YouTube in the Classroom

I am aware of the fact that YouTube isn't a 2014 invention.... however it was just recently that my district has allowed us access to YouTube in the classroom and so I am excited to have sooo many new resources to share with my little ones.

And that being said, if you are not allowed to use YouTube there are several ways to download or save videos and therefore still be able to share them.

Why didn't I do this before... I'm not sure.... I really don't have a solid answer for that one.

I know KeepVid is a popular option for this, but I have never tried it.... and I just watched {THIS} little YouTube video which said you can just add a "ss" to the front of a web address and download it that way...if my blurb isn't making sense please see video because I really don't know.

Moral of the story I should have been using YouTube as a classroom resource earlier... oh well, I am now!!

This is my list... it is a work in progress....

Let's start with the alphabet....

We use Alphafriends {from Houghton Mifflin} and this simple, yet perfect for kinder, song is a great one for a brain break or transition time:

Another good alphabet one {which eerily is exactly the same length as the one above} is more upbeat and has a "rap feel" which the kids LOVE:

Let's break down the video above with some pros and cons. 

Pros: kids are super engaged... they do the alphabet with capitals AND lower case AND the sounds. 

Cons: When they do the sounds they show how to pronounce it so for q it is /kw/ and for x we see /ks/...and to be honest that is probably a good conversation to have with the kids, but for your low ones who are just learning the sounds I think it is a little confusing, but that's just my opinion.

So that ABC song above is from Have Fun Teaching and they have A LOT of videos. They have sight word songs. Now, I use Heidi Songs to teach sight words and I will get back to that in a bit. 

But the Have Fun Teaching peeps have songs for several sight words. I have only shown the "For" song so far. 

I was skeptical because they start by saying the word many times... almost too many....then they spell the word over and over.... 

So I thought, um, this isn't that great. Then they do a few sentences with the word like "One for you and one for me" and "Two for you and two for me" etc etc....all the way to four {which led to a short four vs for convo...not sure how that went over, but we had it.}

But I take it back.... it has a modern, rap-style to it and the kids are in to it...don't know if they'd be into for every sight word... but they liked this!

So there you have it...watch this "for" yourself and you can go online to see there are MANY more sight word songs all with the same formula.

Oh yeah... I almost forgot... I like how they show the sight word on the computer keyboard at the end of the song too! You can also go to their site Have Fun Teaching for all their materials. And I haven't shown my kiddos this one yet... but the Shape Song is next on my list.

Now back to Heidi Songs... LOVE all of her stuff and use her CDs ALL the time.... in fact, her sight word songs are a staple in my room and how I introduce new words.

I haven't really used her things on YouTube.  The only exception being the Let's Build a Snowman Song. I explained in {This Post} how I shared the link for parents to be able to sing the song at home.

This song is great for counting to 100! {but the way the 4 looks drives me crazy!} I played this last week to 80 for the 80th day. We also do Dr. Jean's song for 100, of course!

And just about any story I search is on YouTube from Chicka Chicka Boom Boom to No David! and so many others. Sometimes it is animated and other times it is a child reading it which could be a fun twist for your little ones during read aloud time.

I am just kicking myself for not using this resource as thoroughly as I should have been!

To keep track of all of this I started a new board on Pinterest just for YouTube Videos! There isn't too much on there now, but feel free to follow it and we can build our YouTube library together!

You can click {HERE} to read a post where I shared music {CD or iPod style}

And please share any great YouTube videos you know about... like I said, I am new to this!

Have you entered my pencil sharpener GIVEAWAY yet? It ends tomorrow.... click HERE and don't miss out!