Ready To Learn

View, Read, Do KET is committed to helping children get a good start in life. Nearly one-third of our broadcast schedule is devoted to commercial-free, non-violent children’s programs that teach valuable lessons in problem solving, tolerance, self-esteem, and interpersonal relations as well as specific language and math skills.

But even the best children’s television works better when parents and caregivers watch with children and help them engage in meaningful follow-up activities. Ready To Learn, a national outreach effort by public television stations, supports and extends PBS Kids programs with resources that teach parents and caregivers how to make the best use of them. This page outlines KET’s Ready To Learn activities in Kentucky. See the PBS Ready To Learn web site for information about the project nationwide.

Workshops

KET conducts more than 150 free Ready To Learn workshops for Kentucky adults each year. The workshops show how to use the “legs” of the RTL Learning Triangle—TV that teaches, storybooks, and activities—to support children’s learning and development. The specific objectives are to

  • share ideas for using PBS children’s programs to provide children with early language and literacy experiences.
  • help adults critically select, view, and use media with young children.
  • show how to use television to engage young children in experiences that foster intellectual, language, emotional, social, and physical development.

Participants in Ready To Learn workshops also receive free storybooks to take home, thanks to a partnership between PBS and First Book.

KET’s Ready To Learn workshops are designed for parents, teachers, and caregivers of children from birth to age 8. They are given at locations across Kentucky in both English and Spanish. If you would like to attend an RTL workshop, please fill out our information request form. We will contact you with details about a workshop close to you.

Free Parents’ Magazine

Twice a year, PBS publishes PBS Families, a magazine for parents and caregivers that encourages families to watch, play, and learn together. PBS Families (also available in a Spanish-language edition, PBS Para la Familia) is filled with advice and suggestions for turning PBS Kids programs into starting points for active learning.

The magazine is free; use our information request form to request a copy.

Get Involved

If you or your organization would like to become a partner in Ready To Learn, we’d love to hear from you! Here are several possible ways to get involved:

  • Host or sponsor a workshop.
  • Collect or donate books to be given away at workshops.
  • Participate in a “Train the Trainers” session so that you can conduct Ready To Learn workshops in your area (as several Family Resource and Youth Service Center coordinators across Kentucky have already done!).

For more details, or to share your own ideas, please contact

Kathy Day
KET Ready To Learn
600 Cooper Drive
Lexington, KY 40502-2296
(800) 866-4686

Resources

Grow Up Great KET’s Ready To Learn activities in Kentucky are supported in part by a grant from PNC’s Grow Up Great project. The Grow Up Great web site includes advice and materials for parents on supporting children’s development from birth through the preschool years.

Some other useful resources: