Welcome to the Ready to Learn (RTL) in the Hilltop Neighborhood blog. We decided to start a blog because many people have asked how they can follow our project. We'll post updates, stories, photos, and events as they occur. If you have ideas, suggestions, or want to get involved let us know. To start things off, here's what we've been up for the past 10 months.

SPARKS at the Children's Museum of Tacoma

Sparks is a program held every Saturday at the Children’s Museum of Tacoma, where Museum staff, artists and community partners provide hands-on opportunities for families to explore art, science, invention, or craft. The second Saturday of every month is a RTL day. Each event is themed around a popular PBS KIDS show and focuses on building math and literacy skill. So far we've explored letters with SuperWhy, animal tracks and measurement with Dinosaur Train, light investigation with SID the Science KID, and gardening with Curious George. This Saturday we'll discover bird migration with Cat in the Hat!

THA Parenting Classes

For the 47 families in the Tacoma Housing Authority McCarver Elementary Special Housing Program, it's a requirement that they attend parenting sessions once a month. The goal is to give parents the tools needed to help their children succeed in school and life. While the parents are in class, we've been privileged to work with the students. They've served on our Kids' Advisory Panel reviewing new PBS transmedia games, worked on creating stories for the PBS KIDS Go! Writers Contest, and been interview by KBTC staff on how the program impacts them. WATCH THIS VIDEO and see what they said about the program.

Spring Break Camp

Ohh the fun we had at camp! Kids in the Tacoma Housing Authority Special Housing Program joined us at McCarver for a week of fun games and activities, lead by an amazing team of mentors, teachers, and volunteers. Kids in K - 3rd grade rotated through three activities including computer workshop, The Electric Company workshop (based on the PBS KIDS show The Electric Company), and a play writing workshop. The 4th and 5th graders were our camp reporters. They interviewed campers, wrote articles, took photos, and published a camp newspaper that was released to all campers and families. Friday was family day at camp where a professional actress performed the play written by the K - 3rd graders. Check out the article about camp published in the Weekly Volcano.