Rocking with 1st grade via SKYPE

Rocking Dan Teaching Man on YouTube

I've had some amazing experiences SKYPing with schools in the USA over the last 3 years! There's nothing I find more enjoyable then playing live music to kids and what makes it even better is that I can play and sing my own songs to them! Wednesday afternoon (Thursday morning for me) was one of those magically times when I had the pleasure of playing my music to a group of 1st graders in Delaware via SKYPE.

 A big thank you to Mrs Price (Cindy) and the other teachers at Southern Elementary for having me live in their school via the internet. I was super impressed with their sound system it was like playing a stadium rock concert in the school hall!  It was a huge thrill to see the kids dancing and singing along to my songs. Hearing them cheer as I started to play The Friends of 10 was incredible! "Oh wow I love this song!"

Here is some video footage of the 1st graders singing and dancing to Dance to the Days of the Week

(Thanks Cindy for sending me the clip)

It's hard to describe the feeling I have knowing that children I have never met before from the other side of the world love my songs and know every single word. It's great to know that I am playing a small part in helping them with their learning. It is joyous and very humbling at the same time. I am so grateful that I am able to do this. The kids were great and it was wonderful to see their enthusiasm for music, learning and life. I really enjoyed our Q and A too. 1st graders ask the best questions!  The children also enjoyed listening to me read the picture book Christmas Wombat by Jackie French and Bruce Whatley.

A fun picture book about a Wombat in Australia at Christmas time.

Here is my set list from the SKYPE     
                     

1) What makes a good friend?

2) Dance to the Days of the Week

3) The Friends of 10

4) The Gingerbread Man Description song

Q and A

5) Bop Bop and count to 20

Story time

6) Get up and Dance to The Alphabet

You can check out all these song with animations on my musical educational YouTube channel Rocking Dan Teaching Man

Bop Bop and Count to 20 Live

Super fan and 1st grade teacher wearing her I think I'll just move to Australia t shirt.

I had another SKYPE sing along with Prairie Creek Elementary 1st grade in Kansas on December the 4th which was fantastic as well.

Learning some new songs and a little about Australia from @RockingDanTM Thanks, we all loved our Skype today. #1stchat @AndoverSchools @PrairieCreek385 pic.twitter.com/0IdSezcQ61

— Traci Wood (@Woods1stgrade) December 4, 2017

Thanks Mrs Wood (Traci) for having me in your classroom.

Here we are singing What makes a good friend? 

A big thank you to all the children and teachers at Southern Elementary and Pairie Creek Elementary. You are all fantastic and it was great to be able to sing to you! 

I have a bit of time off in January for the Summer Break down here in Australia. If you are a teacher of a younger grade K-2 in the northern hemisphere and you would like to have a SKYPE sing along with me then contact me via email rockingdantm@gmail.com or social media and let's see if we can work out a time and date. I would love to hear from you. Twitter @Rockingdantm or Facebook Rocking Dan Teaching Man

Otherwise you can check out my YouTube channel and play my educational music videos for the primary classroom everyday! Rocking Dan Teaching Man on YouTube!  Don't forget to subscribe.

Until next time Rock on,

Rocking Dan Teaching Man

The Best of British Three Great TeacherTubers from the UK

To commemorate my 5th anniversary on YouTube I'm writing a series of blog posts about educational channels that I like.  My second post is about Three British teachers who have YouTube channels that are fantastic!  So go and check out these great British educational channels now.

1) Mr Thorne: Mr Thorne Network Mr Thorne does phonics

Mr Thorne is a teacher from London and he has a wonderful YouTube channel called Mr Thorne Network. Mr Thorne sure knows his way around phonemes and graphemes and he has some amazing phonics lessons on his channel. Along with his trusty side kick Geraldine the Giraffe Mr Thorne teaches individual phonemes and graphemes and how to blend them together and manipulate them to read individual words. Mr Thorne also has some excellent grammar and punctuation lessons on his channel. His lessons are always engaging, informative and entertaining. Mr Thorne now has over 600 videos on his channel. For great literacy lessons check out Mr Thorne Network Mr Thorne does phonics. Mr Thorne also has lots of amazing phonics and grammar apps for electronic tablets for children of all ages.

2)Emily: Early Years Emily

Early Years Emily is a super fun educational musical YouTube channel created by Emily an early years teacher from Manchester. Her wonderful educational tunes are combined with real life action and animations to create some amazing music videos that kids love. Emily's songs are about the early years curriculum as well as fine motor development. She has some amazing Disco Play Dough songs. Emily is a fantastic singer and her songs are really catchy so they are excellent for teaching children concepts. We all know the power that music can have on helping children with their learning and Emily's songs are great. Early Years Emily is a fantastic channel for preschoolers and for children in the early years of primary school. This channel is a must for early years teachers, parents and young children! You'll be singing along with Emily as well!

3) James Starbuck: Starbuck Education

James Starbuck is a dedicated early years teacher from Coventry. On his channel Starbuck Education James shares his great depth of knowledge about early years education. His videos are for teachers and school leaders and the topics of his videos include phonics, literacy, numeracy, classroom environment and set up, learning through music and movement, social skills development, fine and gross motor development and play based learning. James has a thorough knowledge of early years pedagogy and theory so his videos are well worth watching.
He also reviews early years products and technology. It's a wonderful channel so if you teach the early years you definitely should check it out.

That's my best of British when it comes to TeacherTubers and their YouTube channels. Make sure you visit their channels and subscribe.

Are you a teacher from Britain with a YouTube channel? If so then leave a link to your channel in the comments below.



You can also visit my Educational Musical YouTube Channel for the Primary Classroom Rocking Dan Teaching Man. It's full of great tunes to help making learning fun and engaging for kids!

Here is a link to my last blog post Five Aussie TeacherTubers you must check out.

Until next time Rock on,

Rocking Dan Teaching Man

Five Aussie TeacherTubers you have to check out!

To celebrate my 5th anniversary on YouTube I'm going to be writing a series of blog posts about five things to do with YouTube. The first post is about five Australian teachers who have YouTube channels that are well worth checking out.

Rocking Dan Teaching Man on YouTube

Here are five wonderful Aussie TeacherTubers that have excellent educational YouTube channels that you should take a look at.


 1) Eddie Woo: WooTube

Eddie is a multi award winning inspirational High School Maths Teacher from Sydney. His channel WooTube features Eddie teaching maths lessons in his classroom. Eddie is a passionate teacher and mathematician. His love and knowledge of Mathematics is evident in the enthusiastic way he presents all of his video lessons. Eddie is dedicated to helping his students achieve their best. He featured in an Australian story this year on ABC TV  and received the NSW Local Hero award for 2018. If you are a high school student studying mathematics or a high school maths teacher then WooTube is a must! WooTube has over 100 000 subscribers and 7 million views!

2) Florence Tennant: Teacher Tales

Florence is a clever and innovative primary classroom teacher from Sydney. She is currently teaching Year 1. Florence is an amazing video blogger and she vlogs about her life in the classroom on her channel Teacher Tales. Florence is a really warm person and she is an engaging presenter. You can really see love that she has for teaching and for the kids that she teaches in her videos. Florence wants to help other teachers become better and she shares her knowledge of the curriculum and she gives tips about classroom set up and management in her videos. She also enjoys collaborating with other teachertubers from around the world and her channel is lots of fun. If you are a primary teacher then go and check out Teacher Tales.

3) Bec West: Chalkin' Talk and Clever Pickles

 Bec is an Assistant Principal and Year 2 (soon to be Stage 3 mentor) teacher from South West Sydney. She has two super channels Chalkin' Talk and Clever Pickles. On Chalkin' Talk Bec shares her experiences as a teacher and school leader. She gives lots of advice about teaching the curriculum, job interviews, classroom management, working with children and differentiation.

 Clever Pickles is Bec's kids channel where she shares exciting and engaging educational games for children to play in order to help them with their learning. Check out Bec's fun and informative channels they are great.

4) Emma Jane: Life in Kafoole Land

Emma Jane is a High School English Teacher from the NSW north coast. She has a great sense of humour and her videos are always informative and fun. EJ shares her knowledge about teaching English along with fashion tips for teachers and a few jokes too. She always has a smile on her face and her channel is a joyful experience. Emma Jane has a great singing voice too! She also shares some of the wonderful scenery of her local area (It's a beautiful part of the world). EJ is fast developing a reputation as a great interviewer as her live chats with TeacherTubers from around the world are always amazing. (TeacherTubers are queuing up to get on her show!)  If you are an English Teacher or you just enjoy a fun video then check out Life in Kafoole Land.

5) Daniel Yong mrdanielyong

Daniel is an enthusiastic stage 3 teacher from Western Sydney. He is new to YouTube and only has a few videos so far. He is a very good presenter and his videos to date show him teaching lessons in the classroom and he also has done some interviews of other teachers. Daniel is an Aussie TeacherTuber on the rise so check out his channel mrdanielyong!

Make sure you go to these Aussie TeacherTubers channels and click on the subscribe button. If you are an Aussie Teacher with a YouTube channel then share a link to your channel in the comments below!

You can also visit my Educational Musical YouTube Channel for the Primary Classroom Rocking Dan Teaching Man. It's full of great tunes to help making learning fun and engaging for kids!

Until next time Rock on,

Rocking Dan Teaching Man