For Immediate Release
Tuesday, July 19, 2016
Contacts:
Beth Spezia, WSIU Education & Community Engagement, (618) 453-5595, beth.spezia@wsiu.org; Miriam Richardson, Children’s Librarian, Eldorado Memorial Public Library, (618) 273-7922
WSIU and Eldorado Memorial Public Library to Host Free Screening of PBS KIDS Odd Squad Movie on July 30
Carbondale, Ill. – Area families are invited to join the fun when WSIU Public Broadcasting, a public media service of Southern Illinois University, and the Eldorado Memorial Public Library team up to present a free screening of the first-ever movie of the popular PBS KIDS series Odd Squad on Saturday, July 30 beginning at 10am. The event coincides with the library’s Summer Reading Wrap-Up Party and will take place at the library, located at 1001 Grant Street in Eldorado, Illinois.
All participants will receive special agent badges and engage in Odd Squad math activities. Children will receive awards for the books they have read during the summer months.
In Odd Squad: The Movie, the Odd Squad is run out of business when a rival group of adults that calls itself Weird Team arrives with a gadget that fixes any odd problem. The agents are forced to disband and return to life as regular kids. When they learn the gadget isn’t solving problems, but only covering them up, Odd Squad agents from season 1 team up with Season 2 agents to disprove the Weird Team and save the world.
“Odd Squad gives kids a smart, funny series that they can relate to, while simultaneously building their interest in math and problem-solving,” said Beth Spezia, WSIU’s Education and Community Engagement Representative. “With the new episodes and first-ever movie from Odd Squad this summer, we’re excited to bring families more fun from a series whose signature approach to learning has proven to be effective.”
Guest stars Jack McBrayer (30 Rock) and Hannah Simone (New Girl) bring their comedic talents to Odd Squad: The Movie, which debuts on WSIU-TV 8 and WUSI-TV 16 on Monday, August 1 at 7am and again at 2pm. Additional broadcasts include August 3 at 3pm, August 5 at 7am and 2pm, and August 6 at 6am. The movie also will be available to stream starting August 1 on pbskids.org and the PBS KIDS Video App, which is available on a variety of mobile devices and on platforms such as Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, Xbox One and Chromecast. In addition, new Odd Squad games will be available on pbskids.org and the PBS KIDS Games app.
The Odd Squad series airs weekdays at 3:30pm on WSIU Public Television. In each episode, the agents use math and collaboration skills to solve problems. In a recent study from WestEd, “Odd Squad: Learning Math with PBS KIDS Transmedia Content at School and at Home,” first-graders’ knowledge of algebraic thinking, as well as numbers and operations, increased significantly after using Odd Squad digital and hands-on resources.
New digital content from Odd Squad includes “Cases,” an online game that invites kids to use math skills and deductive reasoning to find the culprit behind odd happenings.
Odd Squad is created by Tim McKeon and Adam Peltzman, and produced by Sinking Ship Entertainment and The Fred Rogers Company. The series is funded in part by the Heising-Simons Foundation and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB).
About WSIU Public Broadcasting
WSIU Public Broadcasting is licensed to the Board of Trustees of Southern Illinois University and is an integral part of the College of Mass Communication & Media Arts on the Carbondale campus. The WSIU stations reach more than three million people across five states and beyond through three digital public television channels, three public radio stations, a radio information service, a website, and an education and community outreach department.
WSIU's mission is to improve the quality of life of the people they serve. The WSIU stations partner with other community organizations to promote positive change and to support the academic and public service missions of Southern Illinois University Carbondale. Learn more and get the latest station news online at wsiu.org and on WSIU's Facebook and Twitter pages.
WSIU's programs and services are partially funded by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency.
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