Ready! Set! School! - Welcome to the Ready!Set!School! Blog

Welcome to the Ready!Set!School! Blog

Atención, se abre en una ventana nueva.

As a part of our website's upgrade and re-design, we have replaced our forum with a blog to keep you updated on Ready!Set!School! activities and to provide a place where you can still participate and post questions or comments.

Not only can you do the Ready!Set!School! activities independently, but Ready!Set!School! is currently being taught in workshops around the state in our Parent Information Resource Centers (PIRCs) to give you the opportunity to participate in Ready!Set!School! as a group activity, and to help give you support as you complete all of the Ready!Set!School! activities with your child.

In conjunction with the website upgrade, we are also getting ready for our big 'Jump Into Ready!Set!School!' event which will be held on August 22nd at the Discovery Gateway. If you have never been to the Discovery Gateway children's museum, you should take this opportunity to go there with your kids and be prepared for a lot of fun!

Everything is hands on - there is a pretend play area with a 'farm' where children can pretend to plant a garden, feed farm animals, and pretend to ride a full sized horse. There is also a pretend grocery store where the children get to 'shop' and play at being the cashier with actual kid sized checkout counters. The 'groceries' can then be taken 'home' to a pretend play house that has a reading area/living room, and a play kitchen with cupboards, a refrigerator, a play oven, and a sink. There is a 'construction' zone with a crane and giant foam blocks where the children can build structures, or just stack the blocks and knock them over again. Also, there is a huge water play area and there is a toddler play area for children under 3. There are dress-ups at nearly every station. Children can put on cowboy clothes at the farm, a grocers apron at the store, an apron and a chef's hat in the kitchen of the playhouse; there are fireman, policeman, and postman costumes, and even a postman's bag of letters to be delivered to mailboxes that are at each station.

Of course there are so many other things as well -- there is a giant xylophone with music to play, and upstairs there is a science and learning area with activities that even older children can enjoy, including a news station with a teleprompter and a real-life non-working helicopter that is set up for the children to play in, complete with paramedic and pilot vests to wear. After spending the day at Discovery Gateway, my 3 and 6 year old were not wanting to leave, and my 14 year old asked if I thought she could get a summer job there!

For our "Jump into Ready!Set!School! event, all of these activities will still be available, and in addition, we will be adding a display where children can go to complete some of the activities from the Ready!Set!School! curriculum. There will also be face painting, balloons, a magic act, and animal shows, including a visit from Oscar, a baby kangaroo, who will be our mascot for "Jump into Ready!Set!School!" event. We have arranged a discounted admissions price of only $3.25 per person with the coupon that is available here on our website for you to download .

You will need to print one coupon per family, and take it with you to Discovery Gateway to get the discounted rate.

This is a great deal, since regular admission is $8.50 per person, so for a family of 6 the cost would normally be $51. For our "Jump into Ready!Set!School!" event, a family of 6 will be able to get in for only $19.50.

Children attending the event who have completed 10 or more Ready!Set!School! activities can receive a certificate signed by one of our PIRC center coordinators, and can enter a drawing to win a prize. To enter the drawing, bring your signed certificate, and we will give you a slip of paper to fill out and put into the drawing box when you arrive. We will also have certificates available to earn for children who complete the activities at the event. You must be present to win.

Here are the addresses and contact information for our PIRC centers: