Over thirty years ago, an educational television show dared to speak to youth in the voice of their generation. The Electric Company turned on the power of possibility for kids by showing them that learning to read can be fun. In 2009, the power surged back with the all-new The Electric Company, produced by Sesame Workshop. With a cool cast of characters, amazing literacy superpowers, side-splitting cartoons, and songs that you can't help dancing along with, this reincarnation of a television classic is sure to make an impact on the newest generation. 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: Children will increase their ability to manipulate sounds in spoken words and map those words to print.
• Vocabulary: Children will expand the amount of words (vocabulary) that they use and understand. Comprehension of Connected Text: Children will learn strategies that good readers use to understand connected text (phrases and sentences).
• Motivation: Children will be motivated to read connected text and express themselves using text.

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. This narrative portion of each show teaches 4 or 5 domain-based vocabulary words within a compelling context that children can understand. In addition, the show also includes three "curriculum commercial breaks" that convey the curriculum's phonics and connected text, and motivation

 

The Kit: Educators' Guide

With this guide, you can bring The Electric Company experience into kids' daily lives. Just click through the following links for a variety of easy-to-do activities, games, and tips that bring literacy to life!

All the materials in the kit, including this guide, build upon and extend the goals of The Electric Company. They're aligned with national educational standards, and they're all about having fun—using language and words as a powerful means to a rewarding end.

The Electric Company unlocks the power of words. Whether you are a facilitator, after-school-care provider, teacher, or group leader, these teaching tools are for you. By guiding kids through the activities and games outlined in this section, you play an important role in showing them how exciting language can be and, at the same time, help them develop literacy skills.

Right click any of the links below and select 'Save link as...' to download these activities.

• Full Outreach Guide (color) (PDF 2.33 MB)
• Full Outreach Guide (gray scale) (PDF 2.56 MB)
• Activity Sheets: Part 1 (PDF 6.93 MB)
• Activity Sheets: Part 2 (PDF 6.98 MB)
• Activity Sheets: Part 3 (PDF 6.81 MB)
• Alphabet Cards (PDF 380 KB)
• Master Vocabulary List (PDF 280 KB)

 

The Kit VOL.2: Educators' Guide

This Kit builds upon the success of Kit VOL. 1 to bring 12 new literacy adventures to kids in classrooms, before and after care settings, and at home. Kit VOL. 2 incorporates densely imaginative themes around play and exploration to bring literacy to life!

Along with this guide, Kit VOL. 2 features printable popsicle stick puppets, silhouette masks, and a Word Ball template to personalize the learning for kids. For educators and caregivers that want to maximize the activities, Book and Digital Media Activity extensions are available for download and to extend the learning at home, educators and families alike can download the Take-Home Activity extensions for easy-to-do games and literacy learning for the whole family.

Word collages, skit performances, relay races, and rhyme games are among the endless possibilities and combinations that can be found when pairing Kit VOL. 1 and Kit VOL. 2 together. At the click of your mouse, The Electric Company is ready and waiting for you to turn it on and plug it in to unlock the power of words!

Right click any of the links below and select 'Save link as...' to download these activities.

• Full Outreach Guide VOL.2 (color)(PDF 5.25 MB)
• Full Outreach Guide VOL.2 (gray scale) (PDF 21.9 MB)
• Spinner (PDF 652 KB)
• Word Ball (color) (2.98 MB)
• Word Ball (gray scale) (5.19 MB)
• Silhouette Masks (2.20 MB)
• Poster (3.75 MB)
• Popsicle Stick Puppets (21 MB)

 

Prankster Planet

Prankster Planet is a new online gaming experience that allows kids to go from watching The Electric Company show to being part of the Company themselves! Using their knowledge of math concepts and vocabulary that they learn in the episode, players must help Marcus and Jessica stop the Pranksters from sucking all the words from Earth.

This Electric Company transmedia experience is designed to support the Season Three theme of math vocabulary. Each new animated segment revolves around two vocabulary words from the show related to math concepts such as probability, coin value and measurement. On the website, children are encouraged to complete missions that center on the same vocabulary. The words are woven into the online experience through character dialogue, vocabulary challenges, and mini games that provide kids with hands-on applications of the math concepts themselves.

Examples include a miniature golf game where kids need to hit the ball straight to get it into the target; a memory game where kids match batches of tens and hundreds to cards with the same numerical value; rebus puzzles that ask kids to figure out if something is impossible, or likely; and balancing games where kids use varying amounts of weight to balance a scale.

Teachers can track their students’ learning through personal progress charts, as children complete online missions that teach math-related vocabulary. The tracker also includes links to supplemental math resources to help teachers extend their students’ learning beyond game play! Once a student is logged in to Prankster Planet, a button to access the progress tracker will be visible in the upper right of the screen.

Visit Prankster Planet