Animonths on SpeechTechie: PBS Kids Channel

For awhile now, I have wanted to do a series of posts on resources that utilize animation for speech and language therapy, so I decided that February and March will be Animonths on this blog! I have so many things I wanted to write about in this category and February is a) short and b) a month in which we have a week-long vacation in which I probably will not post, so I figured it could stretch across March as well. I thought about referring to that as the month of "Farch," but that just sounds unpleasant.  So, Animonths!

Why is animation a topic worth highlighting? Well, first of all we know that animation is attention-grabbing eye nutrition for our kids.  I did not say "eye candy" because in my opinion, animation can be used to present contexts that help our children to grow in their use of language.  In a way, animation is language, as it conveys movement (verbs) within and across spaces (concepts) for different reasons (causality) to tell stories (narrative) that reflect relationships between characters (social interaction).  So across these months, we will have posts that show how different animated or animation-producing resources, accessed through technology, of course, can be put to use to engage students and address speech and language goals.

To start, did you know that PBS Kids has a YouTube channel? This curated channel contains all kinds of short story- and information-based segments from PBS shows! Use Clifford to work on telling stories, or Sid the Science Kid to connect with curriculum content.

YouTube blocked at school? You can still take advantage of it.  Click on any video on PBS Kids while at home.  Highlight and Copy the URL (web address) as seen in blue below:

Go to keepvid.com.  Paste the URL in the search bar.  Don't click that big red button that says Download- that's just an ad.  

Wait a short time and see the video files that are available for download (colored links). Pick the MP4 one- usually all computers have a program that will play an MP4. Download that file and you will be able to play it on a school computer (email it to yourself- can even view on iPad that way -or transfer using a flash drive).

I look forward to sharing more resources during Animonths!