http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=gotta+keep+reading&aq=f
Okay, so I'm all about being corny and using songs that my kids already know and changing the words. I thought this video was AMAZING. The entire school got involved, and by watching the video I could definitely see that the school environment was a safe one, where each student felt secure.
Face it, lots of kids hate to read ( I'm guilty of being one of those kiddos). Reading was very hard for me, I never understood what I read, nor why I had to read. However, now as a teacher, I see and value that importance so much.
I hope that you'll take the time to watch this video all the way through. I found myself smiling, and trying to sing along! :) I was absolutely amazed that each child appeared to be on the right 'step' and enjoying every 'step' along the way. The students worked on this for around 3 months, daily in Physical Education. I went to the schools website after watching this video several times, and I was very impressed. I'm going to include the school website, too, incase you'd like to check it out. They have more movies!!
https://www.ocps.net/lc/west/moo/Pages/default.aspx
Lindsey, I absolutely LOVE this video! It is so inspiring for the students and the teachers! We actually played this video in our literacy classrooms at the beginning of the school year. The kids begged to watch it over and over again. I think we sang the song for about a month : ) You can really tell that the teachers care at this school, and have a lot of creativity. You know that those students will remember that forever, and that means so much. The fact that they were all a part of something so encouraging says a lot about the teachers and administrators at that school. They want their students to play an active role in the learning environment, and this was something that everyone of them could be successful with. Thanks for sharing, and thanks for the link to the school!
ReplyDeleteI love this video, too! I play it at the beginning of the each year as well. It's a god way to make the curriculum meaningful to the students by making it relevant to them. And they think you're cool for even knowing the song to begin with, so I think it helps build rapport, too. This school sets a great example of active curriculum and community building.
ReplyDeleteI have ALWYAS enjoyed reading since I was a kid. In one of my other classes, the question was posed what is a difficult part of teaching reading. My response was getting my students to love or even enjoy reading as much as I do. I see that Amanda and Sunny have played the video, maybe showing this video to my students would get them fired up about reading. I will definitely give it a try. Spending so much time praticing and getting ready for the show shows how much the school values reading and want to express the importance of reading for their students. This is such a cute video:)
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad that all of you enjoyed this. That makes me happy. It's definitely a great example of curriculum being active, and what impressed me was the lenght of its action towards ALL students. The commuity builing of this blows me away, and like you said, Candice, it's just cute! :)
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