ICN News

As part of the Raising Readers initiative highlighted in the March ICN News blog, IPTV and K-12 Connections are offering two sessions in May based upon Raising Readers programming. The first session, PBS KIDS Island, will focus on the exciting new PBS KIDS Island website where kids can play and read with their parents, teachers, and caregivers. Students can play reading games with favorite PBS KIDS characters, earn tickets and win prizes. Parents or teachers can track their progress and find fun reading activities to do every day. Bring your students to this ICN session to learn how to register for free and build their own island carnival. In this session, the facilitator and participants will take a tour of PBS KIDS Island, preview PBS KIDS Island Games, learn how to customize their own tree house, check out the Child Progress Tracker and learn about other Raising Readers resources.

The PBS KIDS Island session is offered on May 11th at several times throughout the day. Confirmed registrants for the session will receive a pack of Raising Readers materials including a DVD containing episodes of WordWorld and Super Why! programs, a Martha Speaks book, and other educational materials by mail. As always, sessions are provided at no cost to PK-12 students and the adults working with or on behalf of PK-12 students in Iowa. Please call Trista Peitzman or Marcia Wych at (800) 532-1290 or (515) 242-6663 or (515) 242-4187 or e-mail at trista@iptv.org with any questions.

The second session, The NEW Electric Company!, will focus on the new series by PBS that is broadcast on IPTV. That’s right, The Electric Company is back and better than ever! In the 2009 version of the popular show, the power of the original show is surging back with a cool cast of characters, amazing literacy superpowers, side-splitting cartoons, and songs that will make you dance. The Electric Company aims to entertain children between the ages of 6 and 9 while simultaneously teaching four crucial areas of literacy that are challenging for struggling readers: decoding, vocabulary, comprehension of connected text and motivation. Like the original series, the new show filters these educational goals through pop culture — music, comedy, technology, and celebrities — to create a playful, hip, multimedia experience. Unlike the original series, each new episode of The Electric Company includes a narrative with regular characters and three "curriculum commercial breaks" that consist of a variety of short-form segments: sketches, animations and songs. In this ICN session, Trista Peitzman will show video clips from the program, view games online, and engage your students in a learning activity.

The Electric Company session is offered on May 21st at several times throughout the day. Confirmed registrants receive the book The Kit: Educator's Guide for The Electric Company by mail after the session. Please contact Trista Peitzman or Marcia Wych at the numbers listed above with any questions about this new Raising Readers session.