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What Is KIDS-4?

For over 30 years kids have been doing something here in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin that is unique.  Television FOR kids BY kids.  KIDS-4 teaches children ages nine to fourteen all aspects of producing television shows.  They are responsible for the cameras, sound, lighting, editing, directing, talent and content of their programs.

KIDS-4 has been providing the community with television that can't be found anywhere else for over 30 years.  In fact, KIDS-4 is the only access channel in the country designated to serve children. For more information about KIDS-4 history, check out our Frequently Asked Questions.

The End of the Year Pizza Party is for all KIDS-4 crewmembers who have completed at least one taping outside of crew.   This year we had a total of 60 crewmembers who achieved this goal!  This years party was held at Sheehan Park with beautiful weather.  The afternoon was filled with kickball, ring toss competitions, scavenger hunts and board games.  Of course, to top it all off - LOTS of pizza was consumed!  Way to go all KIDS-4 crewmembers on a great year, we appreciate all your  hard work, see you next year!

	Thanks for making this a  GREAT year!

	To start the crew year off, the staff at Sun Prairie Cable Access held the Annual KIDS-4 Kick-Off Picnic on Sunday, October 12th at the Westside Services Building.  This year, KIDS-4 will have eight different crews with almost 70 talented and unique young people participating.
Those who attended the picnic included the staff, station volunteers, and KIDS-4 crew members along with their families.  The gathering was an excellent opportunity for everyone to interact and to get an in depth understanding of the KIDS-4 program.
	Congratulations to all the new & returning KIDS-4 crewmembers!      Make sure you check out   KIDS-4  this year to see television FOR kids BY kids!

KIDS-4 Summer Workshops

Scriptwriting Workshop Held                     SPCA-TV held it's first scriptwriting workshop on June 26, 28, and 30th.  Volunteer, Al Snowdon conducted the workshop for eight KIDS-4 crewmembers.  The kids learned how to develop ideas,       create characters, and personalities, create problems and solutions to those problems.  The kids will be able to apply the skill learned to their academic work as well as to their KIDS-4 crews and Film Festival entries.            Film Fest Summer Camp a Success!  This is the third year that SPCA-TV held their Summer Film Fest Camp.  Seven kids participated in the camp this year and made some outstanding films.  Throughout the course of the camp participants learned the proper skills it takes to make their own movies.  The first week of camp participants developed their ideas into a script and  learned how to storyboard their scripts.  The kids also learned proper filming techniques and went over how to get the best audio for their films.  Week two the kids got into groups of three and four and formed a production crew.  Each group picked someone to be the camera person, the producer, and the on-camera talent.  Groups each shot a feature stories by following along to a formal script.   When finished the groups got back together and wrote their own scripts by following the storyboard format and filmed it as a production team.    Each participant was taught editing techniques and how to properly put their stories  together with graphics and voice-overs.  Groups worked together to piece together their raw footage for a finished product.  In the third week of camp participants came in individually to edit their Film Fest Projects.  Thee editing skills they learned in week two were applied, and campers worked to complete their projects for entry into the Film Festival.   The final week we had a premiere party where all films were shown in there entirety.  Each film was unique and creative, and the kids were all amazed on how much they had learned in just four weeks!  All films were then entered into the SPCA-TV 2008 Film Festival as their final project.

A wide variety of programs are produced by KIDS-4 crews, including:

• City events, parades, and festivals
• Music programs from area schools
• Sporting events, football, soccer, hockey, basketball
• Interviews with local personalities
• Original skits and plays
• Tours of local buildings and other points of interest
• Round table discussions on current topics
• Game shows
• Lectures and lyceums
• In-class presentations

The programs are limited only by the energy and imagination of the KIDS-4 crew members.  For a sampling of what KIDS-4 offers today and a peek at our current crews, check out our Highlights.