Wonder Media, the animation studio co-founded by the former CEO of Klasky Csupo (studio incubator of The Simpsons and Rugrats), is offering free WonderGrove Social Skills instructional animations to U.S. educators. Addressing critical thinking, problem solving and promoting connectedness; the animations are titled “Know How to Handle Bullying” and “Always Tell the Truth.”
The two free lessons will be available December 20, 2019 here.
The suite of 225 lessons inspire children to form emotional attachments with animated characters stimulating effortless learning. WonderGrove Social Skills has been implemented in more than 23,000 classrooms nationwide and the studio forecasts that number to double in 2020.
WonderGrove Social Skills animations were developed to inspire every child to realize his or her full potential before third grade. The lessons are built around the six critical areas of early learning that impact a child’s ability to succeed: social emotional learning, problem solving, classroom behavior, wellness, critical thinking and metacognitive thinking. The initiative uses animated stories to model life skills that can be used inside and outside of the classroom at a time in a child’s life when they are most impressionable and are developing crucial habits that will impact their futures.
“This has been my life’s work. I know the power of animation: both in its ability to communicate complex ideas simply and concisely, and its power to model appropriate behavior for children because of the way connect to the characters,” said Wonder Media CEO, Terry Thoren. “Telling the truth when it is difficult and being kind are skills that will shape a child’s entire future, relationships, career and world. The Centers for Disease Control suggest early implementation of social emotional learning skills in order to help lower incidents of suicide, the second leading cause of death amongst those aged 10-24.”
WonderGrove Social Skills features five animated characters — Chris, Dee, Maria, Marcus and Peter — who are in 2nd grade and model appropriate behaviors in clever stories to connect with students in a profound way. WonderGrove Social Skills are available to educators in English, Spanish and Arabic.
