Again, if you don't have YouTube access at school, check out this tutorial to learn how to download the videos at home so you can transfer them to your work computers! I do this even though we have YouTube access through a filter, because you can't always count on the internet being up!
Now, I don't believe in sitting the children in front of a video and calling that learning, but I do believe that using a fun song or showing a funny clip can help engage them. Normally I try to intersperse the videos throughout the day, so that we're not sitting watching videos for more than 5 or so minutes at a time.
Let's start with alphabet videos and work our way up:
KidsTV123 has a bunch of phonics songs (and some great math ones too!). This song focuses on the letter names, but there are several pictures for each sound. It's a great one for calming the kiddos down and getting them to focus. My kiddos now ad lib their own lyrics "A a a a a is for Alex and apple A a a a" lol! At the end of the video I pause on the scene with all of the letters on the screen, get out a pointer and have students come up to the board to point out a letter, make the sound and say a word that starts with that letter. Sometimes a kiddo will come up and say the same letter, sound and word as the person before them did - this is OKAY! That's where they are in the learning process - give them a few weeks and they'll soon be able to think of a new word for that sound or choose a different letter on their own!
This song focuses on the letter sounds and again is a nice, calming song, great for after recess! I put it on and by the end everyone is ready to focus on a story or lesson! Your kiddos need that transitional time to switch mental gears.
When you're focusing on an individual letter, there are some great choices:
Sesame Street has "podcasts" for each letter of the alphabet. These are each about 6 minutes long and contain some great old clips (I remember some from when I was little!) plus lots of new content! There is nothing like watching Cookie Monster eat the letter of the day! The use of humor makes the letters "stick" in students' heads better - we tend to remember things that evoke an emotional response!
I love the Have Fun Teaching videos because they identify each letter as either a vowel or a consonant and they include tons of letter sound repetition!
Hooked on Phonics has some free videos on YouTube, including this rhyming one. I like this one because it focuses on the pictures without confusing the kids with the written words so that they have to concentrate on the sounds.
This video from Jack Hartmann will get your kids up and dancing while they learn their vowel sounds! I love how the chorus has students crossing the mid-line by tapping their knees and patting their heads.
This video from Jack Hartmann will get your kids up and dancing while they learn their vowel sounds! I love how the chorus has students crossing the mid-line by tapping their knees and patting their heads.
Once your kiddos are ready to read, you'll appreciate these next ones:
There are a TON of sight word videos on YouTube. Some, like the one below from Have Fun Teaching, feature just an individual sight word, while others, like this Harry Kindergarten one, cover several sight words in one song. You can choose what works better for your class!
If you're going to focus on one word at a time, I recommend coming up with some dance moves and having your students up and moving while they watch the video. This will make it much more effective than just sitting still watching. If you're not good at dancing, think about an exercise move - toe touching, shoulder shrugging, knee tapping etc. Come up with a set of moves for 2 letter, 3 letter and 4 letter words so that you have some moves ready to go. Also, ask you students to get involved - they can come up with routines for individual words and that will help everyone in the class learn the words!
There are a TON of sight word videos on YouTube. Some, like the one below from Have Fun Teaching, feature just an individual sight word, while others, like this Harry Kindergarten one, cover several sight words in one song. You can choose what works better for your class!
ELF Kids Videos has a ton of educational videos on YouTube. This one introduces a ton of consonant blends with great picture support and a chance for students to repeat each blend. At the end of the song I would pause on the screen with all the blends listed and have students use a pointer to select a blend, say the sound and name a word that started with it.
This is a fun song for teaching digraphs, my kiddos always enjoyed it, although it can get stuck in your head, so beware lol!
This is a great story video for giving your students a hook to remember the sh, th, wh, and ch digraphs.
Alright, I'm cutting myself off here, that was more than 10 videos! Again, please support the people who make these videos by subscribing to their YouTube channels and checking out their websites!
Did I miss any of your favorites?
Rustle up a response below and share it please!
Alright, I'm cutting myself off here, that was more than 10 videos! Again, please support the people who make these videos by subscribing to their YouTube channels and checking out their websites!
Did I miss any of your favorites?
Rustle up a response below and share it please!
!) but very seldom do you hear about books to read at the end of the year. This could be because we are all simply too exhausted to even think about it, but reading aloud some great EOY picture books is a good way to wrap up the learning, set the tone for the summer and encourage kids to discuss how they're feeling about being out of school or going to the next grade level.
and during the song if they have the shape being sung about they get to hold it up!
