Lessons and Ideas

Brand-New Age of Exploration and Conquistador Songs Are Free This Week! Hip-Hop History of the World, Part One got you walking like an Egyptian. And now we're proud to debut Part Two! We take you from the Age of Exploration to the Age of Globalization--and it's only available at flocabulary.com. This October, we'll release 2 - 4 new World History songs each week for our digital subscribers. Just in time for Columbus Day, we're starting you off with The Age of Exploration and Conquistadors & Slavery. And they're free through Columbus Day! Start off with The Age of Exploration Circumnavigate the globe with Magellan or take a…

Teach Figurative Language With Flocabulary [jwplayer file=https://s3.amazonaws.com/flocabulary/media-jrev/figurative-language-media.mp4 image=http://flocabulary.s3.amazonaws.com/images-jrev/figurative-language-image.jpg] Check out the lyrics and more.Listen to Flocabulary’s new, free Figurative Language song. You’ll learn all about persongification, as well as metaphors, simile and more. The Sorcerer didn't just cast a spell on the brooms...he personified them! You and your students have already mastered hyperbole and alliteration. But are you ready to make your words jump off the page? It's time for the liveliest figurative language of them all. Whether you are looking for general personification examples or a hip-hop song lyric with personification, we've got you covered. PERSONIFICATION Definition: When an…

In this Week in Rap, we report on the Typhoon Roke's destruction in Japan. But what makes this storm a typhoon, instead of a hurricane? Many people have the misconception that the rotational direction of a storm affects its name. But that just isn't true. Instead, it's a matter of location. Typhoons and hurricanes are both technically "tropical cyclones." A hurricane is a tropical cyclone that begins west of the International Date Line in the Atlantic and a typhoon begins east of that line. And according to this article, the name difference isn't scientific; it's cultural. Typhoon comes from the…

Odysseus needed to stave off Harpies and the Cyclopes and the alluring Circe to finally reach his home and his wife. In other words, to find the one good thing he wanted, he had to suffer all manner of creatures and distractions. And teaching information literacy is a lot like Odysseus's struggle. Students need to learn how to weed out the bad sources and biased websites when conducting research online. So we thought, why not capitalize on an apt metaphor and bring you an Odyssey lesson plan. NOTE: This lesson plan includes Wikipedia. We know that teachers have varied views…

Teach Figurative Language With Flocabulary [jwplayer file=https://s3.amazonaws.com/flocabulary/media-jrev/figurative-language-media.mp4 image=http://flocabulary.s3.amazonaws.com/images-jrev/figurative-language-image.jpg] Check out the lyrics and more. Listen to Flocabulary’s Figurative Language song. You’ll learn all about hyperbole, as well as metaphors, simile and more. Last week, Allie the Alliterative Albino American Alligator helped you teach alliteration. This week, let the biggest fish in the sea guide your Hyperbole lesson. If you teach figurative language, literary terms or rhetorical devices, tune in each Wednesday for a new term, with examples for hip-hop, literature and history. Hyperbole Definition: A purposeful exaggeration or overstatement. In Greek, it literally means to overshoot. Why Writers Use It:…