Aug
31
Speakaboos Speak to Our Class
August 31, 2009 | | Leave a Comment
Greetings,
With the start of the school year beginning for some already and some of us in the coming weeks, I am going back to the original plan for this site, which is to share some insight and depth into websites that could be considered useful in day-to-day classroom activities.
I will still be posting Notebook Lessons here when I complete them, but those may be few and far in between once the school year begins.
Tonight’s addition to the blog is a site ,called Speakaboos,that was listed in a teacher’s magazine (Scholastic Instructor) about a year ago and has been building it’s content since its inception in 2007. One of the big factors for me right off of the bat when I visit a site is the general aesthetics of the home page. I try not to fall into the whole “book by the cover” deal when it comes to websites, but more often than not, a home page that has a pleasing look, is one that is worth visiting. Speakaboos passed the initial “eye test” for me and is an overall great site to visit time and again.
I think the About Us from the developers sums up the site really well, “Speakaboos brings classic children’s entertainment into a digital world. Beloved characters and treasured stories are given new life through amazing celebrity performances, beautiful illustrations, and original music. At Speakaboos, children develop literacy skills while learning about technology in a safe and fun environment.”
The site is divided up into six different sections of stories in Speakaboos, “Favorites, Fables, Nursery Rhymes, Fairy Tales, Folk Tales and Songs.” The site has the help of celebrity readers with most of the audio stories and they all do a phenomenal job with being a good role model for fluency and expression.
The story above is from the Fairy Tales section and is read by Jim “Tuna” Halpert (aka John Krasinski) from The Office. Most of the stories are at a good length as well, so that the audience does not get bored at all during the listening. I have been overly impressed with all of the stories that my students and I listened to last school year. Below you will see some of the imagery that coincides with the telling of the story, the whole impact of the artist’s drawing and the telling make for a pleasant experience.
An additional bonus to the site that has been growing since the inception is the addition of comprehension worksheets that will connect the learners to the story.
Also a good addition is the activities page where the students and visitors can play games, print activities to do at home, sing some karaoke, send e-cards, participate in contests, & write in a diary. The Record Your Own section is still being worked on and I am very interested in how this turns out, because that would be a very cool addition to this already stellar site for children.
As with all of the posts that will be listed on this Blog, the site above is listed and categorized within the Moodle Companion Site. At the end of each post I will be listing exactly where to find this resource within the Moodle Companion Site.
{Box 15 – Teacher Resources} ~ {Kindergarten – 5th Grade Resources}
Speakaboos – Beginning Readers
Please share your experiences with this resource in your own classroom with all of us in the comments section!
Thanks for stopping by,
Bill
