Questions

What this is

What is TV on a Rolling Cart?

It's a free, searchable library of vetted videos that are ready to show a K-6 class. You filter by grade, subject, standard, length and where a title can be watched, and every title comes with a plain summary, a viewer-safety note, the standards it lines up with, a few discussion questions, and a quick work-a-long where one helps. It exists so that finding something worth showing takes ninety seconds instead of a prep period.

Do you host the videos?

No. We don't host, stream or store a single video. Every title lives on somebody else's service, whether that is YouTube, PBS, a library card through Kanopy or Hoopla, or a subscription your school may already have, and we link you straight there. Think of this as the card catalog, not the shelf.

Do I need an account?

No, and there isn’t one to make. There’s no sign-up, no email required and nothing for students to log into. Titles you mark as watched are remembered in your own browser and never sent to us, which also means the list won’t follow you to a different computer. You can wipe it any time with Clear my data in the footer.

What comes with a title

What exactly ships with each video?

Five things, and that's the whole list: a summary of what the video actually contains, a viewer-safety note in teacher-to-teacher language, the standards it lines up with, a few discussion questions, and a quick work-a-long where one genuinely helps. If something isn't on that list, we don't claim to offer it.

Do you write the lessons?

No, and we don't plan to. You know your class, your pacing and your building better than we ever will. What we're trying to give back is the part of prep that was never really teaching: hunting for something appropriate, checking it's safe, and confirming the link still works.

How are videos chosen and checked?

Every title and every series is vetted before it goes in. We check that it is genuinely made for children rather than for teachers, that it holds up factually, that the watch link is real and current, and that it fits a K-6 room. Titles that teach nothing academic but are good for a class anyway, such as movement breaks, energizers and transitions, are kept on purpose and filed under Brain Breaks or For Fun.

What does the safety note mean?

It's a quick colleague's heads-up, not a rating board. We flag the kind of thing you'd want to know before pressing play in front of thirty children, such as a brief scary moment, a sad turn, or a bit of cartoon peril. Where a review exists we link out to Common Sense Media and IMDb's parents guide so you can dig further. Preview anything you're unsure about, because you're the one who knows your class.

Standards and your state

Which standards do you use?

Titles are tagged to national anchors: NGSS for science, Common Core for math and ELA, C3 and NCSS for social studies, the National Core Arts Standards, CASEL, the National Health Education Standards, ISTE and SHAPE America. A series page lists every standard its episodes are tagged to, with the full text of each one.

Can I see my own state's codes?

Yes. Pick your state in the Location control on the library, and national standards get badged with your state's matching codes. All fifty states plus DC are loaded. Your choice is remembered in your browser and never put in the web address, so a link you share won't carry your location with it.

A standard looks wrong on a video. What do I do?

Tell us and we'll fix it. Every video page has a Request update button that lets you name what's off, whether that is the standards, the grade bands, the summary or the safety note, and add what it should say instead. Each one gets read.

Day to day

A link is dead. Can you fix it?

Yes, and please report it. The Report button on the video's page is the fastest way, because it tells us exactly which title you mean. Shows move between services constantly. When a title stops being watchable on a free, subscription or library-card service, we retire its page rather than leave a dead link where a class can hit it.

Will I be asked to pay for a video?

Never through us, and we don't link to rent-or-buy pages at all. Some titles do sit behind a subscription your school or public library may already carry, such as BrainPOP or Generation Genius, and those are labelled so you can see before you click. Use the Access filter to show only what's free.

Can I show these to my class legally?

You're watching on the provider's own service under their terms, exactly as you would at home, so the answer usually comes down to that service's rules and your district's policy. We're a directory pointing at where things already are. If you're unsure about a specific title, your school's media specialist is the right person to ask.

There's a screen at the front of my room. Can this get bigger?

Yes. The icon pair beside the search bar switches between Standard view and Big screen view. Big screen view enlarges every control to a comfortable touch target, colour-codes grades and subjects, and drops a column so the page stays readable from across the room.

Cost, ads and who runs this

Is it really free?

Yes, permanently. There's no paid tier, no trial, and nothing held back behind a sign-up. The standards, the safety notes and the discussion questions are all just there. It's run by one former elementary teacher, and it's paid for by a single ad at the bottom of a page plus teachers who chip in on Ko-fi.

Why are there ads?

Hosting, the database and the work of vetting cost real money, and donations alone don't cover it. The rules we hold ourselves to: ads only ever at the bottom of a page, never over what you're reading and never between you and a video link. No pop-ups and no auto-playing video ads.

Can I help?

Please do. Telling us about a missing show or a broken link is the single most useful thing, and sharing the site with one other teacher is the second. If you'd like to help edit the library, writing updates to links, descriptions and standards for approval, say so on the contact page and we'll set you up.

Ask us anything

One person reads everything that comes through the contact page. More about who makes this and why is on the about page, and the fine print lives in the terms and privacy policy.