Ready to Learn



The Ready To Learn Service is a nationwide effort using on-air, online and print resources and local support to help parents and early childhood educators prepare children for success in school. Services were first launched in 1994, and are conducted by PBS stations, broadcasting high quality PBS KIDS television programs like Sesame Street to 93 percent of the country including 93 million homes with 37 million children. Local stations further build partnerships with community organizations such as childcare centers, schools, libraries, businesses, civic groups, and government agencies.

The Ready To Learn Service's official website describes Sesame Street's goals as follows:

Sesame Street encourages children to
 * take beginning steps toward reading, writing, mathematics and science
 * learn about feelings and how to cope with emotions
 * appreciate cultural diversity by modeling people who differ in appearance, action, or point of view playing together, working together, making friends, and resolving conflicts
 * appreciate the arts in a variety of forms including visual art, music, and dance and create their own art as they develop the concept, "I am an artist."
 * learn about the body and how to keep it healthy and safe

Other Ready To Learn television programs include Arthur, Dragon Tales, Clifford, Between the Lions, Reading Rainbow, Maya & Miguel, and Postcards from Buster.

Appearances
In 2006, PBS launched a series of short commercials for the Ready To Learn Service, that mixed characters from above mentioned PBS KIDS shows. One clip featured the surprising re-appearance of long absent Guy Smiley (Sesame Street) as host of "double Get Wordy". Contestants were Cookie Monster (Sesame Street), and cartoon characters T-Bone (Clifford) and Thora (Arthur).

Another Ready To Learn commercial features Between the Lions characters Leona and Theo. The segment takes place outside the normal realm of the show, and instead takes place in a family living room, spoofing the sitcom genre, complete with laugh track.

Yet another commercial featured Sesame Street characters Ernie and Bert, a Dragon Tales character, and possibly more.

Each of these commercials ended with a brief set of credits, making reference to other PBS shows:

Directed by Arthur Read

Produced and Created by Gordon Muraskin

Executive Producer Barnaby Busterfield III

Assistant Director D.W. Read

Camera operator Grover

Cinematography Lens Glaare

Art Direction Prairie Dawn

Film Editing by John Steenbeck

All Casting by Imaginary Characters, US.

Theo's Body Double Arty Smartypants

Leona's Body Double Elmo Monster

Sets designed by Buster Bunny

Sound Mixer Mai-Tai

Gaffer Big Bird

Key Grip Sue Ellen

Best Boy Electric Ord

Best Boy Grip Bobby the Hopping Robot

(followed by a block of smaller credits)