Blog #9 Flocabulary
Flocabulary is a unique tool found in article 8 MUST-HAVE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL APPS AND TOOLS by Matthew Lynch on “The Ed Tech”. It is a website that helps students learn and engage in learning by turning new concepts or a group of vocabulary words into rap songs. There are hundreds and hundreds of pre-made raps that help teach a variety of concepts k-12 including math, language arts, science, social studies, life skills, vocabulary, and current events.
Each concept and topic you choose has not only a premade rap video, but tools such as premade vocab cards, a vocab game, read and respond, a quiz, and a “lyric lab” where students get to design their own rap with their own lyrics and can choose a unique beat to pair it. The creators of Flocabulary intentionally created each video to line up with common core standards to help teachers organize content.
Flocabulary is a very easy tool to use because it organizes the videos in each subject to different concepts within all (in bolded letters) organized from early grades to secondary grades. Once a video is selected it has extra tools on the left-hand column for you to help you teach the concept or vocab words. It also includes multiple short and free PDFs teaching you how to implement new strategies like teaching ELLs with Flocabulary, tips on how to implement vocabulary in your week, along with scaffolding each area. This website includes a free trial to access all of the content for a few weeks before you have to pay. It is $11.50 for each month an individual teacher uses it and has school and district options as well for pricing. It also includes an app that allows students to show their parents the videos they watched in class and to practice at home.
Experience
I have never used it in a classroom setting because I found it recently online. Although, I have been able to play around and it allows you to listen to the first part of each rap song and it is so fun to listen to how they have different beats to each rap and a video to watch along. It amazes me how many different concepts they have to help all teachers that teach from the age of kindergarten to seniors in high school. I will likely use the free version and take advantage of the fun ways to teach new things to my students. If it helps significantly I may start to pay for it or ask the school I work at to consider paying for a subscription to help all of the teachers engage and teach students. Here is an example of just a few of the rap options for geometry and measurement.
This website connects directly to the 4 parts of the 7 events of instruction. It helps Present the content by the rap song and video explaining a concept and with the vocabulary game practice that it goes along with. It also pairs as a tool to assess students through the quizzes which would put it in the 7th event of instruction: Assessing the Lesson outcome. It shows on their website how it helps students move through Bloom's Taxonomy through every level.
Hi Kylie,
ReplyDeleteI've actually never heard of this technology before. After reading what you have posted I got a better understanding on what this can be used for and how it can be beneficial for students. I liked how you described how it is a learning tool used for engaging as this is such an important part when teaching students.
Hi Kylie,
ReplyDeleteThis technology sounds like so much fun! Kids really do love to learn through songs, and I think the songs help them retain more of the information. I love when I can hear the kinder class singing their morning songs when I'm at my placement.