Grains of Learning and Poetry
Saturday, September 20, 2025
Today is Batman Day, Coastal Cleanup Day, Eat an Apple Day, Red Panda Day, Dance Day, Fried Rice Day, Gymnastics Day, String Cheese Day, Pepperoni Pizza Day, Rum Punch Day, and National Gibberish Day.
Today's Birthdays
Songs of the Day
Today's Theme: RICE and DONALD HALL
ON THIS DATE
- 1946 - The first Cannes Film Festival is held.
- 1962 - The University of Mississippi bars James Meredith from entering because he is Black.
- 1973 - Billie Jean King beats Bobby Riggs in the Battle of the Sexes tennis match.
- 1973 - Singer Jim Croce and five others die when their plane crashes on takeoff at Natchitoches Regional Airport in Louisiana.
- 2001 - President George W. Bush declares a "War on Terror" in an address to a joint session of Congress.
- 2011 - The United States military ends its "Don't ask, don't tell" policy.
- 2017 - Hurricane Maria makes landfall in Puerto Rico, leading to nearly 3,000 deaths and over 90 billion dollars in damages.
BIRTHDAYS
SONG OF THE DAY
- Jim Croce - Time in a Bottle - LISTEN
- Jim Croce - Bad Bad Leroy Brown - LISTEN
THEME: RICE
- Grades K-5 - PBS Parents - Let's Go Luna - Make Three Kid-Friendly Rice Dishes: Rice and Beans from Mexico (2:00) - VIEW and DO
- Grades K-5 - PBS Parents - Let's Go Luna - Make Three Kid-Friendly Rice Dishes: Jambalaya from New Orleans, USA (2:00) - VIEW and DO
- Grades K-5 - PBS Parents - Let's Go Luna - Make Three Kid-Friendly Rice Dishes: Onigiri Rice Balls from Japan (2:00)- VIEW and DO
- Grades 2-4 - Crayola - Rice is All Around Us - DO
- Grades 6-12 - NHPBS Video - Reactions - Fact or Fiction: Uncooked Rice is Bad for Birds (4:29) - VIEW
- Grades 7-12 - PBS LearningMedia - PBS NewsHour - Can New Rice Improve Health in the Philippines? (8:24) - VIEW, READ, DO
- Grades 7-12 - NHPBS LearningMedia - Earth and Sky Podcast - Pamela Ronald Has Developed a More Flood-Tolerant Rice (1:30) - LISTEN
- Grades 7-12 - Nova - Miracle of Rice - READ
- Grades 7-12 - EDSITEment - BackStory: What’s Cooking? A History of Food in America Podcast - LISTEN (Rice:16:30-25:20 mark)
- Grades 9-12 - NHPBS Learning Media - America's Heartland - Harvesting Rice (2:57) - VIEW and DO
- Grades 9-12 - NHPBS Video - A Chef's Life - Amber Waves of Grain - VIEW (24:40)
THEME: DONALD HALL
- Grades K-12 - Donald Hall Reads Ox-Cart Man (1:34) - VIEW
- Grades K-4 - Lorne Green Reads Ox-Cart Man (6:56) - VIEW
- Grades 2-3 - Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis - Ox-Cart Man Lesson - DO
- Grades 7-12 - NHPBS Video - PBS NewsHour - Donald Hall Saw Poetry As a School For Learning (3:14) - VIEW
- Grades 7-12 - NHPBS Video - Media Meet - Poet Laureate Donald Hall (29:05) - VIEW
- Grades 7-12 - NHPBS Video - NH Authors - Donald Hall (26:45) - VIEW
- Grades 7-12 - Poetry Foundation - Donald Hall - READ
- Grades 7-12 - Academy of American Poets - READ
- Grades 7-12 - Library of Congress - Donald Hall - READ
THEME: RED PANDAS
- Grades PreK-2 - NHPBS LearningMedia - Paws For a Minute - Red Panda (1:00) - VIEW and DO
- Grades PreK-12 - Beardsley Zoo - Red Panda Cam - VIEW
- Grades PreK-12 - Smithsonian National Zoo - Red Panda - VIEW and READ
- Grades K-4 - NHPBS LearningMedia - Camp TV - Red Pandas (5:16) - VIEW
- Grades K-4 - Wild Kratts - Red Panda Origins (2:30) - VIEW
- Grades K-4 - Wild Kratts - Red Panda Rescue Mission (3:21) - VIEW
- Grades K-4 - Wild Kratts - Discover Pandas and More Bears! (9:59) - VIEW
- Grades 4-12 - NHPBS WildLife Journal Junior - Ailuridae - Red Panda - READ
- Grades 8-12 - Animal Diversity Web - Red Panda - READ
More Learning Resources
Looking for some super cool crafts to do with your kids? Or maybe you need some expert parenting resources to help raise your child? You can find it all right here:
NHPBS and PBS have curated FREE, standards-aligned videos, interactives, lesson plans, and more for educators. You can also create your own lessons and assignments to meet the needs of your students.
Searchable online video courses and interactives across the curriculum and grade levels in areas like chemistry, literature, music, the visual arts, social studies, world languages storytelling, spelling and lots more.
Everyday Scholastic will feature four learning experiences, built around a story or video.
A series of imaginatively produced videos featuring celebrated actors reading children's books.
Local Learning Resources
The best of NH learning resources from around the state.
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Cheshire County Historical Society
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New Hampshire Public Radio:
- Civics 101 - Tons of great (and free!) audio, activities, resources, and lessons to help you stay engaged with civics.
- Ask Sam - Ask Sam features Outside/In host Sam Evans-Brown answering listener questions about the mysteries and quirks of the natural world.
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Seacoast Science Center in Odiorne Point State Park
- Learning Connection - Even though their doors are closed, we’re still here to connect you to the inspirational powers of nature and engage you in learning.
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Squam Lakes Natural Science Center
- A resource to keep you connected to nature - Enjoy nature at home with these online learning experiences brought to you by the Science Center’s Naturalists.
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Strawbery Banke Museum
- Online Learning - Virtual Tours, the Virtual Classroom, artifacts of the week, featured items from the Collections, Horticulture Learning Center materials, and more.
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Tiger Takes On

PBS Kids for Teachers/Caregivers/Parents
- PBS for Parents
A guide of PBS resources targeted for parents teaching kids, features a great activity finder
- PBS Education
The greatest teachers ignite a love of learning and a sense of possibility that motivates students to reach their full potential.
- PBS Teachers' Lounge
This site has great teaching tips, ideas, resources and support for teachers.
- PBS KIDS Games app
Offers nearly 200 educational games, which can be downloaded for offline play anytime, anywhere.