Engage with Songify

What a fantastic first week of school!  The kids at York Elementary are ready to go and they have filled me with vibrant energy!  I wanted to break up the usual first week routine of introductions and the "what you did this summer" so I incorporated an app for the iPad/iPhone/iPod I found about three weeks ago called Songify. 

As soon as I pulled out the iPad there were "oohs and ahhs" all around.  I think it's common knowledge that when kids are interested in something they are going to learn better.  Now the activity that I did with my students wasn't exactly going to tap into their higher order thinking skills, but I had them ENGAGED.

Songify takes what you say and turns it into a catchy, hip hoppy type of tune when you play it back.  You have different types of music you can choose to mix your song to, there are even other genres available for purchase.   The kids couldn't wait to hear what they had recorded.  There were many giggles and smiles which led me to believe the kids truly enjoyed it.

Here are a few ways that you could use this app in the classroom....

Vocabulary

Concepts that you are trying to teach (6 traits of writing, 5 pillars of Islam, 3-R's and other character traits, scientific method, problem solving steps, etc.)

Poetry

Memorization of just about anything (states,  math facts, dates, etc.)

I hope that you will share the ways in which you use this neat app!