Ready To Learn activities scheduled in the next several months include:

• Distributing through 33 community First Book partners, more than 15,000 new books free of charge to children and families who do not have ready access to print materials (some books are available in Spanish);

• Developing activities to be used in conjunction with reading selected First Books;

• Giving a book to each family attending Family Math or Science Nights and Family Literacy Nights, to foster an understanding of how to enhance a child's learning by incorporating books, television, and hands-on activities;

• Providing 950 board books for infants and toddlers, to be distributed by First Book partner agencies, to encourage new parents to expose children to books and reading early in life;

• Presenting literacy workshops for parents, early education professionals, and other caregivers to encourage language development, reading aloud, storytelling, and positive use of media;

• Carrying out Project Storytime, an extended literacy project for incarcerated parents at the Lakes Region Correctional Facility in Laconia; and

• Developing a literacy program to encourage teen parents to read aloud to their children.

Beyond its award-winning local and national television programs, NHPTV provides instructional services for 220,000 students from kindergarten through high school; airs Ready To Learn program for children, preschool to age 12, and provides professional development program and advanced technology training for parents, educators and child-care providers in New Hampshire and neighboring states. For more information about NHPTV programs that entertain, educate and enrich, visit www.nhptv.org.