendent Mozart

NEW DATE JUNE 26 • 6:00 PM

Shaftman Performance Hall Jefferson Center

Scholastic scholastic.com/learnathome free

Scholastic is well-known for their educational resources. During this crisis, they have curated a free set of Learning at Home lesson plans and resources for families to use. Their Learn at Home plan includes 3 hours of daily instruction for up to 4 weeks for each grade level.

NPR’s But Why? npr.org free

But Why is a show led by you, kids! You ask the questions and we find the answers. It’s a big interesting world out there. On But Why, we tackle topics large and small about nature, words, even the end of the world.

KidNuz kidnuz.org free

This is a newscast all their own - one that delivers current events in a kid-friendly package, sparks curiosity, and gets kids asking critical questions. KidNuz strives to engage the next generation with news that will inform without fear and educate without opinion. Why? Because kids are curious, the world is fascinating and knowledge is power!

Vooks vooks.com 1 free year for educators (including homeschool), $4.99/mo

Now your favorite children’s illustrated stories are animated videos! These beautiful video-books (or vooks) are a great way to keep kids’ attention during a lesson or play in the background during a quiet time.

Audible Stories stories.audible.com free

Free audiobooks, including classics, fairy tales, self-help and modern fiction.

Watch

CrashCourse thecrashcourse.com free

Crash Course is one of the best ways to educate yourself, your classmates, and your family on YouTube! From courses like Astronomy to US History and Anatomy & Physiology it’s got you covered with an awesome variety of AP high school curriculum topics. With various witty hosts at your service, you won’t even notice you’re getting smarter.

Curiosity Stream curiositystream.com $2.99/mo

It’s Netflix but for edcuational videos! Great documentaries, nature shows and more can be found on Curiosity Stream.

Kids Artspot kidsartspot.com 14-day free trial, $7.99/mo

Grab some common art supplies you’re sure to have on hand and follow along with simple-to-use, artist-led video instructions.

Google Arts & Culture artsandculture.google.com free

Take a virtual tour of some of the world’s most famous museums, landmarks and cultural sites, study the artworks and watch short videos discussing famous artists’ lives, work and inspiration.

Virtual Artful Journeys facebook.com/TaubmanMuseum free

Taubman Museum’s virtual Artful Journeys class is a great option for families to check out! With this free digital offering, you can evoke your child’s creative curiosity by working with a variety of materials and build their knowledge of artistic concepts. Working with our instructors, your child can create a piece of art to grow their understanding and love of art history and studio art.

Move

Cosmic Kids youtube.com/cosmickidsyoga free

On-demand instructional videos of yoga, mindfulness and relaxation designed specially for kids aged 3+, used in schools and homes all over the world.

Every Breath You Take The Music of Sting and the Police

NEW DATE JUNE 19 - 7:30 PM Salem Civic Center