Blog B

Teacher Made Podcasts

Goldilocks: A first grade teacher had some of her students create their own version of Goldilocks and act it out. Mother Bear made some porridge, but it was too hot, so the Bear family went for a walk while it cooled down. During that time, Goldilocks wandered over to their house and took a peak inside. She ended up eating Baby Bear's porridge, breaking his chair, and sleeping in his bed. When the Bear family returned to their house, they found someone had eaten the porridge, broken a chair, and they found Goldilocks sleeping. They scared her and she ran away and was never seen again.

Christmas Traditions: Another first grade teacher had her students tell all about their Christmas traditions for their pen pals in Mexico. They talked about decorating their trees, waiting for Santa Clause, making snowmen, drinking hot chocolate, and opening presents and stockings.

Three Billy Goats Gruff: First grade class reenacted Three Billy Goats Gruff. The first billy goat went across a bridge, but a troll stopped him and wanted to eat him, but he convinced him to wait for the second billy goat. The same thing happened with the second billy goat. When the third billy goat came across the bridge, the troll came up from under the bridge and tried to eat him, but the billy goat knocked him over the bridge and he was never seen again.


I think it is a really good idea to integrate the use of podcasts in the classroom. It gets the students excited about creating their own stories and being able to let other people hear them. The kids sounded like they were excited as they read their scripts and I could tell that they were having fun. By using podcasts, teachers can get their students excited about reading. If they think that they will be able to put themselves online for a lot of people to listen, they are more likely to want to make up and write their own sentences, as wellas read and re-read their stories so they are really comfortable with them. In my practicum classroom, I might have my students make a podcast about the inventor or invention they had been researching. Another way might be to have them make an improvement of an invention and explain it on a podcast for their parents to listen to at home. The students might make their own version of a well known nursery rhyme or story, and create a podcast to show the kindergarten or first grade classes. I might also create a podcast specifically for parents so they know my role in the classroom and use it as an introduction. A last way of using podcasts in the classroom may be explainations of assignments for when a teacher or myself is out sick or absent.

All Podcasts taken from Mallett Elementary School teacher podcasts on 2/25/08

Five Ideas for Unit

Option 1. I am thinking about doing a second grade unit on the solar system. We would look at different astronauts, planets, and the stars. The students would work in small groups and research a certain astronaut or person who made a significant contribution to the exploration of space. They would individually do research on their lives in the computer lab and bring it all together as a group once they have finished the necessary research. The students would then create a short clay-mation video that covers the main points and contributions made by this person to the space industry. The videos could then be put on my teacher website so parents can also watch their children's creations.

Option 2. I am also considering doing a second grade unit on inventors and inventions. Each student would pick from a list of important inventions and research the inventor. They would create a story which tells how the inventor came to create what he or she did, what the invention is used for, and if/how the invention has changed over time. The students would also create five pictures to go along with their stories and create a podcast which narrates their stories.

Option 3. I would like to work with the intereactive smartboards in the kindergaten classroom. I would create a slideshow that shows examples of lower case and upper case letters. They students would have to come up to the smartboard and pick the upper and lower case letters that go together by moving them next to each other. The students will have learned the alphabet already, but this provides some extra practice, especially for students that are having difficulties. Plus this would provide interactive learning that the students can get excited about.

Option 4. Another option is to work with the first grade on their unit on the life cycle of a meal worm. They each have been taking care of a worm and observing the changes it makes. They could record what they see and draw pictures of the transformation from a meal worm to a beetle. All of this could then be made into a podcast that the students can narrate and illustrate their own podcasts that can be put online for their parents.

Option 5. Anothe possible option is to work with the first grade on a unit on the Three Billy Goats Gruff. They could read and listen to different versions of the story and come up with their own version. They could create paper puppets of each character and the setting to be used in a shadow show which can be turned into a movie. Students would take turns taking a still photograph using digital cameras and bring all of the pictures together to make a movie. Narration and music can be added to the film using GarageBand, which is a program I would like to learn more about.