Reporting Live From Flocabulary: It’s The Week in Rap Junior!

Breaking news: we’ve got a fresh weekly program for elementary students called The Week in Rap Junior! Drawing on stories from the news, the program teaches students in grades K-5 about the world while reinforcing core skills across the curriculum. And like its popular older cuz (The Week in Rap, for grades 5 and up), The Week in Rap Junior will serve up new videos and activities every Friday (starting after Labor Day)!

So what will you find when you tune in to The Week in Rap Junior?

“Back to you, Robin”
You’ll get to know Robin Cruz, our host, along with her sidekicks – reporters in field, Corey Lox and Jean LeBlanc, and Weatherman Bob, who happens to be a fish.

Relevant stories to bring the curriculum to life
With younger students in mind, we’ll select stories that create relevant connections to elementary science and social studies curricula. We’ll also use maps, graphs and other text features each week to support reading and math literacy.

News stories in the series will build on students’ existing knowledge, while introducing new concepts, from countries and cultures, to innovations and discoveries! We’ll also include stories about young people doing inspiring things that students can relate and aspire to.

Cross-curricular vocab
In each video, you’ll find new key terms from the stories highlighted on screen and defined in context, so students acquire new vocabulary as they watch each week. This vocabulary is relevant across subjects – add it to a classroom word wall to use throughout the year to help with reading and writing instruction!

Activities that challenge students to think critically
As with all of our units, The Week in Rap Junior comes with activities to promote development of important skills like reading, writing and critical thinking. Weekly activities will help students practice organizing their thinking with graphic organizers, and expressing themselves in the written word through thoughtful, non-fiction writing prompts.

A chance to win a shout out for your school!
Activities each week will give students the chance to be recognized for their creative work through our Shout-Out contest! Every week, we’ll spotlight a winning school in The Week in Rap Junior video.

And because we want all elementary educators and students to get the chance to check out The Week in Rap Junior, we’re offering the first editions free! If you’re new to Flocab, you can also sign up for free trial here. We can’t wait to hear what you think about The Week in Rap Junior – let us know in the comments!