Listening is Literacy!!!

Hey all! ACCESS time is coming for us and so is the inevitable talk about how to help our children acquire speaking and listening skills. One of my favorite ways to work on listening skills is through listening to podcasts.

If you don't know what a podcast is, watch the video below.

I LOOOOOOOVE PODCASTS! I am seriously obsessed with podcasts and am not ashamed to work a suggestion for a podcast into a conversation with a stranger. "Oh, you like (insert topic of interest here)? Do you like podcasts? Do you know what you should listen to....". 

Seriously, I'm sure my friends and family will one day limit the amount of podcasts I'm able to recommend in one conversation. If you are doubting my love of podcasts, just know that my Valentine's gift this year was to watch the taping of the West Wing Weekly podcast. That is right I watched a taping of a podcast that discusses a show that hasn't been on the air in about 15 years. Like I said, I love podcasts:)

I have passed on my love of podcasts to my own children (or maybe shoved it down their throats)! We are constantly listening to a podcast in the car. I really think it is helping my kids (7 and 12 years old) become better listeners and has made them work their imaginations. They love to discuss them as a family and have learned a ton of information from some of them! Just to recap:

• better listening skills
• increased creativity and imagination
• increased communication
• heightened vocabulary
• increased knowledge of the world around them

I have a growing list of student friendly podcasts to use in your class right now (scroll to the bottom of the page), but here are our favorite 3!

Wow in the World! 

Hosted by Mindy Thomas and Guy Raz from NPR, my family can't get enough of this science show. Every week they take on a current science topic while building a hilarious world with crazy characters, time machines, and sassy pigeons name Reggie. I can totally see an elementary teacher using this to fit science into their day. It would be awesome to listen during snack time or transitions between subjects.

Six Minutes

OMG! This is addictive! It is taking all my will power to only listen to it with my kids and not go ahead! This podcast is about a girl name Holiday who is found unconscious by a family. She can't remember who she is and each episode gives us a bit more information. The coolest thing is each episode is only 6 minutes long! This would be awesome to launch a class with and it would be a great study in characterization! In the chart below I say it is for 4th to 8th grade but my 2nd grader is listening to it with me and she just needs a bit of guidance.

The Unexplainable Disappearance of Mars Patel

This podcast is amazing!!! I found out about it from Haylee Harwick on over at Hello Mrs. Harwick. Catch her Instagram Stories to see how she did a class transformation to listen to this with her kiddos!
This podcast is about a young man named Mars Patel whose friends are disappearing. It has twists, turns, and suspense. I just finished listening to season two and am psyched to know season three is being released soon.  There is so much you could do with this book. It would fit wonderfully into mystery unit and would be a great way to teach prediction and setting!


Below is a list of even more podcasts for kids and the classroom. I'm adding to it all the time and if you have any suggestions, please let me know! I love to share!!
Click on the "Genre/Subject" and "Grade Span" buttons to tailor your searching. Click on the right arrow in the top and bottom right hand corners to see more podcasts. The list is best seen on a computer as opposed to a phone or a tablet. If you have trouble seeing the list you may view it better here: https://awesome-table.com/-LNbUp_4epLAssI40-76/view

Happy Listening!!

Giving Students a Voice: Tech Tip

Hello everyone! As I work throughout the district I have had a bunch of questions about helping our students get more practice recording their voices. Since so many students take the ACCESS test, practicing recording their voices not only helps with preparing them for the test, but also enhances their speaking skills.

If you work with littles, one easy way to get them speaking is Chatterpix. Chatterpix can be used on the iPads and Chromebooks. Students take or upload a picture and then use their finger to cut a "mouth" into their picture. They then can record their voices!

This is awesome for describing a character, retelling a story with beginning, middle, and end, or even explaining their thinking on a math problem. The videos can be saved to the device and then imported into their Google drive accounts!

Free Read Aloud Books

So I just found another awesome tool to add to your elementary school classroom: Vooks! Vooks has classic and popular story titles done as a read aloud. This would be awesome to support a class wide guided reading or to be a literacy station during reading groups. Some of my kindergarten teachers are using this during their student's technology center during center time!






The best part is teachers get a whole year free!!!!!

Closed Captioning in Google Slides

Click on the video above to see it in action!

An Introduction to Flipgrid!

I know I will talk about Flipgrid more on this blog, but here is a quick introduction.

Flipgrid is website/app that allows students to answer a teacher prompted questions with a video response. Pretty simple, eh?

Yes it is simple..... but POWERFUL!

I have seen teachers use Flipgrid for:

• student book reviews
• math accountable talk
• make a hypothesis before a science experiment
• explain their thinking
• take notes for investigative journalism
• memorize a poem and present
• reflect on learning

My favorite part, though, is it helps our English Learners practice their speaking in a non threatening environment. It is also great practice for the speaking section of the WIDA test.

I could talk about Flipgrid for hours, but I'll write some other posts about it later to keep this short and sweet. Trust me.... go check it out and head on over to Twitter and see how other teachers are using it by searching for #flipgridfever !