In response to a challenge to integrate media activities into literacy lessons, teachers from elementary and middle grade classrooms initiated action research projects to determine the effectiveness of their efforts. Three projects are discussed in detail. Data collection and analysis were of a mixed design. Each action research project used media to develop different elements of reading competency in literacy activities. Each resolved an ongoing challenge to literacy learning using a variation of media to support students' learning in a way that was not traditionally used. Summaries of these studies may serve as models for other educators' attempts to modernize and animate reading activities in everyday classrooms. (Contains 2 tables.)