Each program, narrated by a child musician, shares the festivals, ceremonies, costumes, rhythms, and dances of his or her heritage. Viewers are encouraged to discover similarities and differences among cultures.

Program of Studies:
Social Studies: Cultures and Societies, Historical Perspectives
Arts and Humanities: Structure in the Arts, Humanity in the Arts

Hand in Hand provides students with the knowledge and skills needed to understand and analyze the functioning of communities locally, regionally, and globally.

Program of Studies:
Social Studies: Government and Civics, Cultures and Societies, Economics, Geography

Five hundred years ago, a wide variety of Native American peoples occupied all of the lands of North America. This series introduces students to some of those cultures by region. Through stunning live-action cinematography, each program shows the continuity of customs, culture, and history among the Native Americans of each region, helping students develop appreciation and understanding of this shared heritage.

Program of Studies:
Social Studies: Cultures and Societies, Geography, Historical Perspectives
Arts and Humanities: Humanity in the Arts

Four of America’s great Indian leaders, from some of the most famous Native American tribes, are portrayed here by historic photographs and graphics, dramatic reenactments, haunting music, and their own words. This revision of America’s Great Indian Leaders focuses the series at the lower primary-middle school level.

Program of Studies:
Social Studies: Cultures and Society, Historical Perspective

Six of America’s representative Indian nations from five major geographic areas of common Native American cultures are portrayed here by historic photographs and graphics, dramatic reenactments, music, and the people’s own words. This revision of America’s Great Indian Nations focuses the series at the primary-middle school levels.

Program of Studies:
Social Studies: Cultures and Society, Economics, Geography, Historical Perspectives

This collection of segments taken from KET’s Kentucky Life provides opportunities for students to learn about the lives of unique businessmen and women living in Kentucky.

Program of Studies
Social Studies: Economics
Practical Living/Vocational Studies: Career Awareness, Exploration, and Planning

This series shows students the incredible diversity of the state’s geographic features and gives them an understanding of how those features have influenced human life — and the ways in which humans, in turn, have affected the land around them.

Program of Studies:
Social Studies: Geography, Historical Perspectives

These two programs from the Rivers of North America series provide unique perspectives on the role of the Ohio and the Lower Mississippi rivers in the development and settlement of their respective regions and of the United States in general.

Program of Studies:
Social Studies: Geography, Historical Perspectives

This beautifully photographed series shows how geography helped shape the history, government, and business of the United States. Documentary segments and historic reenactments introduce prominent industries, agriculture, mining activities, and historical events by region. Map skills are reinforced to help students place these regions within the United States as a whole.

Program of Studies:
Social Studies: Economics, Geography, Historical Perspectives

This beautifully photographed series shows how geography helped shape the history, government, and business of the United States. Documentary segments and historic reenactments introduce prominent industries, agriculture, mining activities, and historical events by region. Map skills are reinforced to help students place these regions within the United States as a whole.

Program of Studies:
Social Studies: Economics, Geography, Historical Perspectives

America’s Special Days helps students understand and appreciate why we celebrate certain days as “holidays.” The series uses an interdisciplinary approach that combines language arts, reading, science, math, and the fine arts around a social studies framework. The interdisciplinary content is included at appropriate, naturally occurring points in the programs; not all disciplines are included in every program.

Program of Studies:
Social Studies: Government and Civics, Cultures and Society, Historical Perspectives

A 12-year-old girl named Lizzie discovers who veterans are, what they have done, and why they should be honored in this half-hour video. Along the way, she also learns about the importance of certain rights and responsibilities to individuals, families, communities, states, and the nation. Four veterans tell their stories, and the program concludes with a Veterans Day parade.

Program of Studies:
Social Studies: Government and Civics, Cultures and Society, Historical Perspectives

This multimedia civics project outlines the fundamental principles of democracy, explains the rights and responsibilities that come with citizenship, and uses stories of real young people from around the country to illustrate getting involved in community issues. Programs 1-4 are designed for grades 2-4, while Programs 5-8 are for grades 6-10. All of the programs, along with the accompanying online materials and teaching guides, are directly aligned with national cross-curricular standards.

Program of Studies
Social Studies: Government and Civics, Cultures and Society

This weekly KET production features highlights from the past week’s top news stories and includes a multiple-choice quiz concerning aspects of each story.

A different News Quiz program will be broadcast each week. Program descriptions are not available because of the timeliness of the topics presented. Academic expectations addressed will vary each week.

KET also has produced a behind-the-scenes documentary, Making News Quiz, that models both TV production and the writing process.

Program of Studies:
Social Studies: Cultures and Society

Delivered in an entertaining style, this series uses contemporary and archival footage and computer graphics to provide a fresh approach to the study of civics.

Program of Studies:
Social Studies: Government and Civics, Historical Perspectives

Delivered in an entertaining style, this series uses contemporary and archival footage and computer graphics to provide a fresh approach to the study of civics.

Program of Studies:
Social Studies: Government and Civics, Historical Perspectives

Online and DVD resources explore Abraham Lincoln’s life in Kentucky. “Lincoln: The Kentucky Years” is a 14-minute video that focuses on Lincoln’s early life in Kentucky and Kentucky’s influence on his personality, values, and accomplishments. The DVD was created from the 90-minute KET documentary, “Lincoln: I, too, am a Kentuckian.” Both DVDs are available from KET. The Lincoln on KET web site provides an array of resources that can be integrated in social studies classes at all grade levels.

Web Site Contents:

• Video and Audio Segments — 31 short video and two audio segments from KET productions explore various aspects of Lincoln’s life and career and include excerpts from some of his most famous speeches, read by actor Sam Waterston. Other segments take students to Camp Nelson, the Civil War military cemetery, and the Mary Todd Lincoln House and introduce them to sculptors Ed Hamilton and Robert Berks, who both have been inspired by Lincoln and his legacy.
• Student Features — An illustrated timeline includes significant events in Lincoln’s life as well as what was going on in the nation, the world, and Kentucky. “FAQs (Fascinating Abe Questions)” reveals interesting trivia about the 16th president. The “Abe Across Kentucky” interactive quiz offers a fun way for students to connect Lincoln’s life to people and places in Kentucky. When questions are answered correctly, Lincoln’s top hat grows and students hear an excerpt from the Gettysburg Address.
• K-12 Lesson Plans — 19 lesson plans and idea cards incorporating Lincoln video segments offer engaging ideas for teaching about Lincoln.

KET’s Lincoln resources were supported in part by a grant from the Kentucky Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission and the Kentucky Historical Society.

Program of Studies:
Social Studies: Government and Civics, Cultures and Societies, Historical Perspective

Kentucky’s Story presents a re-creation of what life in Kentucky was like at different times in history, beginning with the American Indians who were here when the first white settlers arrived. The focus in each program is on what a typical 10-year-old might have experienced during the various periods. Viewers see how early Kentuckians dressed, cooked, played, spoke, and worked. The series is not meant to convey a great many facts or detailed information, but rather to give a feel for the issues and emotions of the times.

Additional information, including suggested field trips and links to various resources related to Kentucky history, can be found on the Teacher’s Guide to Kentucky’s Story web site.

Program of Studies:
Social Studies: Cultures and Society, Geography, Historical Perspectives

Two young adults, Isadora and Duncan, investigate U.S. history as they travel by rail across the country. While learning about historical events, they also discover the relevance of those events to the present day.

Program of Studies:
Social Studies: Cultures and Society, Historical Perspectives

In this nine-part social studies series, vignettes and discussions explore social structure and daily life in nine historical periods that have directly influenced the culture and politics of today’s United States. The societies and times covered range from the ancient civilizations whose influences can be seen in modern Western law, government, and art to critical periods in America’s own history.

Living History is part of the Discovery video collection.

Teach American history from east to west in the new Electronic Field Trip season from Colonial Williamsburg. The interactive lessons bring Native Americans, the authors of the Constitution, settlers, explorers, enslaved Africans, young Americans, and conservators to your classroom. Visit the History & Education section of the Colonial Williamsburg web site for a wide variety of classroom resources.

Teachers who register for the field trips receive extended taping rights as well as access to accompanying classroom materials.

Program of Studies:
Social Studies: Government and Civics, Historical Perspectives

In the 1800s, before and after the Civil War, about 15,000 freed American slaves immigrated to Africa. This Kentucky Life special traces the ex-slaves’ journey from Kentucky to Liberia, West Africa. As they arrived in Africa, they formed their own independent county, “Little America” as some called it. They named their towns after American places such as “Kentucky in Africa” and “Clay-Ashland.” These towns are still there today, and in many ways, the population lives like Americans. Much of the story of this historic relationship is told through the words of people from the period, such as Abraham Lincoln, Henry Clay, and Alfred Russell, a president of Liberia from Kentucky.

Additional information and links to various resources related to Liberia and the colonization movement can be found on the Kentucky Life web site.

Program of Studies:
Social Studies: Cultures and Society, Geography, Historical Perspectives

Kentucky’s location on the border of slave and nonslave states and its unique geography as the only state surrounded on three sides by rivers, created opportunities for people who were willing to risk their lives to live in freedom and those willing to risk everything to help them. KET’s documentary, Kentucky’s Underground Railroad – Passage to Freedom, tells the stories of fugitive slaves and anti-slavery advocates in Kentucky.

The Kentucky Ungerground Railroad web site includes a brief history of slavery in Kentucky; teacher resources; audio and video segments from the documentary, including additional footage not seen in the broadcast; and a discussion forum. The web site promotes historical preservation and community research to document more stories of the fugitive slave movement in Kentucky. In addition, it includes arts and humanities resources and discussion questions.

Program of Studies:
Social Studies: Government and Civics, Geography, Historical Perspectives

Through interviews with women leaders, primary documents, and brief biographical sketches, this documentary encourages young people to become more committed to Kentucky’s political process by volunteering as grass-roots advocates and to consider futures as office holders. The program inspires interest in Kentucky history, focusing particularly on the achievements of women, and promotes the values of citizenship and public service by documenting the progress of women in positions of community leadership and elected office.

This revision of Portraits of American Presidents — which focuses on individual Presidents’ influence on the historical events of their eras — shortens each program to correlate better with classroom units of study, provides better graphic details in maps, omits on-camera commentators, and adds two programs: 1. “The Making of America’s Presidency,” and 17. “G.H.W. Bush, Clinton & G.W. Bush.”

Program of Studies:
Social Studies: Government and Civics, Cultures and Society, Historical Perspectives

George Rogers Clark was a Revolutionary War hero and the founder of Louisville. One of his younger brothers, William, was the Clark of Lewis and Clark. Their sister, Lucy Clark Croghan, ran the family home at Locust Grove, a gathering place for the prominent political and social figures of the early 19th century.

The Remarkable Clarks, a 2002 KET production, tells the story of this Kentucky founding family through dramatizations of pivotal incidents in their lives. It was created and staged at Locust Grove in Louisville to commemorate both the 200th anniversary of the Lewis and Clark expedition and the 250th anniversary of George Rogers Clark’s birth. Principal performers are Mandy Dick, Mel Hankla, and Bob Pilkington.

In addition to bringing early Kentucky history to life, this docudrama offers a unique performance for students to analyze and evaluate and a model for integrating the arts into the social studies classroom through dramatizations of historical events.