JOHNSTON, IOWA (October 2, 2019) — Iowa Public Television’s (IPTV) commitment to early-childhood education continues with the expansion of its Ready for School initiative. Educational specialists will work with educators, parents, child-care providers, and community partners in several Iowa communities to implement STEM and literacy-based activities for children ages 2 through 6 years old.
“Iowa Public Television uses the power of technology and media to spark children’s curiosity and excite them about learning,” said Ken Harrison, director of Educational Services at IPTV. “Ready for School activities are designed to enhance early-reading, math, science, and social-emotional skills for young children. This roll-out to the 2019-2020 communities furthers IPTV’s efforts to serve families across Iowa with trusted educational content.”
IPTV’s seventh year of Ready for School will focus on giving all children equal opportunity to succeed. IPTV will provide access to high-quality educational media-resources including online games, instructional materials, and educational activities that help children increase their school-readiness and success. The multimedia content and related activities are based upon the work of educational children’s programming from PBS, such as The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That!, Odd Squad, Martha Speaks, Peg + Cat, Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood, and Super WHY!
The initiative has been validated by scientifically-based research funded by the US Department of Education. Ready for School has been deployed in over 100 other Iowa communities prior to this year.
The 2019-2020 Ready for School communities associated with the following school districts are:
Bedford
Bondurant-Farrar
Boone
Des Moines
Diagonal
East Mills
Essex
Fremont-Mills
Galva-Holstein
Hamburg
Mount Ayr
Nodaway Valley
OABCIG
River Valley
Sidney
South Central Calhoun
South Page
Learn more at Iptv.org.
Iowa Public Television is Iowa's only statewide television network. IPTV’s mission to educate, inform, enrich and inspire Iowans guides its quality, noncommercial programming that tells Iowa's stories like no one else can. Four statewide, public channels offer programs of lasting value to Iowans, regardless of where they live or what they can afford: IPTV (.1), IPTV KIDS (.2), IPTV WORLD (.3) and IPTV Create (.4) on Channel 11, Des Moines; Channel 12, Iowa City; Channel 21, Fort Dodge; Channel 24, Mason City; Channel 27, Sioux City; Channel 32, Waterloo; Channel 32, Council Bluffs; Channel 36, Davenport; and Channel 36, Red Oak. More information can be found at Iptv.org.
