Sixth-Grade Students With Nose for News to Make Cable Debut

Flashing his bright orange press pass, Elliott Platt zeroed in on the story, camera crew in tow.

As the broadcast news team jabbed a video camera in the dirt, Elliott surveyed the archeological dig they were filming, penciling notes on a crumpled piece of paper.

Although his story won’t be aired on “60 Minutes” or “Hard Copy,” the 11-year-old’s report may be seen by thousands of Simi Valley residents due to a new partnership between Comcast Cablevision and Garden Grove Elementary School.

Beginning tonight at 6, Comcast will air a 35-minute news program called Kid-To-Kid News produced by Elliott’s sixth-grade class. It is the only student-run news show in Simi Valley, school officials said.

Until now, the monthly news program--which features student reports, advertisements for campus events, and a profile of a famous American--has aired only at Garden Grove.

But Comcast agreed to broadcast Kid-To-Kid News three times this month for its 27,000 viewers, and officials hope to air future programs as well.

“It’s the first time anything that is student-produced has been broadcast over Comcast,” said sixth-grade teacher Donald Bullock, who was approached by Comcast about six months ago.

“I think it’s great,” said Comcast operations Manager John Jackson. “You really get to see the children’s perspective.”

Simi Valley residents will also be able to see the January edition of Kid-To-Kid News Thursday and next Tuesday. The program will feature a story on earthquake recovery and tips on how to prevent quake damage.

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A teacher in Simi Valley for 22 years, Bullock transferred to Garden Grove this school year from Knolls Elementary, where he started Kid-To-Kid News in 1990. The program is designed to give students true-life experience in writing, speaking and listening, he said.

“We do this as part of our regular language arts program,” he explained. The students spend about 25 minutes a day working on their news reports and produce one show a month.

A small studio is crammed into a corner of Bullock’s classroom, where two makeshift sets are taped to the wall. For the opening of each show, two anchors sit behind a table and read from cue cards propped on music stands.

In addition to sharpening writing and communication skills, Bullock said, the program has taught his 34 sixth-graders responsibility and time management.

“They’ve learned to meet deadlines,” he said. “They’ve learned that if they flub up they can keep going.”

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The students in Bullock’s class say reporting news stories and writing scripts has enhanced their reading and writing skills.

“It’s a hands-on activity that’s a lot of fun and helps us learn more,” Elliott said. “It’s better than any other work.”

Elliott helped report one of the top news stories for the February installment of Kid-To-Kid News this week, an archeological dig conducted by teacher Jerry Dinowitz’s special education class.

Dinowitz buried bones in the sand playground for his students--ages 5 to 7--to unearth as part of a class project, and the Garden Grove news team was on hand to report it.

“They are trying to learn the letter ‘D’ right now, so they are digging for dinosaur bones in the dirt,” Elliott explained. “It’s a hands-on activity to learn more about the letter ‘D.’ ”

Eleven-year-old Evan Santoro also helped report the schoolyard dig.

“It’s fun getting out and learning new stuff,” he said. “And it might help us later in life.”

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Both Evan and Elliott said they want to become sportscasters, and many students in Bullock’s class have taken an interest in broadcast news since their program started last October.

Romana Akhtar, 12, said she now watches the Cable News Network and the local evening news. Her favorite stories are “when they tell about major disasters, the big reports,” she said.

Nicole Brazier, 11, said she likes to watch the anchors on news programs: “They practically never mess up like we do.”

Kid-To-Kid anchors rotate each month, and often become schoolyard superstars after a campus broadcast of the show. “All the little kids come around and say, ‘I want to be a reporter, just like you,’ ” said 12-year-old Stephanie Houston, who actually had one student ask for her autograph.

But Kid-To-Kid News isn’t all glamour. The show has run into problems, mostly associated with its antiquated equipment. “All we have is a VCR and a camcorder and an old Apple computer, but for our purposes it works OK,” said Bullock, who is letting the class use his camcorder for the program since the school’s camera is on the blink.

Although Bullock would like to have more sophisticated equipment for the news program, buying new video gear is out of the question right now for the cash-strapped Simi Valley Unified School District, he said.

“Anything that takes money in education takes a long time,” he said.

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FYI

Comcast Cablevision of Simi Valley will broadcast Kid-To-Kid News three times this month on Channel 19. The 35-minute news program, which is produced by sixth-grade students at Garden Grove Elementary School, will air at the following times: Today and Thursday at 6 p.m. and next Tuesday at 6:30 p.m.