I started using Flocabulary a few years ago when I discovered the "Five Elements of a Story" video on Pinterest. It was a true "Pinterest success" ;)...I had a great way to review and reinforce common characteristics found in fictional stories, and my students absolutely loved the catchy song. I mean, they begged for me to play it again and again. How could I say "No"? I couldn't...So, needless to say, the "Five Elements of a Story" rap was embedded in my brain as much as my students'. My students kept asking where I had found the video, so I ended up putting the YouTube version on my classroom website. My students would come into school and tell me that they watched it from home. They were actually excited to watch an educational video *cue jaw dropping to the floor*.
Flocabulary has its own YouTube channel. The YouTube channel (and Flocabulary website) have many free sample videos for you to tryout.
1. Flocabulary offers a wide variety of songs and videos for MANY subject areas. I teach language arts, so that's the main tab I use (along with vocabulary), but there are also videos for math, science, social studies, current events and life skills too. The life skills videos section consists of "Social and Emotional Learning" videos, as well as "Financial Literacy" videos. The "Social and Emotional Learning" videos address topics that counselors would find beneficial for students to watch, such as "Bullying", "Conflict Resolution","Managing Frustration", "Goal Setting", and many more. I used the "Oversharing" video in my classroom this year. We were starting our own Kidblogs and it was a great way to review privacy on the Internet with my students.
2. Each video has accompanying resources that you can use with your students. There are three different versions of the song lyrics that you can use with your students, as well as activity sheets to practice the skills that are covered in the video.
4. The "Week in Rap" section is an engaging way to cover current events. Each week a new video is created to recap important news stories. There is a junior version for younger students too, so check them both out to see what is most appropriate for your kiddos. There are resources that you can use with your students to check their comprehension (see examples below).