Greetings from The Paley Center for Media’s Education Department!
Welcome to the latest installment of “What We’re Watching,” a weekly Paley Education@Home guide. During this unprecedented time, we thought we would reach out to our community with some tips and ideas for consuming media with your kids! We know that screen time has increased so we’re here to help! Each week we are highlighting a different theme that connects to two selected programs, one for younger kids and one for older students, each with related activities.

Consuming media with your kids is a perfect jumping-off point to making media literacy a part of your everyday lives. Familiarizing yourself with the basics is a great first step. In case you missed it, you can view our first edition about media literacy best practices. We also recommend the National Association for Media Literacy Education’s Parents Guide—it’s a terrific introduction!
Weekly Zoom Meet-ups
Thursdays, 3:00 to 3:30 pm ET
Students Grades 3+ can join us for a weekly Zoom Meet-up, Thursdays from 3:00 to 3:30 pm ET, to chat about the week’s theme and engage in some hands-on learning led by a Paley Educator. Parents and teachers are welcome to join as well!

For connection details, please RSVP to eduny@paleycenter.org.
What We're Watching: Pride Month
Happy Pride! This month would have been the fiftieth anniversary of New York City’s iconic Pride March. While the march is cancelled due to social distancing, that doesn’t mean we can’t still celebrate! Parents and educators know how important media representation is for young audiences. It can’t be discounted how critical it is for kids to see themselves, their families, and their experiences on screen. If you’re interested in the academic side of things, check out this article from Media Smarts. Maybe an even more compelling illustration of this truth comes from listening to young people themselves. In this PBS NewsHour article, teens articulate their thoughts and feelings about media representation candidly. So let’s celebrate Pride by watching some great TV! Our picks this week aren’t just terrific examples of LGBTQ+ storytelling, they’re also funny, creative, and action-packed. We hope you enjoy them as much as we do!
This Week's Recommendation for Younger Kids: Danger & Eggs
Danger & Eggs: “Chosen Family” Season 1, Episode 13 (2017)
Recommended for Grades 1+
Available to stream on Amazon Prime Video

The best way to describe Danger & Eggs is that it’s a total blast! D.D. Danger, a thrill-seeking young girl, and Phillip, a cautious anthropomorphic egg, are total opposites and best friends. In this episode D.D. and Phillip attend the city’s annual Pride festival and find out more about what it means to be part of a chosen family (while also protecting the mutant plants and animals living underground from a seriously overzealous Captain Banjo and her super weapon). As the theme song says, it’s kind of hard to explain but it’s definitely fun to watch!
Viewing Questions
  • What do you notice about D.D.? What are some of her characteristics?
  • What do you notice about Phillip? What are some of his characteristics?
  • Who do you meet at the festival? What do you notice about them? What are they saying? What are they doing? What do they care about?
  • Who is Captain Banjo? What are some of her characteristics?
  • What is the problem in this story? What is the solution? What does the solution teach us?
  • What is a chosen family? Why is a chosen family so important to these characters?

Extension Activity: Get Crafty
In this episode, D.D. and Phillip use the mutant plants they find underground to make bright, colorful costumes and decorations for the Pride festival. Take a page out of their book and flex your creative muscles with some Pride-themed crafts rounded up here:

Additional Resources

This Week's Recommendation for Older Students: Steven Universe
Steven Universe: “The Return / Jailbreak” Season 1, Episodes 48/49 (2015)
Recommended for Grades 5+
Available to stream on Hulu

Steven Universe, Cartoon Network's long-running series, ended earlier this year, making it the perfect binge-watching project for folks who don’t like to wait for new episodes. But more importantly, the series is just enchanting to watch. It’s a coming-of-age story about Steven Universe and his adventures with the Crystal Gems, his caretakers who happen to be wise, powerful aliens. In these two short episodes (they both have a quick eleven minute runtime), Steven and the Gems take on a new threat that exposes more about their origins.

Viewing Questions
  • What kind of character is Steven? What words would you use to describe him?
  • What kind of character is Garnet? What do you find out about her?
  • What about the other characters you meet? Who stands out to you? Why?
  • What is the problem in this story? What is the solution? What does the solution show us?
  • How does the story represent a diversity of families, relationships, and love?
  • How can fantastical or sci-fi stories expand our own understanding of the world?

Extension Activity
Fans of Steven Universe know that so much of the show’s charm and style comes from the character and background design. Using this article as inspiration, try to design some characters and settings for your own stories:

Additional Resources


Teen Corner!
While both of the programs we’ve recommended this week can certainly be enjoyed by teens, here is a quick list of more movies and TV shows that also might appeal to older students!

Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997) on Hulu, Grade 7+
Everything’s Gonna Be Okay (2020) on Hulu, Grade 9+
Glee (2009) on Netflix, Grade 9+
Love, Simon (2018) rental, Grades 8+
Marvel’s Runaways (2017) on Hulu, Grade 9+
Moonlight (2016) on Netflix, Grade 12+
Pose (2018) on Netflix, Grade 10+
Pride (2014) on Amazon Prime Video, Grade 10+
Rocko’s Modern Life: Static Cling (2019) on Netflix, Grade 5+
RuPaul’s Drag Race (2009) on Hulu, Grade 9+
Sex Education (2019) on Netflix, Grade 11+
She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018) on Netflix, Grade 5+
Paley Online Classes
Explore these rich, full online classes, with complete thematic descriptions, clips from the Paley Archive, pre- and post-viewing questions, associated vocabulary, further online resources, and more.
and more!

As always, if you have any questions, thoughts, or ideas, don’t hesitate to reach out to us at eduny@paleycenter.org.

Happy viewing,
Rebekah Fisk, Director of Education
Caroline Quigley, Senior Manager of School & Family Programs

Photo Credits—Danger & Eggs: Amazon; Steven Universe: Cartoon Network
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