I ran across this tweet from Tony Vincent this morning about a podcast he has been listening to with his 5th graders called Six Minutes.
The website overview: "Who is Holiday? Where did she come from and how did she end up floating in the icy waters off the coast of Alaska with no memory? Are her mom and dad really who they say they are? Why is she developing those incredible abilities? The mystery unfolds in six minute episodes."
I love the fact that each episode is only 6 minutes (and they have 136 published six minute segments). It would be easy to integrate into the classroom (at six minutes).
I would use it as a settling activity that exposes children to more words, ideas, and language (I work with a lot of Title 1 students who need that language exposure). It could also be used as a writing prompt (i.e listen to this episode and then write the next episode).
Podcasting with students is high on my "to try" list and this Podcast has given me some ideas.
Since school's almost out for students it would be a great to get them hooked and have them continue listening on their own during the summer.
In the Twitter post someone asked about the appropriate age and Tony noted that his six year old likes the podcast but that there are "child catchers" who chase after the children that younger students might find upsetting. The main characters in the podcast are 10 years old.
Another podcast mentioned in the comments was The Unexplainable Disappearance of Mars Patel. That seems more geared toward middle school students and episodes seem to run 20 minutes or less. The website describes the show as "a scripted podcast for middle grade kids, performed by middle grade kids. It is a fun, high-quality, serial mystery that can be described as Goonies meets Spy Kids, meets Stranger Things for 8-12 year olds." I like this one because you can get the scripts for the show (unfortunately there is a cost but if someone finds it with no cost, please let me know) so students can read along while they are listening.
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