Flocabulary (Hip Hop Videos for the Classroom)

Have you heard of Flocabulary? It’s a website that does hip hop songs to help students remember certain facts. It started with SAT vocab, but has expanded to all levels and subjects. To have access to all the videos/songs you need to pay a fee, but a few are free…including the one for Egypt, which you can watch here.

Note the lyrics below the song (they are clickable) and the resources to go with it on the right hand side of the page. I will warn you…you will be singing the chorus to this in your head all day after you hear it, or at least I did! :)

There are other free videos too worth checking out on the site, including Confessions of a Planet (Space), On Trial! (Test Taking Vocabulary), Let Freedom Ring (Civil Rights), This Ain’t Working (American Revolution), Place Value, Scientific Method of Madness, and more!  There is a vocabulary section broken down by grade level and tons of other great videos in the paid version. You can also download songs in iTunes (for $.99 each).  Take a look (and listen).  I think you will love these!

 

Explore the Barrier Reef with Google Maps or Google Earth!

The newest edition to some of the fascinating resources in Google Maps/Earth, is the ability to tour the Ocean, complete with reef wildlife.  To explore some of these locations, you will be using “Street View.”  Here’s a quick video on how to use it:

Great Barrier Reef

Hawaii
There are other collections too, including the Amazon, Antarctica, Historic Italy, World Landmarks, Nasa, and much, much more.
You can visit all the collections here:
If you find anything that helps your teaching, leave a comment here and let us know!

Animal Research in 2nd Grade

Students in second grade at Glenvar researched and created their own powerpoints about animals.  They worked in partners and used a google custom search to search safe sites for animal information.  Then they used the facts they found to create at least two powerpoint slides.  They learned skills such as saving and opening a document, inserting pictures and text, formatting backgrounds, and using a search engine.  Below are all their slides shows put together by class.