Podcast Blog 2

Welcome back to my podcast blog! This is a continuation of the podcasts, Sesame Street’s Word on the Street and Billy Gorilly’s Podcast for Kids. Let’s look at a few more episodes.

Sesame Street’s Word on the Street

Episode 2 is the word stupendous, with Gustavo Dudamel and Elmo from Sesame Street! Stupendous means amazing, really great, spectacular, extraordinary, or incredible. Elmo learns that some things that are stupendous include a rocket launching, fireworks, the beach, and a choir of singing penguins. Sesame Street can even teach you some Japanese--that's pretty stupendous!

Episode 3 is the word magnify, with Rico Rodriguez and Elmo. Elmo learns that magnify means to make something look bigger and that you can magnify something by using objects such as a magnifying glass, a microscope, or binoculars. Telescopes can be used to magnify the stars.

Episode 18 is the word empathy. Mark Ruffalo and Murray from Sesame Street teach kids that empathy is understanding how others feel, caring about others' feelings, and knowing what they're going through. Murray learns that he has empathy when he comforts a friend who is crying and feels sad with them; empathy could also be compassion.

Episode 21 is the word fragile with Jesse Tyler Ferguson and the cookie monster! The cookie monster breaks Jesse's grandmother's cookie jar and understands that fragile means easily broken or very delicate. Kids and moms from the street tell us that glass, china, butterfly wings, and teacups are examples of some very fragile objects.

Episode 25 is the word liquid. George Lopez explains the meaning of the word liquid with the help of Elmo and Abby from Sesame Street. George explains that a liquid is something that flows and takes the shape of the container they are placed in. Water, juices, rain, and all kinds of drinks are liquids. Want to learn some more vocabulary words? Try some online vocabulary games!

Billy Gorilly’s Podcast for Kids

Episode 20 is about "Mrs. Opossum" and "Dinosaurs". The song about Mrs. Opossum teaches children some fact about opossums. Did you know that opossum mothers carry their babies in a pouch? They eat bugs, snails, and slugs, they live under a tree and they have great night vision! Next, the song about dinosaurs talked about dinosaurs being similar to really big lizards. Some crawled, some ran, some swam, and some flew. Kids learn the names of many different kinds of dinosaurs.

Episode 21 is called "Make a Splash" and "Hopping Toads and Jumping Frogs". "Make a Splash" encourages children to go to their local library and become involved with the summer library program in order to learn, make new friends, and read lots of good books! "Hopping Toads and Jumping Frogs" teaches about how toads and frogs have speckles and warts on their backs, they like sitting on rocks and logs by ponds and bogs, and they have feet like flippers!

Episode 22 is called "Mrs. Flicker Fireflybrarian and A Walk in the Woods". Billy Gorilly's friends Wendy and Timmy sing about their librarian, Mrs. Flick Fireflybrarian. They talk about how helpful, kind, and happy the librarian is and how much information she knows and shares with the children in their community. This encourages kids to go to the library, ask questions, and be open to suggestions on reading new books.

Episode 30 is a longer episode on "Food Geography" and "Months of the Year". The food geography part is very neat in that it teaches children to recognize foods we eat today that are originally from other countries. The podcast starts by explaining that every country has its own culture, which includes their language, clothes they wear, food they eat, and music they listen to. Kids learn to distinguish that hamburgers are associated with America, spagetti is from Italy, tacos are from Mexico, and fish and chips are originally from England! How neat! The second part of the podcast is the song about the months of the year to teach children the months of the year and how to number and remember them. Billy Gorilly and his friends prove that songs can be used as a resource for learning just about anything! And remember:  "Keep singing, smiling, and learning!"

For more sing-along, educational songs for your children, check out these bus songs!


I hope you enjoyed the podcasts!

Podcast Blog

The podcasts I chose were Sesame Street’s Word on the Street and Billy Gorilly’s Podcast for Kids. The Sesame Street Podcasts include a variety of podcasts about five to eight minutes long which each teach about a different vocabulary word. The words are common words children should understand like embarrassed, fascinating, deciduous, and empathy. Sesame Street is a great learning tool for children and the podcasts are a good way to get children involved and excited about learning new things! Each episode is hosted by a well-known actor, actress, or other famous person. This is an interesting aspect I really enjoyed about the podcasts. The Billy Gorilly Podcast is an audio podcast that teach kids to learn through songs. Children generally enjoy music, dancing, and/or singing new songs so I found this to be a useful tool as well. Billy Gorilly, “the gorilla”, is the host of the podcasts who takes charge of teaching two or three different things through songs during each podcast. The podcasts teach about things like identifying body parts, how to take care of pets, healthy snacks, and how to wash your hands.

My personal favorite of the two, The Sesame Street Podcast, teaches the meaning of words using fun examples, animations, videos, and by asking children what they think about the word. The podcasts are enjoyable and engaging and provide a fantastic way for children to expand their vocabularies. For more fun and activities, go to the Sesame Street's website. Episode One is the word prickly, with the host Joel McHale. Murray from Sesame Street asks kids on the street what prickly means to them. The word is introduced by Murray and Joel, is shown on the screen several times throughout the podcast, and several examples of the word are shown. Children learn that a cactus, a pineapple, and a porcupine all have one thing in common:  they’re PRICKLY! When Big Bird goes to sleep he’s uncomfortable and you find out that he has a cactus and a pineapple in his bed! Examples like this one are humorous as well as educational; children learn in different ways so being able to see the word, hear it used, and watch a video of an example of how the word is used, is essential. Episode Four is the word soggy, with the host John Krasinski. In the same manner, Murray and John present soggy in different ways so that children understand the meaning of soggy. Kids on the video say a sandwich can be soggy; a wet sponge, cereal with milk on it, and a rainy day are also soggy. It was interesting to find what kids imagine as being soggy and I actually learned some things about the word too! Episode Five is the word stubborn, with the host Nicole Kidman. In this episode, Oscar the Grouch refuses to help Nicole describe the word of the day to the kids. Through his arguing and refusal to change his mind, Oscar shows the perfect example of stubbornness. In this humorous episode, you learn that some kids stomp their feet when their being stubborn but also that being stubborn about something you really believe in is sometimes a good thing. Episode Six is the word measure, with the host Drew Brees. In this episode, Elmo and Drew show that measuring involves finding the height, width, length, or weight of an object. Elmo learns that you can measure with anything you want—a ruler, a scale, a football, or even a potato! Episode Twelve is the word fascinating, with the host Michelle Monaghan. This podcast teaches how different things are fascinating to different people. Books and airplanes are fascinating to some people while bugs and cars are fascinating to others. Abby from Sesame Street and Michelle teach children that something fascinating and extremely interesting and Bert and Ernie even give an example scenario! Now you can watch Kermit, Oscar, and the Cookie Monster's discovery of The Mystery Box!

The Billy Gorilly Podcasts for Kids are a collection of educational songs taught by “your friend”, Billy Gorilly and his friends from the Candy Appletree Woods. In the classroom, students could listen while working on projects. This radio show podcast is also great for car rides to entertain children while teaching them important concepts like counting, having good manners, and about never giving up! Each podcasts starts and ends with the theme song which helps children remember and learn it so they are excited each time they hear it come on. Episode 29 teaches children about body parts, how to wash your hands, and also how to decipher between a snack and a treat. The song “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes” teaches children how to identify their body parts through an interactive song. After teaching kids the importance of washing your hands, Billy Gorilly teaches the difference between a snack (something healthy like a banana, orange, or apple) and a treat (chocolate, cake, rice crispy treats, etc.). This part I very much enjoyed because I learned how I could teach children how and when to choose snacks over treats. For more ideas of healthy snacks for kids, click here. Episode 28 teaches children about birds and how to dance. Sometimes kids get embarrassed dancing around their classmates once they’ve hit a certain age or are just shy. This shows them that dancing and being goofy is a good thing, and that all you have to do is move your arms, legs, and hips! Episode 27 teaches the story about the Boy Who Cried Wolf and the importance of always being honest. The second half of the podcast is Billy Gorilly’s song about the 5 senses and how you use each one every day. Episode 24 teaches children about having pets and the importance of taking care of them and treating them well. Billy Gorilly’s friend Wendy sings a song about having a tiger in her house—yikes! In this podcast, kids learn that cats and dogs make good household pets—much better than tigers! To learn more about Billy Gorilly and print out activities, go to Billy Gorilly's webpage!

There are many great podcasts for kids on iTunes. The Sesame Street podcast and Billy Gorilly’s Podcast for Kids are fantastic audio and video tools I found to help not only in the classroom, but also for families! The podcasts are interesting, fun, educational, and provide an excellent way for children to learn in various ways!