Children's Report

Updated 12:06 AM EST, Wed, Jul 29, 2009

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NBC Connecticut is committed to serving the educational and informational needs of children. Copies of the station's written reports describing our efforts to provide children's educational and informational programming are on file at NBC Connecticut, 1422 New Britain Ave, West Hartford, CT 06110.

To view WVIT-TV's current and past children's filings, visit the FCC Web site at the following address:

http://svartifoss2.fcc.gov/prod/kidvid/prod/f398_ef.htm

QUBO ON NBC EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES

In compliance with the Children’s Television regulations that became effective January 2, 1997, the QUBO Programming Block on NBC features an on-air icon indicating that each program is “educational and informational” for children. This icon is displayed throughout the program. Also, in compliance with the regulations, the following document, which includes “educational and informational” objectives of QUBO on NBC, must be placed in our public file.

Each of the programs listed below, which make up the QUBO programming block, is specifically designed to serve the “educational and informational” needs of children ages 4-8. All of the programs have educational objectives that are central to the content and appropriate to the program genre.

All shows were developed specifically for a target audience composed of children 4-8 years of age. Each show contains an important social-emotional message for the target audience, delivered through an animated narrative format.

Based on the book series by Deborah Manchester, “The Zula Patrol” teaches science and astronomy facts to a target audience of 4-8 year old children. The Zula Patrol is a group of six animated aliens, headed by Captain Bula, who carry out a variety of scientific space missions. During their missions, Captain Bula and his crew often encounter their foe, Dark Truder, and his minion, Traxie, who are trying to take over the universe. Over the course of the story, the audience learns different facts about a specific space topic, such as stars, planets, orbits, moons, asteroids, comets, gravity, and space probes. The information is then highlighted during a segment where crew member Professor Multo delivers his Multo-Moments or summary of scientific facts from the story. Typically the stories also provide a social-emotional tag based on tolerance and non-violent conflict-resolution.

Based on the books by Laurent de Brunhoff, “Babar” is an animated show about a young orphaned elephant who finds the strength to rise above the challenges he faces, including the death of his parents, as he journeys through life. Each episode of the show develops a social-emotional message such as taking responsibility, being patient and persistent in hard work, respecting people's privacy, learning to cope with unforeseen changes, and being honest. These messages emerge from the need to resolve a dilemma that is faced by Babar, one of his friends or family members.

“My Friend Rabbit” models constructive problem solving for young children, ages 4-8. In each episode, the story characters find themselves facing a different dilemma that is drawn from a typical childhood experience. Rabbit and Mouse usually lead us through creative problem-solving, which involves tenacity and working in teams. The group may figure out how to make the most of a bad situation, invent toys from everyday objects, solve some of nature’s riddles, respect their differences, or take care of others who need a little extra help. The characters specialize in converting a challenge into a social activity filled with optimism, creativity and humor. The series helps children learn to “think out of the box” by showing viewers how the characters work together to come up with possible solutions, and persist with new ideas when one solution fails.

“3-2-1 Penguins!” features two children – Jason and Michelle – whose vacation at their grandmother’s cottage ends up being more adventure than they expect when their toy spaceship with four toy penguins comes to life. The children are sucked into the spaceship, where they meet the now live penguins and journey through space to solve an inter-galactic disaster threatening the penguins and their friends. Each story begins with a problem, a moral dilemma for one of the siblings that affects his/her relations with the other, and ends after the children have learned an important social-emotional message through their adventure with the penguins. The show communicates messages on topics such as honesty, being patient with others, and avoiding jealousy

“VeggieTales” is a children’s series featuring animated vegetables who teach life lessons through stories. Hosted by Bob the Tomato and Larry the Cucumber, each episode begins by establishing the problem, uses short stories to parallel the situation with a problem and solution, and ends by reiterating the proposed solution and the life lesson learned through the experience. The show communicates social-emotional messages based upon the core values of honesty, kindness, forgiveness, and appreciation for all, using music, unusual characters, and allegorical storylines.

Set in medieval times, “Jane and the Dragon” is an animated show that hails from Martin Baynton’s best-selling book about a middle class girl named Jane. Jane is raised in the Royal Court as a Knight-in-Training after she demonstrates her courage by leaving the castle to conquer the local dragon. The giant green Dragon, whose sense of humor exceeds his ferocity, instead becomes Jane’s best friend and a part of the castle community. In each episode, Jane encounters a challenge that tests her problem-solving skills and requires her to demonstrate her strength of character as a Knight of the King’s Guard. Sometimes Jane learns a moral lesson, and other times she uses her analytical ability to illustrate how a problem can be made less complicated and easily solved.