The internet, with all of it's infinite resources was a lifesaver last year when I had a BUSY class of 24 students and no aide in the morning. I used Tumblebooks, and learning videos to steal a moment to set up the next activity or clean up the last. As useful as they are to keep the attention of wiggly boys and girls while freeing me up for a moment, I only use videos and sites that 'teach' or reinforce skills in ways that are fun, engaging, and 'worthy' of my students' precious learning time.
I use the terrific learning videos created by Have Fun Teaching frequently in my classroom. There are currently more than 70 videos uploaded on YouTube by them, with alphabet songs, sight word songs, and more.
There are 27 videos in the alphabet song series- one alphabet song and then a song video for every letter. I credit the songs with helping my students understand the difference between consonants and vowels, not only from the practice of singing along, but I love the visual in the ABC song, with the consonants separated from the vowels.
With the individual letter songs, the letter is shown among the whole alphabet, the letter sound is sung, words beginning with the letter are displayed and spoken in a sentence, and the students 'write' the letter in the air. Here's an example...
Besides the great alphabet and letter songs, Have Fun Teaching also has many Sight Word Song Videos on YouTube, as well as other sobjects. I subscribed to their channel on Youtube so I get notified when they add new songs.
Using technology in meaningful, developmentally appropriate ways to make learning come alive and differentiate instruction so that all students achieve. I hope this blog is helpful to anyone utilizing technology with children. If you have found it useful, I appreciate you letting me know and sharing with others.
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Wow! Great links! I passed some of these on directly to the kindergarten teacher in my building. I will be teaching technology to the little ones next year and after 6 years in 3rd grade, it will be a definite challenge---thanks for a great start for ideas!
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing this awesome resource for online videos geared towards kindergarten. Last year was the first year that I started using YouTube videos with my kindergarteners. I use songs and videos as transitions too. I checked out the Have Fun Teaching website that you recommended. I love that the videos are sorted by categories. I think I will have to subscribe to them through YouTube as well. I really like the sight word videos. It’s great that the words are used in sentences in the videos to show the words in context. I also like that the video shows the kids where to find the letters of the word on the keyboard. The character videos looked pretty cool too. I can’t wait to try these videos next year with my students! Thanks again for sharing!
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