KMOS, UCM Launch Free On-air K-5 Classes for Missouri Students June 1

Kamryn Williams, second from left, a senior University of Central Missouri education major from Odessa, works with the KMOS-TV crew at one of the recordings of KMOS Classroom: Summer School, which will be available to k-5 students June 1. With her for the recording are KMOS engineering and production crew members from right, Kurt Parsons, Roy Millen, Christy Millen, Andy Avery, and Eric Boedeker.

WARRENSBURG, MO – For families seeking economical assistance in preparing their elementary school children for the fall semester, and to make up for the school closures of the spring semester, KMOS-TV and the University of Central Missouri will provide free on-air classes beginning June 1. KMOS Classroom: Summer School will be broadcast on KMOS channel 6.1 each Monday through Thursday between 9 a.m. and noon.

KMOS Classroom uses the expertise of professionals in UCM’s College of Education to design and present lessons in multiple subjects for students in grades K-5. Families can receive KMOS Classroom over the air using a UHF antenna, or through local cable and satellite providers serving central Missouri. Although many educational resources and programs are available online, limited availability of high-speed internet can make it difficult for some rural families to use them.

Three student teachers will conduct the televised classes: Alli Hickey, Lee’s Summit; Kamryn Williams, Odessa; and Ashley Zades, Grain Valley. They are completing their degrees in Elementary Education and will soon begin teaching in local school districts this fall. In preparing for the classes, they are working under the guidance of Dr. Angela Danley, associate professor and undergraduate program coordinator for elementary education. The women have experience teaching children in person, according to Danley, but “They have adapted to the challenge, and know they are definitely teaching to a large group of children across 100 school districts. I am not sure they realize the impact and influence they will have on children. They will be able to carry this experience with them for the rest of their lives."

As KMOS-TV is a non-commercial public television station licensed to UCM, it has provided educational programming and services since it first signed on in 1979.

Between 1980 and 2003 KMOS provided educational programming for schools through its Instructional Television Service (ITV) as well as Ready to Learn workshops for educators and Parents as Teachers in subsequent years. Of KMOS Classroom, Dr. Phil Bridgmon, UCM provost and vice president for academic affairs, said, “Supporting the education efforts of our schools, children, and families is a critical need due to the disrupted school year.”

The UCM College of Education has a longstanding tradition of producing quality educators since its founding in 1919, and the institution’s beginning in 1871 as the State Normal School for the Second Normal District of Missouri.

In the weeks to come, information about KMOS Classroom: Summer School will be available at kmos.org/classroom.