Ready! Set! School! Update

Announcing Ready! Set! School!
The Utah Family Center, in partnership with the Utah PTA and the Utah State Office of Education, proudly announces the debut of Ready! Set! School!, a new program of innovative activities and website resources, designed to help parents prepare their children for kindergarten.

Funded in part by a grant from the United States Department of Education (Parental Information and Resource Centers (PIRC)), Ready! Set! School!: Empowering Parents to Teach, is the only program designed specifically for parents of Utah pre-school children to help them develop skills that correspond to the Utah Pre-Kindergarten Guidelines.

Seeking to fulfill a need for the parents of more than 93,000 pre-school children in Utah, the Utah Family Center and its partners have written and developed Ready! Set! School!, which includes a toolkit of activities in both English and Spanish, available in paper format or online at a new website (www.readysetschool.org), and enhanced by DVD/video demonstrations for parents to help them visualize how activities can be done at home. Ready! Set! School! also maintains extensive website resources, including “Around Town,” a statewide calendar of events; the “Idea Exchange,” monitored discussion boards; the “Playgroup Connection,” tips to create or find a playgroup; and the “Resource Directory,” with organizations and information categorized by region and topic.

Celebrate! Kick Off Gala - Tuesday May 16
The Utah Family Center will celebrate the release of Ready! Set! School! with a Press Conference and Kick-Off Gala to be held on Tuesday May 16, 2006, at 11:00 am, on the 4th floor of the Main Library in downtown Salt Lake City (210 East 400 South). Members of the media as well as distinguished guests from educational entities around the state are invited to attend. Please come celebrate with us! Contact the Utah Family Center at 801-266-6166 for more information.