Videos are a great way to stream knowledge into the classroom - whether it be new knowledge (as an introduction to a new unit) or gained knowledge (a review at the middle or end of a unit or lesson). Through videos' visual input, students develop a better perception of what they are learning and the world around them, while concepts they know are being reinforced. Besides, kids just enjoy them! :)
I started off looking for videos on TeacherTube and SchoolTube. It was difficult to find results because my searches all involved reading intervention skills (reading strategies, word work, critical thinking). I ended up using Blinkx which showed results from the 2 "Tube" sites, and a few more, but still nothing I could use with my students. So I changed the topics I was searching.
I found this cute site by Scholastic called StudyJams. It has math and science videos and interactive step-by-step tutorials. I could use these for math intervention or to support a science article read in small group. Here are some of the videos I previewed:
Fractions would be a great as an intro or review for 4th and 5th graders.
This one is called Aquatic Ecosystems and explains well the differences between freshwater and saltwater ecosystems.
Finally, I thought I would give YouTube a try, so I ran the same searches to see what I'd get. To my surprise, I found several phonics videos that I can show my emergent readers! YAY!!
The one below was cute but moved a bit too fast to show students - I would probably show a snippet each day I taught a new reading strategy for the kids to see it in action.
Reading Strategies: First Grade (first found on SchoolTube)
There are so many resources on the web, it can be habit forming once you start looking for videos! Don't forget, we will still have access to our Discovery Learning videos from the Library Resources page too as they were spared the budget cut ax.
ReplyDeleteMillie