At the end of the school year, schedules get weird, students get loopy and the activities that hooked kids all year suddenly aren’t working anymore. Whether you’re reviewing for finals or rewarding your students for a year of hard work, we’ve got a Flocabulary activity for you.

Ten End-of-year Flocabulary Activities

1. Review Test-Taking Vocabulary

Prep for final exams with our test-taking vocabulary song. The song defines key words like “compare,” “identify” and “infer” that students will likely see in the questions on their upcoming tests. Once the song is complete, click through lyrics and complete the accompanying test-taking vocab worksheet, which has students practice the test-taking words with fun examples.

2. Play Vocabulary Mini Games

Whether you’ve been using The Word Up Project, or learning vocabulary from a different source, you can still use our vocabulary mini games to review all the words your students have learned so far. The games include “Guess My Word,” “Conversation Competition” and more.

3. Time Travel Through History

If you have two weeks to go before your US History, Ancient World History or Modern World History exam, Flocabulary can help you review in just a few minutes each day. Watch one video on a topic and click the the lyrics. Is your exam sooner? Double or triple up on your videos. Either way, you’ll get all the key facts from each historical period.

4. Translate Flocabulary

Whether you teach foreign language classes, or have English language learners in your class, translate a Flocabulary song–or part of one–into another language. Get inspired by these Chinese grad students who translated Hip-Hop U.S. History. And then get started on your own.

5. Rap the School Year

What were the biggest events at your school this year? Use this lesson plan we wrote for The New York Times to create a rap about the most important events from the 2011-2012 school year. If there’s time, you could record the rap and share it with the school. Here’s one student example from “Chlocab”:

6. Integrate the Scientific Method in Everyday Life

The scientific method isn’t just used with beakers, test tubes and complicated apparatus. Students can use it to figure out everything from the best type of joke to tell their little brother to the best route to school. See the full lesson here, which includes our Scientific Method song.

7. Go On a Literacy Scavenger Hunt

Literacy doesn’t just happen in a library. Practice literacy skills all over town with this scavenger hunt. Analyze billboards, create a guidebook to your town and even educationally eavesdrop. See the 16 scavenger hunt assignments now.

8. Write a Vocabulary Skit

If you’ve been using vocabulary songs and videos from The Word Up Project, your students now know at least one hundred new words! Challenge students to write skits, or a full-length play, that use as many of the words as possible.

9. Hold a Math Facts Competition

In our Math Rap songs, the second verse gives students opportunities to say the answer before the rapper. Whether your students have mastered addition, subtraction, multiplication or division this year, challenge students to see how many problems they can solve before the rapper says the answer. See our math songs now.

10. Investigate Environmental Changes

As the temperatures heat up for summer, it is a good time to learn more about environmental science and changes. Begin with our song all about environmental change, and then assign small groups to research more information about different aspects of the environment.

11 (BONUS). Tune in on June 1

That’s when we celebrate the 2012 graduates with a completely brand new version of “The Last 18 Years in Rap”!

Like these songs, videos and lesson ideas? Experience them all for free with our two-week unlimited free trial. 

Review the Biggest Buzzwords of the Week!

When you follow national and worldwide affairs, you get access to fallen politicians, broken records, athletes getting educated and more. Each week, we’ll highlight the top buzzwords or terms that your students might not have known or even heard until now. All these words are featured in the most recent edition of The Week in Rap. And once students beef up their vocab, the news will make a lot more sense.

THIS WEEK

Socialist (adj) — one who believes in the principles of Socialism, a system by which the State, or central government provides equal services for all individuals.

Why it matters? Former French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, was defeated by Socialist challenger Francois Hollande in Sunday’s election.

culmination (noun) — the highest or climatic point of something, especially as attainted after a long time

Why it matters? The premiere of “The Avengers” this weekend was the culmination of many years of hard work and planning by Marvel Studios. The film brought in over 200 million dollars in the first weekend, smashing all other records.

doctorate (noun) — an academic degree or professional degree that refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder to teach in a specific field. From the Latin docere, “to teach”

Why it matters? Famous basketball star Shaquille O’Neal just earned his doctorate in education from Barry University.

methane (noun) — a chemical compound with the chemical formula CH₄. It is the simplest alkane, the main component of natural gas, and probably the most abundant organic compound on earth.

Why it matters? New research suggests that large dinosaurs are estimated to have produced 570 million tons of methane gas, contributing significantly to the greenhouse effect in prehistoric times.

Gitmo – another name for the Guantanamo Bay Navel Base

Why it matters? The self-proclaimed “mastermind” behind the 9/11 attacks and four of his allies are being tried for their crimes in front of a military judge in Gitmo. Their charges include terrorism and 2,976 counts of murder each for their alleged roles planning and aiding the attacks.

watershed moment (noun) — a critical point that marks a division or a change of course; a turning point.

Why it matters? On Wednesday President Barack Obama publicly declared his support for gay marriage. Many commentators have called this a watershed moment. It remains to be seen how this will affect voting come November.

Did you hear any other big terms this week? Share them in the comments!

Learn all about these stories and more in The Week in Rap.

We spent a long time thinking about grammar while we were working on our 16 new grammar songs, including our Prefixes song above. It quickly became clear that for some, grammar is a dirty word, conjuring antiquated scenarios of sentence diagramming and homonym horrors. But for others, grammar wasn’t scary…it was fun and wacky and not-so-hard.

We did our best to associate with that latter camp. And we wanted to create a forum for teachers to share pain-free, fun and creative ways to teach grammar. So on Monday, May 14 at 7pm, we’ll be hosting #engchat for the second time around to discuss this very topic. (If you’re wondering, “What’s #engchat??” see below).

The Topic: How do you teach grammar?

Here are questions we’ll use to guide the discussion.

1. Why do you think that teaching grammar has so many negative associations? How can we overcome these associations?
2. How can teachers cover grammar while also considering and respecting the modern ways that students speak? (Slang, texting, etc.)
3. Do you think that teachers should directly or indirectly teach grammar concepts?
4. What are your favorite strategies for directly teaching grammar concepts?
5. What are your favorite strategies for indirectly teaching grammar concepts?
6. How can non-English teachers integrate grammar instruction into their curricula?
7. What are your most unconventional ideas for teaching grammar?

So, what’s #engchat?

If you’re new to Twitter, or have never experienced a Twitter chat, learn more about why every teacher should join twitter. To follow the conversation, set a filter for #engchat and add your comments by adding “#engchat” to your tweets. If you’ve never Twitter chatted before, you’ll be pleasantly surprised by how quickly you can develop a strong PLN, or personal learning network.

And you can connect with Flocabulary on twitter by following us here. See you on Monday!

A Lesson Plan With Twitter to Kick
Your Passive Voice Habits

Stop writing in the passive voice, and use strong verbs to make your sentences jump! Knowing the difference between active and passive voice can change the quality and strength of writing. This lesson teaches the definitions of active and passive voice, and lets students to practice converting passive to active voice with a fun Twitter activity.

The Lesson Plan

1. Define active voice, define passive voice, and introduce the difference between active and passive voice.

Key points:

• Sentences in the active voice have the subject before the verb.
• Sentences in the passive voice put the subject after the verb, if it’s there at all. In a passive voice sentence, the verb is always a form of “to be.”
• Sentences in the active voice use stronger verbs.
• Sentences in the active voice are shorter than their passive voice counterparts, and they pack more of a punch.

2. Listen to Flocabulary’s song about the active and passive voice. When the song is finished, have students identify sentences that are in the active voice and sentences that are in the passive voice. You may wish to print the lyrics so they can easily identify each. Ask students: Why is the girl speaking in passive voice? (Because she didn’t know who did it!)

3. As a class, discuss why active voice is a stronger way to write. Share this list of strong verbs with students that they can use if they’re using active voice. Discuss scenarios where you might want to use passive voice strategically. (If you’re trying to say that something wasn’t your fault, like “The window was broken.”)

4. As a class, practice rewriting the following passive voice sentences in active voice. Note the ones where you need more information to turn them into active voice.

Active vs Passive Voice Examples:

1. Dinner was made by my little brother. (My little brother made dinner.)
2. The World Series was won by the Yankees. (The Yankees won the World Series.)
3. It was decided by my teachers to let us out early today. (My teachers decided to let us out early today.)
4. The wall was covered in graffiti. (Can’t change–we don’t know the subject.)
5. The new plan to start school an hour earlier will be opposed by the student body. (The student boy will oppose the new plan to start school an hour earlier.)

5. Twitter Activity: Point out that active voice makes sentences shorter. Ask students if they are familiar with Twitter. If not, explain that short messages are important on Twitter so that they can fit under 140 characters. In this exercise, students will take passive voice messages that are too long to fit on Twitter, and change them to active voice so that they fit.

You can type the active examples directly into Twitter to see if they fit. If you can’t access Twitter at school, make sure the sentences are under 140 characters using this basic online character counter.

Example:

PASSIVE VOICE: The Rochester Hairy Gorillas were beaten by the Miami Beach Pink Sparkly Dolphins at the championship soccer match at my high school on Sunday. (143 characters – too long for Twitter)

ACTIVE VOICE: The Miami Beach Pink Sparkly Dolphins beat the Rochester Hairy Gorillas at the championship soccer match at my high school on Sunday. (133 characters – works for Twitter!)

Change these sentences to active voice and get them to fit on Twitter:

1. The Thanksgiving turkey dinner with cranberry sauce and stuffing was eaten by everyone, including Kristina, Jill, Nick, Kate, Matt and Alexander. (145 characters)
2. Jeremiah had been given twenty gifts for his birthday by his family. But it’s because his parents had been given a discount by their friend who owned a store. (160 characters)
3. The Jay-Z concert was attended by all of my friends. The concert venue was filled by fans of all ages. It was said by everyone that it was a great show. (152 characters)
4. My brother, sister and I were invited by our neighbors to the block party. The hamburgers were cooked by Freddy and the cookies were baked by Liana. (148 characters)

6. When students are done, have them revise a recent essay to identify and eliminate usage of the passive voice.

Like this song and lesson? Get unlimited access to all Flocabulary songs and lessons with a two-week free trial. 

The postgraduates at South China Normal University who translated Hip-Hop U.S. History into Chinese!

Have you ever thought, “Gee, I love Hip-Hop U.S. History, but I really wish Flocabulary would offer it in Chinese”? Well, today is your day.

Last December, we received an email from Isabella, a Chinese postgraduate from South China Normal University. A professor had given her a copy of Hip Hop U.S. History, and Isabella and a group of her fellow students became eager to learn more about Flocabulary. As the group began to study how Flocabulary worked, they decided that they wanted to spread it as a resource in China. But there was a problem… It wasn’t in Chinese.

Thanks to the work of Isabella and her team, that isn’t a problem anymore. They translated the lyrics to every song into Chinese! Seriously. 

When Isabella sent the document to us last week, we couldn’t stop poring over it. (And since we don’t have any Chinese readers at the Flocab HQ, we couldn’t stop putting the lyrics into Google Translate.) We’re truly impressed.

Here’s the translation of our World War II song, “Would you drop it?” or “你会投下它吗？” Enjoy! And let us know if you want to share more with any Chinese-speaking students.

法西斯不只是希特勒，

他只是最出名的一个，

还有意大利黑索里尼，

和西班牙的弗朗斯科。

进入了三十年代以后，

由于人民处于贫苦中，

萧条的年代经济膨胀，

物价和恐慌持续增加。

希特勒通过膨胀方式，

让德国人以为有好处，

他宣称犹太人是祸根，

害得德国处于混乱中。

他于是建立了“集中营”，

囚禁吉普赛和犹太人，

还有那些天主教徒们，

和其他反对他的男女。

美国站在另一立场上，

独立者们不愿意介入，

不愿卷入世界大战中。

我们尝试从克服萧条，

尽力恢复我们的经济，

罗斯福带领我们前进，

新政策指向了新方向。

德国人出动潜艇U号，

你知道我是什么意思，

击沉英国船，美国不安。

希特勒攻占了欧洲时，

美国人还在自欺欺人。

认为一切都在和平中，

夏威夷的初阳升起来。

美海军伸懒腰打哈欠。

地平线那低低的地方，

数百架飞机升了起来。

某人看见了事情发生，

“哦，那估计没什么事情。”

结果来的是日本战机，

投下了许许多多炸弹，

先下手对我们施重击，

突然间把堤坝都炸掉。

一九四一年十月七日，

这纪念珍珠港的日子，

人们像九一一般铭记。

你会投下一枚炸弹吗？

你会投下一枚炸弹吗？

你会投下一枚炸弹吗？

会不会投下一枚炸弹？

你是否会投下来炸弹？

向着海滩咱们往前冲，

决战的日子终于到来，

解放了法国和意大利，

激烈轰鸣的枪声炮枪，

德国的军队最后投降。

希特勒最终只能自杀，

因为他完全无法接受，

在全世界的面前死去。

东南亚战火还没有断，

我们如跳方袭击日本，

战士们的脸都沾着血。

一九四五罗斯福逝世，

杜鲁门从此开始执政。

这里说说当时的环境：

你即将前去袭击日本。

大批的美国战士牺牲，

数量可能达到一百万。

日本人进行强烈抵抗，

以日本武士作为筹码。

战死是一种至高荣誉。

你拥有一种秘密武器，

没告诉别人的新武器。

原子裂变发出的威力，

像是用锤子猛砸西瓜。

在新墨西哥沙漠试验，

爆炸后你看到磨菇云，

升起并充满整片天空。

俄罗斯人可能也宣战，

如果他们真的这样做，

日本可能就别无选择，

只能让他们战士投降。

这是得到炸弹的机会，

也是驾驶飞机的机会。

这就是战争让人疯狂，

把人置于进退两难中。

十二万市民生命垂危。

时间在嘀嗒先中度过，

你们的时间到了尽头。

耶稣对此事该做什么？

佛祖对此事能做什么？

亚伯拉罕能够做什么？

穆罕默德又能做什么？

如果是你又会做什么？

你会投下一枚炸弹吗？

你会投下一枚炸弹吗？

你会投下一枚炸弹吗？

会不会投下一枚炸弹？

你是否会投下来炸弹？

JoDee Luna and her students have been wowing us for awhile. We first got to know JoDee when she was among the first teachers to try out The Word Up Project in her school district. With her above-and-beyond teaching skills and passion, she’s been getting pretty amazing results right from the start. JoDee sent us a few examples of her creative Word Up lessons and student examples, and we recently featured one entrepreneurship lesson on this blog (and on our office wall.)

We’ve known for awhile that JoDee’s strategies would help other educators in our community use Flocabulary in a more effective and fun way. And so we’re pleased to announce that JoDee will now be sharing her ideas and lessons on the Flocabulary blog. You can find her first post here.

JoDee teaches “READ 180” classes. She throws her whole creative being into her classroom, where she has crafted a digital media-rich program to spark a passion for the power of words and images in at-risk middle school kids. Her educational website provides flash animated learning games for students and resources for educators.

She received her master’s in education from California State University, Bakersfield, and creates innovative professional development courses integrating literacy, technology and the arts. As a visual blogger, Luna joins inspirational posts together with vibrant photography and art. Her creativity website, provides instructional videos, how-to lessons, creativity tips and inspirational posts.

Flocabulary makes creative writing fun. You can include writing prompts into weekly Flocabulary activities as a supplement to other exercises. This lesson introduces a creative writing prompt for “They Look Like Us,” a song about an alien invasion from The Word Up Project: Level Yellow (7th Grade). It includes some student samples below to help students get inspired. You’ll see how even struggling literacy students can become creative when empowered by Flocabulary.

The Lesson Plan

Materials: Access to “They Look Like Us” at Flocabulary.com, Flocabulary words and definitions, student examples, paper, pencil, and imagination.

1. Play “They Look Like Us” and complete Flocabulary exercises of your choice. You may want to include challenge questions, missing lyrics or exercises.

2. After students have completed their activities, introduce the creative writing prompt. (This activity is more successful when students are familiar with the words and their meanings.)

The Prompt: Pretend you are eating breakfast one morning when robots from another planet invade the Earth. Use all 15 Flocabulary words to describe what you see and experience.

3. Read these two student examples to the class. (Examples get students’ creative juices flowing.)

4. Integrate the prompt into an in-class writing assignment or assign as homework.

5. Students take turns reading their finished stories to a small group.

6. Each group selects a favorite to read to the class.

Did your students write excellent tales of alien visits? Share them with us and we’ll post them on the blog!

JoDee Luna is a California educator, and Flocabulary’s first guest blogger. Her educational website provides flash animated learning games for students and resources for educators, and her creativity website, provides instructional videos, how-to lessons, creativity tips and inspirational posts.

There are lots of principals out there. And there are lots of rappers out there. But rhyming principals? Seem crazy to you? Well it’s time you met Mervin Jenkins. Or Spectac, as we call him in the studio.

Mervin is both an emcee and a former middle school principal. As an artist, he’s recorded albums with Big Daddy Kane and 9th Wonder, and you can hear him on our Motion, Hamlet and European Middle Ages tracks. As an educator, he has been a principal and an assistant principal in North and South Carolina.

We’ve been working together for years, and we’re excited to tell you about Mervin’s new educational and motivational company called Principals of Edutainment. It’s a program that offers a unique method of promoting student-awareness to adults while encouraging young people to take charge of their own future. And Mervin begins with his own story. An almost-famous rapper who found himself heading down a dangerous path, he used music and common sense to turn his life around. Learn more about Principals of Edutainment here. And if you’re interested in bringing Mervin to your school to share his story, learn more about his professional development session “Life Through Music” here.

Review the Biggest Buzzwords of the Week!

THIS WEEK

insurgency (noun) — an instance of rebellion

Why it matters? Sudan had declared a state of emergency in areas bordering South Sudan due to what they claim is insurgency. Tensions between the rivals is at an all time high and the two nations have been at the brink of war for some time.

riot (noun) — a wild or turbulent disturbance created by a large number of people

Why it matters? Sunday marked the 20th anniversary of the Rodney King riots of 1992. Those dark days were marked by rioters breaking into businesses and seting buildings and shopping centers on fire. Today people are worried that the controversy surrounding the Trayvon Martin cases will spark similar race riots. Martin’s parent have called for peaceful protests.

dissident (noun) – one who disagrees; a dissenter

Why it matters? Chen Guangcheng, a  blind Chinese dissident, fears for his family in China. As an international human right figure Guangcheng has been harassed, imprisoned and threatened by the Chinese government. He has sought help and protection from the United States.

monolith (noun) — something suggestive of a large block of stone, as in immovability, massiveness or uniformity

Why it matters? One World Trade Center became the tallest building in New York City as of Monday afternoon. It is being called a monolith due to it’s impressive size. When the project is complete, One World Trade will stand at 1,776 feet, symbolic of the 1776 United States Declaration of Independence. (One World Trade currently stands at 1,271.)

backhanded (adj) — double-edged; equivocal

Why it matters? Wednesday Newt Gingrich finally ended his campaign for the Republican nomination for President. In his speech he gave a backhanded endorsement of Mitt Romney, saying “This is a choice between Mitt Romney and the most radical, leftist president in American history.”

hazing (verb) — to initiate, as into a college fraternity, by exacting humiliating performances from or playing rough practical jokes upon

Why it matters? Back in November Robert Champion, Florida A&M University drum major died due to a hazing incident. Eleven people will face felony charges and two more will face misdemeanor charges. Champion’s mother says she is disappointed the charges were not more severe.

Did you hear any other big terms this week? Share them in the comments!

Learn all about these stories and more in The Week in Rap.

The end of standardized test season is finally here! (Or near.) Whether you think standardized tests are a good idea, or would rather be using your prep time for more creative ventures, the reality is that right now students are required to take them. So we commend the teachers who are going the extra mile to make the process as tolerable as possible. Some of these teachers even made it seem–dare we say–fun.

And lucky for us, these test-taking motivation escapades were caught on video. Watch educators perform their own version of “Party Rock Anthem,” surprise students with a flash mob, and even permit students to shave their head. Get inspired by these super educators here. How do you get your students pumped?

WATCH: The Top 9 Incredible Examples of Teachers Motivating Students

1. All the teacher’s at Santaluces Community High School in Florida rocked this flashmob for their students.

2. From Langston Hughes High in Georgia, we have an original song that tells students, “You can do it!”

3. Based on LMFAO’s “Party Rock Anthem,” here’s a video directed AND edited by students. These teachers are off the hook!

4. Here we have Mr. G and Dr. B breaking it down with “What’s the CST?”

5. For those Bieber fans out there, here’s a spoof of his song, “Baby”. About testing of course.

6. Another day, another teacher flashmob.

7. This one isn’t for state testing, but wow! Maybe we would have had an easier time learning our times tables if our teachers did this.

8. “I Study Then I Know It.” Another LMFAO spoof plus an article about the rockstar teachers.

9. 900 high school students were on their feet cheering for these awesome teachers from Jennings High School in St. Louis. See why.

And next time testing comes around, help your students prepare with our test-taking vocabulary video. They can brush up on words like infer, summarize, analyze and more–all words your students will see on tests.

Need a hand creating inspiring rhymes of your own? We designed our Writing Academic Rhymes lessons to get students creating rhymes, but it works great for teachers too! You can also try Flocabulary free for two weeks here.