New literacy-focused PBS KIDS series coming in February
A new literacy-focused animated series, Phoebe & Jay, is coming to your screens next month on PBS KIDS! The show follows the adventures of the curiously charismatic 6-year-old fraternal twins, Phoebe and Jay Yarber. Get ready with your little ones and tune in for the premiere on Monday, February 2, at 9:30am on ThinkTV16 or 2:30pm on ThinkTV14. Get a glimpse into Phoebe & Jay with a clip of the show’s theme song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJcP8pVMDcQ.
As the number one educational media brand for kids, PBS KIDS helps children learn lessons that last a lifetime. Created by Genie Deez and Thy Than, Phoebe & Jay is designed for children ages 3-5 to foster their early literacy skills and help them navigate the world around them. While following the adventures of the twins, the show highlights the variety of texts that preschoolers encounter in their daily lives, from labels and signs to posters and more.
“Every year, 40% of children enter kindergarten with literacy skills one to three years behind their grade level, creating a difficult gap for them to overcome*,” Sara DeWitt, PBS KIDS Senior Vice President and General Manager, said in the series press release. “We hope that Phoebe & Jay’s relatable characters, fun, family-centered stories, and foundational curriculum will help equip young viewers nationwide with the everyday literacy skills they need to find success in school and in life.”
The titular twins live in the fantastical Tobsy Towers with their dad, Pete, an eternal optimist, with the support of their loving, no-nonsense Grandma Annie. As the twins explore their surroundings in their new home, they use their literacy skills to accomplish tasks big and small, from using a flyer to help a neighbor find a lost pet to reading clothing labels to find the right size shirt. Phoebe & Jay shows young viewers how they, too, can utilize these skills in their own lives.
“We are grateful for the opportunity to create a show that features so many different neighbors and thinkers who laugh together, help each other, and go on fun adventures. We hope viewers recognize themselves in one of our characters and that the show inspires them to notice all the signs, symbols and texts that surround us in our daily lives,” co-creator Thy Than said in the press release. “We’re very excited for families to watch and play with Phoebe and Jay together.”
Phoebe & Jay will also be available to stream for free on the PBS App, and repeat episodes will air on our PBS KIDS 24/7 channels. Check out the full schedule here: https://www.cetconnect.org/schedule/ or https://www.thinktv.org/schedule/.
Be sure to check out the “Phoebe and Jay’s Dance Party” game on pbskids.org and the PBS KIDS Games app, which will debut with the series. Additional games will continue to roll out and will be available in both English and Spanish. Learn more at https://pbskids.org/.
Parents and teachers can find Phoebe & Jay resources on PBS KIDS for Parents and PBS LearningMedia at https://cet.pbslearningmedia.org/ or https://thinktv.pbslearningmedia.org/.
