Stories of America — Season 1, Episode 9: George Washington
Kids • 30 min • 1 season, 32 episodes
Episode synopsis
This episode introduces children to the early life and leadership of George Washington, tracing his journey from a young Virginia surveyor to commander of the Continental Army. Through simple narration and reenactments, the program highlights his courage, discipline, and steady character during the American Revolution. It also explains why Washington became a unifying figure for the new nation and how his example helped shape the role of the presidency. Designed for classroom learning, the episode presents Washington as a symbol of responsibility and service at the dawn of America.
About Stories of America
The interconnectedness of all things is a fundamental part of reading motivation projects. Although GPN's Reading Rainbow claims to have invented that idea, Stories of America with host Ann McGregor got there first. It was 1976, America's bicentennial year, and WVIZ-TV of Cleveland wanted something more out of a series aimed at delivering American history, They decided to combine history with reading. The result was Stories of America. Hosting was the familiar face of Ann McGregor, who had enlivened Picture Book Park and Tilson's Bookshop some two years earlier. Stories of America resembled more of a story reading than a history lesson, but it also introduced other elements that became standard Reading Rainbow procedure. There were occasional film sequences, dramatizations, and even an animation. All told, the 32-part Stories of America series ran some 14 years on WVIZ-TV. The station brought the shows back in 1998, and it would be the only WVIZ instructional telev