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Bring Reading Rainbow Back
- tdicola 12y agoGreat cause that I'm happy to support. Now I just wish somebody would bring back 3, 2, 1 Contact! and Mr. Wizard (ancient HERO robot and all).
- isa 12y ago3, 2, 1 contact was sooo good. Mathnet? ^_^ & Mr. Wizard - my little elementary school mind was blown when he showed me water isn't wet.
- pionar 12y agoMathnet was a segment on SquareOne. I enjoyed that as well.
- threeio 12y agoI'd be behind a 3-2-1 Contact kickstarter... figure out who owns the rights and lets make it happen :)
- Crito 12y agoI remember going to the library when I was a kid to pick up copies of books I saw on this show. I had no idea it had such a long and successful run; I hope they succeed in continuing it.
- era86 12y agoThis is pretty neat! Work that nostalgia magic!
- bradly 12y ago"1 out of every 4 children in America will grow up illiterate" Is that really true? According to Wikipedia, 99% of the U.S. population is literate. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_literacy_rate http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_literacy_r...
- ceejayoz 12y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Functional_illiteracy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Functional_illiteracy indicates ~20% of Americans are functionally illiterate.
- giarc 12y agoIt is likely from here. http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=69 http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=69 "Twenty-two percent of adults were Below Basic (indicating they possess no more than the most simple and concrete literacy skills) in quantitative literacy, compared with 14 percent in prose literacy and 12 percent in document literacy."
- deleted 12y ago[deleted]
- delluminatus 12y agoThere is a more nuanced view in the full Wikipedia page on the topic [0]. The CIA World Factbook number quoted is only for those who have had over 5 years of education (which is hopefully almost everybody) and they probably have a fairly low bar for determining literacy (I would bet nothing more than a questionnaire response). Other studies have indicated a much lower literacy rate, right about the 75% level, depending on how strict you want to be about things like vocabulary and comprehension. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literacy_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literacy_in_the_United_States
- baldfat 12y agoBeing a foster parent there is also communication illiterate! Took me 6 years to get my oldest daughter to stop saying like every third word! Then she went off to college and she got worse!! Thanks high education!!!
- thebooktocome 12y agoSpeaking in an established sociolect is not an instance of communication illiteracy. Valleyspeak has been around for decades, and isn't going anywhere.
- Hario 12y agoIn for $50 and a T-shirt.
- dkhenry 12y agoif this were a kickstarter to public domain all of reading rainbow. I would gladly donate, but to fund yet another closed garden that I would need a subscription for is a non starter for me. Best Of Luck to those who back it.
- dllthomas 12y agoI heartily endorse your concern, but I still donated.
- mrfusion 12y agoIronically I'm probably reading the kickstarter page poorly. Are they raising money to buy the license of old episodes, or to make new ones?
- isa 12y agoWho can sing the theme song? And, are you singing it now either in your head or out loud? *raises hand
- mrfusion 12y agoAre the old episodes available on Netflix or Hulu?
- sp332 12y agoLooks like they're on Amazon Instant for $2/episode, and iTunes for $2/ep or $15 for a 15-episode season.
- donatj 12y agoWorking for a company that is a direct competitor of Reading Rainbow's app, yet growing up with Reading Rainbow my feelings are mixed and diverse.
- mjolk 12y agoI really feel like this is off-topic.
- drcube 12y agoWhat topic is that?
- mjolk 12y agoThe official guidelines of what dictates on/off topic: http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html I guess one could argue that "good hackers" would be interested in indulging nostalgia for a popular children's show in America from 1980s, but that's really pushing it.
- pessimizer 12y agoYou don't have to argue, you just count the upvotes.
- mjolk 12y agoUpvotes aren't important and do not indicate that something is good content.
- gilrain 12y agoI imagine good hackers might be interested in paying it forward, since literacy is a prerequisite of hacking.
- steveklabnik 12y agoFrom that very link: > Please don't submit comments complaining that a submission is inappropriate > for the site. If you think something is spam or offtopic, flag it by going > to its page and clicking on the "flag" link. (Not all users will see this; there > is a karma threshold.) If you flag something, please don't also comment that > you did.
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- joelgrus 12y agoI've read the Kickstarter page twice, and I still can't figure out what they are going to spend the $1M on (or how they arrived at that number). I know it doesn't cost $1M to build a website.
- deleted 12y ago[deleted]
- zenciadam 12y agoHow much does a CDN to reach 70% of grade school children cost? There's a lot more involved than just installing Apache on a vps.
- bskap 12y agoFrom the video, it seems like a lot of it is going into paying licensing costs so they can give it to schools for free.
- tjbarbour 12y agoGlad to see them working to promote reading! Though I wonder... Why didn't they start with the web to begin with? You can use a web-based solution on a tablet (given a decent design), but you can't use a tablet-based solution on the web. Now they're trying to fight that 'limitation.' I understand the 'novelty' and the sheer boom of tablets at the time and the better physical mapping from tablet experience to reading a book, but technologically there's doesn't seem to be much of a reason for them going with an iPad app first. Possibly offline support (valid) or performance (shouldn't be a problem...). There's probably a much more practical answer such as: their technical team had experience in app development OR maybe Burton just really liked his iPad and that's where the movement started. On another note, I loved the show growing up and like they're trying to continue it. I'm a bit conflicted about the subscription part of the service. I want it to be sustainable, but wish there was a larger free offering. Maybe latest content is free, archived content requires a subscription (ala Hulu)? At least they'll offer it for free to needy schools that's nice.
- zmitri 12y agoI once met LeVar at a bar at a restaurant. As a fan of Star Trek, I wanted to go up to him, but figured he must get bothered by a lot of intense trekkies so I broke the ice with a conversation about Reading Rainbow. He talked about Reading Rainbow with me for a good 15 minutes straight. He was unbelievably proud and passionate about the work he did on that show, and so I'm very pleased to see this video today. Proof https://twitter.com/dmitric/status/405038964001996800 https://twitter.com/dmitric/status/405038964001996800
- 300bps 12y agoLeVar is a class act. Read the rewards on that Kickstarter page. The rewards are filled with LeVar's time. He obviously really believes in this; otherwise I don't think someone of his fame would be willing to record 150 personalized class greetings, 150 personalized incoming voicemail messages, 25 ten minute video chats, etc, all the way up to flying out to a school of your choice to do an assembly. This will meet its goal today which is good because I've had the theme song of the show in my head since reading this article.
- jerf 12y ago"This will meet its goal today which is good because I've had the theme song of the show in my head since reading this article." I haven't been keeping close track of the exact times but I think it's $150,000 in the last hour or so (about $12K just in the time I took to write this!), and the word has probably only just begun to spread (HN is reasonably leading edge for this stuff). I think this is a serious candidate for biggest Kickstarter ever... this is exactly the sort of thing where Kickstarter allows you to convert your highly-diffuse "good reputation" into cash for a cause, and whereas some of the previous people who did that were still pretty niche video game creators who still raked in single-digit millions, well... how many people know Reading Rainbow as compared to "The guy who did Wasteland"? (No offense intended, Brian Fargo, sir. I bet you'd know what I mean.) This could easily go double-digit millions, IMHO. Especially if this hits as a human interest story on national news, which were I them I'd be looking to shoot for. They better get those stretch goals they say they have ready for posting... Edit: Kept track for ten minutes, from $286,533 to $330,317. That comes out to ~$4,000 per minute. At that rate it's 3 hours to one million, and I'd bet on acceleration rather than deceleration.... Further edit: Larger baseline of 48 minutes, about $2.5K/minute. Funding is four hours away at that rate, but I still bet there's another wave of people who haven't heard.
- hkarthik 12y agoI can attest to the effectiveness of the iPad app on my 5 year old. This app stimulated her interest in reading even more than us reading to her every night. She now reads at close to a 2nd grade level. I was amazed to find out that she had been discovering books via the app completely on her own. She would have the app read a book to her, then turn off the auto-reading and learn to read it by herself. Now she uses the app to read to her little sister. Kudos to Levar Burton and all those involved in bringing Reading Rainbow to the next generation on a new medium!
- adsfasdf23f23f 12y agoAs a kid I never liked this show. I loved reading books. I always thought, "why do I want to watch tv about reading books?"
- benihana 12y agoI grew up with this show, I always looked forward to watching it in school, and I'd watch it at home as well. I loved the adventures and special effects, and just adored watching it. Having said that, this show did absolutely nothing for me when it came to reading. It didn't inspire me to read, it didn't get me reading, it didn't make reading exciting for me. None of those elementary school programs (Book-it, book fairs, Reading Rainbow) did. I didn't start reading books until I found books that didn't condescend to and patronize children. When I discovered there were books with real situations and characters that acted real (and featured violence and sex and bad language), that's when I realized that books were good. It's odd, enjoying this show for its entertainment value, but realizing it was completely ineffective in its goal, especially when so many people seem to think this is the greatest thing since sliced bread.
- pionar 12y agoIt was ineffective for you. A little bit of observation bias, perhaps?
- codyb 12y agoYou know, I saw this, and I felt exactly as the first part of your post sounds. But I never thought of it in terms of the second. Interesting.
- pessimizer 12y agoMy mother gave me a blank check for book fairs and those Scholastic order sheets, and I blame it almost entirely for anything that I've done since. It only dawned on me as an adult how expensive that investment must have been for her at the time. The way I found as a child to find books that didn't condescend to or patronize children was to raise my reading level by reading many, many, books that did accept that I was a child and not a little adult. I was a few years too old for Reading Rainbow (I was already 7 when it came out) but I enjoyed the theme song and that Kunta Kinte was reading children's books.
- sliverstorm 12y agoMy mother gave me a library card, a bicycle, and carte blanche to spend all day every weekend at the library. I didn't quite realize how much time I spent there until I started having trouble finding books I hadn't read in the YA racks.
- stefan_kendall3 12y agoOnly "underprivileged" schools will get the content for free, which implies they intend to sell the software to schools, which implies business. You're not supposed to be able to kickstart a business. You shouldn't get a pass just because you're Reading Rainbow and levar burton.
- ShawnBird 12y agoYou can kickstart a product like the Veronica Mars movie or Bee and Puppycat show. This looks like a product to me, a web serial. It just has ancillary aids for classroom presentation.
- gertef 12y agoWhat? "kickstart a business" is the entire point of kickstarter.
- cmelbye 12y agoWhat do you mean "you're not supposed to"? People can and will spend their money however they'd like. They've raised more than $400k already, obviously at least a few people disagree with you.
- stefan_kendall3 12y agoIt's against the terms of service to kickstart a business. You need a product. This is a long-term education-sales company, not a specific product of any kind.
- silencio 12y agoExcited to see this! I have such fond memories of watching Reading Rainbow. I would love to see a similar kickstarter for other shows I also enjoyed - The Magic School Bus first in my mind. I just rediscovered all the shows on Netflix and I've been watching all the episodes.... I _just_ discovered that a lot of the guests on the show are celebrities like Dom DeLuise, Elliott Gould, Alex Trebek and more, and I can't find another show quite like it. It dates itself here and there - like the series finale was about computers and features floppy drives - but The Friz is unparalleled on so many levels. She was a great role model while I was young.
- scrabble 12y agoI have a three year old who loves The Magic School Bus. If I'm not around and she's watched it without me I'm always surprised with the things she remembers from it that she's able to talk to me about. I watched a lot of Reading Rainbow as a kid. I loved it, but I was already an avid reader.
- keenerd 12y agoMy second choice after Reading Rainbow would be Square One. I had only watched it between the ages of five and nine, but it literally put me three years ahead in mathematics during elementary school. (Helped along by a fantastic teacher too.) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Square_One_Television http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Square_One_Television
- ChuckMcM 12y agoI observe that of all the things I did with my kids when they were growing up, reading to them every night has had the most profound impact. Early in their lives they liked being read to because it was 'time with mom' or 'time with dad', later when they were early readers, it was a way to 'be the mom' and read to us. And of course once they became facile readers it took them to places and introduced them to people they would never have met in their day to day lives. To this day I have fond memories of my daughter correcting errors in Egyptian mythology on Star Gate because she had absorbed a giant tome on it in her fascination with the stories. If you have kids, read to them, if they have heard the story before and are bored ask them what the characters in the story are thinking, if they feel like they know that ask them how the story might go differently based on different outcomes. Get them reading, and thinking about what they are reading, and be tolerant of them sneaking a light under the covers so they can finish a book.
- gertef 12y agoAnecdote is not data. Here's data: http://www.education.vic.gov.au/Documents/about/research/readtoyoungchild.pdf http://www.education.vic.gov.au/Documents/about/research/rea... Key Findings * Reading to children at age 4-5 every day has a significant positive effect on their reading skills and cognitive skills (i.e., language and literacy, numeracy and cognition) later in life. * Reading to children 3-5 days per week (compared to 2 or less) has the same effect on the child’s reading skills at age 4-5 as being six months older. * Reading to them 6-7 days per week has the same effect as being almost 12 months older. * Children read to more frequently at age 4-5 achieve higher scores on the National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) tests for both Reading and Numeracy in Year 3 (age 8 to 9). * These differences in reading and cognitive skills are not related to the child’s family background or home environment but are the direct result of how frequently they have been read to prior to starting school.
- oddevan 12y agoThanks for the data. I'll back it up with a personal anecdote: I was at least a grade if not 2-3 grades ahead of my class by the time I got to kindergarten. My parents (and the full-time babysitter) read to me. I had "Goodnight Moon" freaking MEMORIZED from how many times it was read to me; the actual reading came soon after.
- satellitecat 12y agoMy phone's ring tone is the reading rainbow theme
- woopdy 12y agoYes, can't quite get season 5, or 4-9th.
- deleted 12y ago[deleted]
- gajeam 12y agoI had the good fortune to see Levar Burton receive award for children's media at my university. At the end of the ceremony, he brought two dozen children from an associated preschool up on stage and read them a story (I think it was called "Enemy Pie".) I can say without exaggeration that it was the best public reading of anything I've seen in my life. Watching children so deeply engage with an icon that they probably don't even recognize was a wonder.
- drawkbox 12y agoThis show and Cap'n O.G. Readmore did help make books adventurous for me. Hopefully OG will do a kickstarter. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cap'n_O._G._Readmore http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cap'n_O._G._Readmore
- hysan 12y agoHow effective do people think this will be as a way to help students in foreign countries learn to read English as a second language? Specifically in countries where the school system mandates learning English (ex: Japan). Of course, I'll be trying out the app myself if I can to see what it's like, but I'm interested to hear from people who have used their existing app for a similar purpose. I'm trying to decide if that $5000 reward is worth it (it would be a hell of a chunk of my savings but I love the students at my school).
- voltagex_ 12y agoJust hit the goal, still rising fast.
- Xdes 12y agoI dislike books. There are better mediums, like games, for conveying knowledge.
- gravity13 12y agoI agree. Books are so 20th century. I prefer going after things that are the same color.