The Story(bot) of My Life

A couple of months ago, I was searching for songs about the body--specifically how the heart and lungs work--for my first graders, who were learning about the body in their unit of inquiry. I came across some really great videos by something called Storybots...and I haven't stopped watching them yet.

It turns out the Storybots have a huge arsenal of videos about a lot of subjects--a song for each letter of the alphabet, songs about transportation (which is what my first graders are learning about now), classic kids songs sung in robot voices. You'd think they'd be super-annoying, but...they're not. I love them just as much as my kids do.

And my kids el-oh-vee-ee LOVE them. In a big way.

Even the fourth and fifth graders.

Turns out the Storybots also have a series of hip-hop style songs about dinosaurs, and the solar system.

Amazing. 

I've found that not only are they fun and educational (the fifth graders are actually learning about the solar system right now, so they've seen the five solar system songs), they're also a great bargaining chip when the kids are getting silly during VAPA time. "Oh, hey," I'll say, "I was hoping we'd have a few minutes at the end to watch some Storybots, but we're wasting time."

Works every time.

Today, a colleague who was covering for a fourth grade teacher came in at the end of that class' VAPA time to find me collecting the paintings they had made while the kids sat, engrossed by "I'm So Hot" (the sun's song). I could hear chuckles coming from her. "This is adorable!!" she stage-whispered to me as I packed up my belongings.

"You have no idea!" I whispered back. "They have a song for everything!" And they really do--but what I love most is that they resonate across grade levels. My kinders can learn about emotions, while the fourth and fifth graders can rap along (and they already know most of the words) to the solar system and dinosaur songs. 

I'm growing rather fond of these sweet little robots.