Two New Videos!

I have two new and completely unrelated videos up on my Youtube Channel.  The first was done just to amuse myself and friends.  I live in Georgia in the United States.  During this time of year, the pollen from the pine trees gets pretty bad.  How bad?  Check out the video for a little demonstration.

The second video is a remake of my very popular "Counting To Thirty" video that has close to a million views.  That video was made several years ago and, as a result, it looks kinda' bad by today's standards.  I have also learned a little about how to make a good video.  For example, in the original, the audio for each number is a separate track.  I have learned that by making the audio one track throughout, it sounds MUCH better!

Hope you enjoy, and, as always, feel free to comment here or on Youtube, subscribe and give the videos a thumbs up!  Thanks!

You see, I know this stuff works.

I've posted before how & why I started making these seemingly boring videos.  I've also talked about the successes I've had.  Today, I received more evidence that these silly little videos I make actually do work.

At 7am, we had our first parent/teacher conference with my 1st grader's teacher.  She had nothing but nice things to say (of course,) but we prodded her for more info.  He's doing well, but HOW well?

Mind you, they school year just started less than two months ago. He's still early in his 1st grade year.  But, she showed us on a chart where he is with reading (almost 3rd grade level.) She showed us where he is with writing (late 2nd grade level.)  She showed us where he is with math, science, critical thinking and a few other "key performance areas."  Without exception, he's way ahead of his class.  They haven't started the formal "gifted" classes, yet, but says he's a shoe-in for them.

Hearing her bragging on him was one thing, but it wasn't until I saw examples of his classmate's school work on the wall that I started to understand just how far ahead he has gotten.  On the wall outside the classroom were the results of a "research project" they had to do (yeah, first graders are doing research, now!)  It was a very simple project with a picture of some type of weather (rain, sleet, sunshine, hurricanes etc,) with a few sentences describing it below.

Most of the kids' work were the type of thing where you try to decipher what the kid was trying to write. "Hrrcans are yuje stroms."  Some of the letters are backwards, some are perfect, and some are impossible to figure out what they're supposed to be.  Our son, the little genius, had perfectly written sentences that clearly described what sleet is.  The punctuation was perfect, zero spelling errors, and the sentences actually flowed quite nicely.

Seeing this, I actually felt a tinge of guilt in that I realize just what a disparity there was between the bottom of the class and the top.  Inadvertently, we'd made that challenge a bit worse for the teacher.  I'm not saying my son is a super-student, but just that he's clearly at the top of the class.  There was at least one other kid who seemed to be around the same level our kid is.  But, if I were to choose between having my kid at the top or the bottom, I'd have to say I'm quite pleased he is where he is.

Plus, it must be said that the videos aren't ALL he ever had for preparation. We did plenty of other school work with him over the last few years, too.  Now, he loves school, enjoys his homework, and seems to be off to a roaring start for his education.

Here they are, again... check 'em out!  My Educational Videos

New Video Idea!

In the back of my mind, there's almost always an undercurrent of thought looking for ideas for new videos for kids.  I know that everyone reads most words by sight, not by sounding out the words.  For example, when you read the word "STOP," you don't look at the ST combination, sound it out, add on the AH sound for the O and then finish off by adding the P sound at the end.  No, what we do is recognize the basic shape of the word.  This is how we can read as quickly as we do.  We actually read several words at a time, piecing together - not individual words - but whole sentences.

That is the basis behind "sight words" or "frequency words."  Kids need to know them just by glancing at them, not actually reading them.

As I was driving along with my 3 year old in the back seat, I remembered some of the first words either of my boys learned to read.  They were the words they see from their carseats as we drive along!  STOP, YIELD, SCHOOL BUS STOP AHEAD, SPEED LIMIT....

With that, I had the idea for my next video!

I had another idea floating around in the back of my head for my next video, as well.  My 6 year old has been taking piano lessons for a few months, now, and has gotten pretty good (for a 6 year old, anyhow.)  It's going to take me a few days to gather all of the pictures I need for the video, and in that time, I'm going to see if there's a "public domain" song he can play for the background music!


Like I said, I'm always looking for new ideas, so if you have an idea that you think would fit in with the  educational videos, let me know in the comments below!

Thanks!

New Video! The Numbers to 30 in Spanish!

This one is pretty self explanatory.  Looking to expand on some of my other very basic videos, I decided to do one for the numbers to 30 in Spanish.  Obviously, knowing a little Spanish can go a long way in America, today!

I was wanting something a little different for the background of my videos, so as the remnants of Hurricane Isaac blew over Georgia, I laid my camera on the ground facing the sky.  I had to speed it up a bit so you could see the movement, but I like the results.  Tell me what you guys think!

Plus, I'm always open to suggestions for new videos!

New Educational Video Up On Youtube!

I had a couple of requests for a video teaching colors. I'd toyed around with recording examples of colors in the video, but didn't think it worked out very well.  There was the issue of the colors not showing up well in the video for starters, and there were just too many distractions for it to be a good educational tool. 
So, this new video is perhaps overly simple, but when testing it with my own kids, it seems to work. So, as with my other videos, it should be good for kids, ESL students or even stroke victims re-learning things.
Here's the link.
http://youtu.be/xLV8etYAeh0
Be sure to share it with others!
Coming up in the nest few days will be a video of the alpabet presented randomly. It's almost like flash cards presented in video format!
God Bless You!