Flocabulary's Week in Rap is a great spring board into talking about current events
Community Review for Flocabulary
My Take
This is a review of Flocabulary's Week in Rap. The other resources seem pretty thorough and more of a complete package.
For the Week In Rap, I like that you can print out the lyrics so that students can refer back to the lyrics in case they miss something or need that written support. It also supports students through pictures and more in depth explanations of the events, people, and places. Students are engaged in video clips--they like the raps and the connections to the real world.
The challenge questions and fill in the blanks aren't really very rigorous, and my students don't really get much out of completing the activities.
How I Use It
I use this resource as a spring board for my students' weekly discussions on current events. Students have already looked for newsworthy events using online websites and have blogged about current events. I start each week with the Week in Rap, and we use the clip as a starting point for a review of what happened in the world that week. Students compare what they found as newsworthy to what is contained in the week in rap and talk about what confused them and connections between events. I give students a copy of the lyrics so that they are able to follow along with song.
I think that using the week in rap helps students be more interested in learning about current events. Most of their exposure to current events is either their parents or dry newscasts. This is a fun entry point.
More community reviews for Flocabulary
Wonderful!!
