TV on a Rolling Cart

Dirty Laundry

From The Electric Company (2009) · 2009

Dirty Laundry
28 min2nd3rdReading & Writing (ELA)
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Summary

A Skeleckian named Todd, Keith, and Lisa are waiting for a meteorite to fall, but Manny steals it and uses it to power his new gadget that deletes letters and allows him to create wordballs. Guest Starring: Mario Jacob Knoll as Todd Villain: Manny Words: Meteorite, conduct, predict, electricity, astonishing, invention Like every Electric Company adventure, the story hangs on reading, decoding, and vocabulary under pressure.

Viewer safety

All ages
Common Sense Media — not yet ratedIMDb Parents Guide — not yet rated

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Teaching resources

Discussion questions

Discussion

Every Electric Company episode builds its story around wordballs — words the team reads, decodes, and uses under pressure. Watch for the vocabulary the episode leans on and how the characters puzzle words out.

  1. Which words did the Electric Company have to read or decode to solve the problem?
  2. How did a character figure out a word they didn't know at first?
  3. Where could you use one of this episode's words this week?

Quick work-a-long

Vocabulary: decode, wordball, clue, solve.

Try it: Keep a wordball list while you watch — every word the show spotlights goes on the board, and each student picks one to use in a sentence afterward.