A professional colleague in the language arts area recommended the StoryTimeMomShy channel on YouTube.
My colleague noted her kindergarten child has been glued to the read-alouds. What a wonderful way to develop a love of literature in young children.
I am embedding some of the stories for you to preview, but recommend going to the StoryTimeMomShy YouTube site to see all the stories available, and expect more will be added.
You can also check out StoryTimeMom's website for more information:
Do these read-alouds look like something you would use in the classroom or recommend to parents? I am new to StoryTimeMomShy channel, but subscribed, so I am ready to recommend it to parents and teachers when they seek a source of read-aloud sites.
Let me know what you think. Have you heard of StoryTimeMomShy? Do you know of children who watch the read-alouds on the channel? Where do you go to find online read-alouds for young children?
Over the last month or so, these images have been floating around on Twitter and other social media, and at this point, the original source for all is not known.
Thought I would share them with you, as each asks us to re-examine our teaching and how we prepare students today for what lies ahead for them.
Have you tried connecting with authors virtually to bring them into your classroom? Did you realize many authors like to tweet, and a good number will reply? A class twitter account is one way to explore working with an author through the Twitterverse.
This is the survey I created while doing a screencast tutorial on:
How to use Google Forms to create a survey
How to embed the survey in a Blogger post.
Please take a few minutes to complete this survey. Responses are submitted privately to my Google Drive, as you will see when you listen to the YouTube tutorial.
Here is the tutorial. Turn up the volume on YouTube, and set the volume on your device accordingly to follow along.
Sometimes, it is more convenient to use a survey in a blog post to collect information than to rely on posted comments. The survey allows for collecting the responses in a spreadsheet for review and analysis. Also, use of a survey in a blog post enables respondents to reply without their replies being public on the blog.
So we started a VoiceThread in class tonight. This was the first time we used the program.
Here is what we have so far, and we will add more comments next week. VoiceThread.
We then experimented using two apps on the iPad to make quick videos. Our goal was to compare the three tools for creating a photo story about children's books.
We won't edit the versions completed on the iPad. That was not the intent. We just wanted to compare different tools to deliver comparable content.
On the iPad, we first used the free version of Shadow Puppet, which allowed us to upload 10 images. We then audio recorded our comments about each of the books. Next, the final version was transferred to the iPad's camera roll, so it could be accessed there to upload to YouTube.
We next experimented with iMovie on the iPad. We did not have the limitation of 10 images, but we also kept each of the clips to 15 seconds to keep the final video short. We used one of the music tracks in iMovie, but did not use other features, except to audio record ourselves for our allotted 15 seconds. The final version was uploaded to YouTube.
Here are the two versions.
Shadow Puppet Version
iMovie on iPad Version
So what do you think so far? Would you consider doing a collaborative photo story like this one with students?
We also used Padlet to create a bulletin board of our favorite children's books. It was easy for us to collaborate online using the tool. Here is what we have so far, shown in a screen shot.
No matter what grade you teach, there's something for you and your students to gain from the Global Read Aloud.
We all believe in the importance of developing a love of reading in children today, starting from a young age. We also like to hear a good story read aloud.
Join the Global Read Aloud held each fall. It starts at just the right time of the year to get your students on board. With a month into the school year and routines established, the Global Read Aloud starts at just the right time to introduce a new concept into the classroom.
Check out the selections for the fall.
Regardless of the grade you teach, Peter Reynold's illustrated books are a win. I've used his books with graduate students, watched as the book was read to young children, and participated and watched Skypes in which children from around the world discussed his book The Dot.
Image credit: http://bit.ly/SqOjT7
Happy to see he is one of the features authors for next year.
Not to spoil the fun, check the selections from Pernille Ripp's Global Read Aloud blog. Recently, she posted
Just today, I came across blog posts from two teachers who praised GoNoodle.
https://www.gonoodle.com/
This is not a site I know, but it is one I plan to explore.
For now, I offer links to the posts where the teachers explain how they use the site.
In this post, kindergarten teacher, Matt Gomez, gives an excellent overview of the site. Click on the image to learn what Matt has to say about the site. You can see his students' enthusiasm in the picture.
http://bit.ly/1gQiOgH
In this post, another teacher of young children, Nikki Vrandenburg, recommends the site in her list of sites she uses with her students. GoNoodle comes up first in her post: "My New Favorite Web Tools."
And just an hour after I originally wrote this post, I found on my Twitter feed this picture posted by a former graduate student who teaches 2nd grade, whose students judging from the picture are excited to use GoNoodle:
So I got back in touch with the teacher on Twitter to ask her how her second graders liked GoNoodle, and here's her reply.
@JudyArzt@GoNoodle They love it! They get so excited to complete the levels and watch their mascot grow! They're always adding new videos!
— Nada Noujaim (@MissNoujaim) May 31, 2014
Do these teachers' endorsements convince you to check out the site? Had you heard of the site before? Based on what you learned about the site, would you consider exploring it for use in your classroom?
It was coincidental that she mentioned both Storybird and VoiceThread in this post. Then I came across a link she had under the category
Finding Your Comfort Zone
From there, I found this video, in which students speak about using iMovie. It occurred to me that if these young elementary students use iMovie with fluency as part of their composing, it was worth sharing their story with others, so here is the video:
I found what the students had to say inspiring.
While we're at it and looking for digital tools to support literacy, check Lisa Dabbs' original post where I found this video:
For some time, I have been keeping up with California 3rd grade teacher Linda Yollis and 2nd grade Australian teacher Kathleen Morris. Both have been using blogs with their students for several years, and they have participated in projects such as Quad Blogging.
Students in each of their classes made these videos a few years back, but they are still very relevant today, especially for teachers who are in the initial stages of thinking about implementing blogging in their classrooms.
What I love about these videos is that the students have a voice. Not only do they speak about the benefits of blogging, but they also practice oral presentation and video production skills.
3rd Graders: Meet Linda Yollis's Students
Listen to these 3rd graders from Linda Yollis's class talk about blogging. They offer a wealth of information in this short video.
2nd Graders: Meet Kathleen Morris's Students.
In this video, 2nd graders outline several ways that blogging promotes literacy skills for 21st century learners.
What do you consider the best piece of advice these 2nd and 3rd graders offer?
How convincing are they about the power of blogging?
Why didn't I know about this free app sooner. This morning, I downloaded it to my iPad, went through the screen shots of how to use the app, and within a minute, I was up and running.
For my first attempt, just grabbed from my iPad camera roll some photos I had left over from a conference on campus at the University of Saint Joseph. Some were blurry, but as I was just experimenting and wanted to find out how seamless using the app was, I just used what I could find quickly that related to a single event.
So, uploaded a few of the pics right into the app. Then just audio recorded whatever came to mind for each photo, and saved the final product. Wanted to see what the share options were from there. For simplicity sake, selected share to email, and sent the video to my own email and to a colleague who helped plan the event captured in the video. She emailed back to say, "Love It."
Mind, you this was a first attempt, and when I opened the video from email, I could see it could use lots of improvement, but also wanted to find out from there if I could upload to a site like YouTube or Vimeo. The options were several. First, I selected from the emailed video to download, which I did on my Mac, and then I selected the option to share the video on YouTube. Worked like a breeze.
Feeling confident, decided to try my hand on a second video. Went back to the iPad, and made another one, this time also including a quick video I had in the camera roll. Found out the free version of Shadow Puppet allows for uploading 10 photos or videos, but was content with that. Went through the same process as outlined above, audio recording a quick narrative, sending the saved video to my email, accessing it from there, downloading it my Mac and then sending it out to YouTube.
Here are the two videos, but mind you, these were done quickly. As soon as I free up more space on my iPad to store more photos and videos, I plan to play with Shadow Puppet further.
First Attempt:
Second Attempt: Tried to find clearer pics on camera roll and selected one of the videos in the camera roll.
Do you have a favorite app for making quick videos? How do you envision using an app like Shadow Puppet in the classroom?
Update: I tweeted out how much I enjoyed the ease of using Shadow Puppet and got a reply from the company, pointing to a page on its site with some samples. I am including a link to find the example of how the app was used by one teacher for students to tell about their art projects. Take a look and listen to what the students had to say: "Stories, Reflecting on Art Projects." While on the site, also notice the other examples, lesson plan ideas, and information about using the app to meet Common Core Standards.
So who could ask for anymore? Sure you need an iPad or iPhone, but grab one from a neighbor if you don't have one, and try out Shadow Puppet.
If you explored around the Shadow Puppet site, let us know what you found of interest.
