High Frequency Word Project and Skype

Earlier in the year we created high frequency word flashcards for students in the iAchieve Project to use on their iPods. The word lists are a combination of Fry and Marzano words developed by our district literacy specialist. The flashcards created for the project are just sets of words on static flashcards that students can use to build their fluency with the words. This works great for students that already have some familiarity with the words but not for those that first need to learn how to pronounce and read the words.

So we decided to create some narrated flash cards using the SonicPics app. This app allows the user to create videos using images and narration. Now, there are 225 words each for Grades 1, 2, and 3, and 40 words for Kindergarten. That’s a total of 715 words! I could have created all of the videos myself – but I’m not sure students want to just listen to me.

The decision was made to have students create the videos. I began working with a group of students at Larry C. Kennedy School. They learned how to use the app and began creating their projects. They added the flashcard images to the projects and then narrated the videos by saying each word. They had a very specific procedure that would allow the viewer to see a word, read a word, hear a word, and have an opportunity to repeat the word as the video progressed. When the videos were finished, we could download them from the iPods to a computer so they could be shared.

We wanted to expand our project to include other third grade students. So one Friday we did a Skype conference with some students at Papago School. The Kennedy students taught the Papago students how to use SonicPics via video conferencing between the two schools. It was a great experience for everyone.

Modeling on the iPod

View from the document camera

What the students were seeing

Here is an example of one of the project videos:

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