Iowa Public Television

BornLearning
http://www.bornlearning.org/
United Way of America is partnering with the Ad Council, Civitas, and Families and Work Institute to create Born Learning, an innovative public engagement campaign that helps parents, caregivers and communities create quality early learning opportunities for young children. Born Learning is designed as a tool for long-lasting community change that supports young children. It has three cornerstones: awareness, education, and action. Their goal is to inspire everyone who impacts young children to make the best possible decisions to boost school readiness.

Colorín Colorado
http://www.colorincolorado.org/
This is a bilingual site for teachers and families of English language learners. You'll find lots of articles, resources, and ideas to support ELLs at school and at home.

Iowa Parent Information Resource Center (PIRC)
http://iowaparents.org
IowaParents.org is a joint effort between the School Administrators of Iowa (SAI), the Iowa Department of Education (DE), and Area Education Agency 267 (AEA 267). This website is designed to provide information and support to a wide-range of parents and educators throughout Iowa. They are committed to increasing parent and educator knowledge about effective parent involvement strategies aimed at increased student achievement. The ultimate purpose of this website it to help parents and educators work together so all students can be successful.

National Institute on Media and the Family 
http://www.mediafamily.org/
The National Institute on Media and the Family seeks to educate and inform the public, and to encourage practices and policies that promote positive change in the production and use of mass media.  They are committed to partnering with parents and other caregivers, organizations, and corporations in using the power of the free market to create healthier media choices for families, so that we have healthier, less violent communities. The Institute is the country’s leading source for research about the impact of media on bullying, youth violence, school performance, obesity and other child health and development issues

Parenting Counts: A Focus on Early Learning
http://parentingcounts.org/
Parenting Counts is a family of products for parents and children, birth to five created and disseminated by Talaris Institute. Focused on bonding, brain development and social-emotional development, these products help parents understand the importance of parenting in the early years. By learning how children think, feel and learn, parents are more capable of helping their children grow in healthy ways. Research tells us that the bond between a parent and child is created in the first five years. This parental bond is the foundation for all learning and the foundation for all relationships developed later in the child's life. That's why Parenting Counts!

PBS KIDS
http://pbskids.org/
PBS KIDS Online extends the mission of PBS KIDS TV programming by giving children and their families the resources to improve school readiness skills, explore new subjects, express their thoughts, and play in a safe environment.

PBS KIDS Share A Story
http://pbskids.org/shareastory/
PBS KIDS Online extends the mission of PBS KIDS TV programming by giving children and their families the resources to improve school readiness skills, explore new subjects, express their thoughts, and play in a safe environment..

PBS Parents
http://www.pbs.org/parents/
Here you'll find information about child development from birth through the early school years. The PBS Parents Guides address important aspects of children’s early years such as school readiness and social and emotional development. You can also find information about your children's favorite PBS KIDS programs, educational activities related to the programs, and explanations of educational goals.

PBS Teachers — Early Childhood Educators
http://www.pbs.org/teachers/earlychildhood/
with curriculum tools and professional resources as part of its commitment to growing young minds.

Reading Rockets
http://www.readingrockets.org/
Reading Rockets is a national multimedia project offering information and resources on how young kids learn to read, why so many struggle, and how caring adults can help. The Reading Rockets project is comprised of PBS television programs, available on videotape and DVD; online services, including the web sites ReadingRockets.org and ColorinColorado.org; and professional development opportunities. Reading Rockets is an educational initiative of WETA, the flagship public television and radio station in the nation's capital, and is funded by a major grant from the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs.

Sesame Street Video Clips
http://video.sesameworkshop.org/
Sesame Workshop has created an outstanding Web site of short, video clips from Sesame Street! There are hundreds of clips to choose from. To choose a clip to watch, you can type a word (like family) into the search box to find all clips related to families or you can click on one of the Sesame Street characters at the top of the page to find all the clips with that character. Book Club trainers will find this to be an valuable resource to locate additional clips related to their monthly theme.

Talaris Institute
http://www.talaris.org/
Talaris Institute, a Seattle-based non-profit organization, was founded in 2000. Their mission is to promote successful parenting by making research-based information about raising socially and emotionally healthy children, birth to five, accessible to parents and caregivers through the Parenting Counts family of educational materials.

Washington Learning Systems - Free Parent Education Handouts
http://www.walearning.com/Guide.html
Free reproducible language and early literacy activities in English and Spanish! These materials include home and community activities for adults and children that encourage early language and literacy development. You can choose from “on the go” activities, activities for preschool children, and activities for children birth to age three. Each of the activities includes an activity description, and hints for making the activity fun and developmentally appropriate. In addition to the activities, you can download an activity checklist that helps parents and caregivers notice their children’s skills, and also cue adults to examine and grow their own interactions with children.
The materials may be copied and distributed as long as they are not sold.