Literacy, Languages, and the Arts
October 24-October 30, 2013

Find the latest educational resources from Iowa Public Television.

Super Readers Challenge

Grades: PreK-1

Play this Super WHY! game, Super Readers Challenge, to practice the alphabet, rhyming, reading, and spelling based on letters and sounds. Students are able to complete four different challenges, and with each, potentially earn a super letter towards the creation of a word. Each of the activities allows the student to work on a different aspect of reading and spelling.

Dance Theatre of Harlem

Grade Range: 6-12

This video segment from A Walk Through Harlem features Arthur Mitchell, the artistic director and former dancer who founded the Dance Theatre of Harlem. In 1968, the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King had a profound impact upon Miller who decided to return to his old neighborhood to teach dance, thinking the discipline, focus and technique would energize African American children in their everyday lives. Often considered to be an excellent classical ballet dancer, Mitchell was also thought of as an exception to the rule. He believed, however, given the opportunity, African American dancers could also excel in classical ballet. The school now has more than 1000 young people of diverse ethnic backgrounds and cultures.

Walter White: Reporting the Crime
Grade Range: 9-12

This video from the The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow presents experiences from the life of Walter White. This unsung hero was an African American man who put his life in danger passing for a white man while working as the chief investigator of the crime of lynching for the NAACP. White was successful on countless occasions in documenting the crime and even collecting and publishing the names of perpetrators.

Character Change: The Diary of Anne Frank
Grade Range: 5-8

In this blended lesson supporting literacy skills, students examine what Anne Frank's writing and a video dramatization of her diary reveal about her character and how it changed while she was in hiding. Students develop their literacy skills as they explore an English language arts focus on character change. During this process, they read informational text, learn and practice vocabulary words, and explore content through videos and interactive activities.

Summarizing: Modeling
Grade Range: 9-13+

Adult education instructor Kay Combs models reading and summarizing a text for better comprehension.

Ten More Little Words
Grade Range: PreK-1

In this video segment from Between the Lions, a large dinosaur puppet teaches a class of monkeys about ten little words through a song. These words promote reading fluency and include: I, he, they, with, was, his, are, on, as, and for. This video segment provides a resource for Fluency and Phonological Awareness.

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