With community partners, we provide collaborative support for families and children through the local school, library, after-school organizations, recreation-center and community partner sites. A recent national Ready to Learn survey supports our approach of supporting families in out of school learning, particularly in science. More than 1,400 parents were surveyed about the educational activities they do with their young children. Seven out of 10 parents said that having access to ideas for doing science with everyday materials would help them be more confident and “do more science” at home. Providing this support has always been our approach.

WXXI’s Ready to Learn workshop series for Rochester City School District educators and parents support hundreds each year in using media and “make and take” activities for home and classroom. Our series of “Exploration Stations” events with the Rochester Public Library provides hands-on informal and take-home activities for families. Last month, we collaborated with Kendall Elementary School on a Wild Kratt’s family event to cap a week of classroom activities focused on animals and the environment. And, our recent collaboration with the Rochester Toy Library to create a series of WXXI Kids Play Kits works to promote exploration and encourage child-directed play. Providing a model of how to use PBS KIDS learning resources in the classroom, these kits – filled with fun, hands-on science-related play tools – are currently being piloted at two Kindergarten sites, RCSD Roberto Clemente School #8 and Genesee Community Charter School. At-home backpack versions of these kits are also available for “check out” from Rochester’s Toy Library.