“I feel very passionate about the use of Alive Studios’ resources to ignite engagement for early learners who have experienced a disruption to instruction or learning loss.”
Guest Blogger: Maggie Phillips
Former District Tech Integration Specialist
As we all know, with the disruption to instruction that has occurred over the last year, new and different learning gaps have developed for all learners, especially early learners. Addressing these learning gaps is not only a priority, but it is essential in preparing students to be successful in the future. With the recent approval of the second COVID-19 relief package, school districts will be provided with funds that can be used for education technology and programs to directly address the student learning gaps resulting from the disruption of instruction.
I feel incredibly passionate about closing these gaps and ensuring that all students have an opportunity to engage in high-impact and meaningful learning experiences. I recently had the opportunity to co-host a webinar with Cynthia Kaye (CEO & Chief Zoo Keeper of Alive Studios) about the effectiveness of Alive Studios’ seven EarlyEd technology resources for closing the learning gap by increasing student engagement. Alive Studios’ resources are proven to help bridge the learning gaps and to help Pre-K to 2nd grade students acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to be successful in reading and writing.
The seven resources we shared in the webinar are powerful tools for addressing student learning loss and are ideal for teaching in any learning environment – in the traditional classroom, at home, or a blended/hybrid environment. Everything Cynthia and her team have developed is research-based, rooted deeply in data, systematic, and meticulously scaffolded to support learners at every level.
The resources are aligned to kindergarten state standards and are for pre-k and kindergarten instruction, but they are also phenomenally successful as an intervention tool for striving students in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade.
In the webinar, we discussed how to Close Your Covid Literacy Gap by Increasing Student Engagement.
We featured 7 resources; the first 2 are free. Here they are:
1. Zoo Crew Alphabet Show – FREE
Cynthia and her team at Alive Studios set some time aside during the shutdown of 2020 to create something really dynamic. They made the best of a really challenging situation and actually produced and recorded a child-focused show on YouTube. With 26 interactive and content-filled episodes teaching letters, letter sounds, and animals, these shows are ready-made instructional resources for learning in a traditional classroom or learning at home… and it’s FREE!
2. Interactive Alphabet Chart – FREE
This easy-to-use, free resource was designed to give you the ability to simply click a letter and immediately access the related episode of the Zoo Crew Alphabet Show.
I love how these first two free resources blend different modalities into an approach that’s fun and meaningful. Students don’t even realize the learning that’s happening. Both are free and include hours of remote learning fun that can be enjoyed in class or at home.
3. Journals alive
The Letters alive and Math alive printed journals are way more than just simple activity books. Learning comes alive in 3D with the Journals alive app (free download), giving kids an interactive experience that gets them excited about learning.
The journals also make the most of homework! As we all know, learning at home has tremendously increased over the past year. These journals provide a seamless piece of homework that blends three key elements of learning: meaningful content, scaffold learning, and engaging technology. These journals are perfect for bridging the home/school connection and providing additional support for kids who are at risk of falling behind.
4. Rugs alive
When I first saw these rugs, I was mind-blown! And, when kids see the rugs come to life, they have a similar experience. Seeing the animals pop off the rug and enter their classroom or learning environment truly brings the learning experience to life.
These colorful classroom rugs provide kids with an interactive experience for learning animals, habitats, positional concepts, teamwork, and other STEM-based activities! Your students will love meeting the animals and taking photos with them through the Rugs alive mobile app (free download).
5. Letters alive Zoo Keeper Edition
Letters alive is a supplemental ELA curriculum kit that incorporates multiple learning modalities and a cross-curricular approach to teach letters, letter sounds, word building, sentence building, and writing.
The Alphabet Show, journals, and rugs are all tied together with Letters alive. Whether you’ve taught phonics for years or you’re new to teaching these skills, Letters alive provides you with literally everything you need to facilitate high-quality learning experiences for your students.
6. Math alive
Math alive is a supplemental mathematics curriculum kit that incorporates interactive learning games, activities, and simulations with 3D augmented reality to teach 86 essential math skills. Whether you are looking to enhance whole group math instruction, independent work, or stations/centers, the Math alive content can bring abstract math concepts to life.
7. Learning alive Zoo Keeper Edition
There are a lot of things we look at when assessing effective instruction and meaningful curriculum and content. The Learning alive bundle checks all the boxes: Reading, Writing, Math, STEM, and Social-Emotional. It couples the content students are learning to develop the fundamentals of reading and writing with a pedagogically strong instructional approach and meaningful integration of technology.
If I was in the classroom or working at the school level at this time, I would be eager to implement these Alive Studios’ resources with my students! Knowing that this solution is research-based, rooted deeply in data, systematic, and meticulously scaffolded to support learners makes me feel confident it can close the learning and instructional gaps for the youngest of students.
improve my students’ behavior while distance learning; I assign a “helper of the day.” My helper is able to verbally assist throughout each lesson. At the end of the lesson, I allow them to select one of the 26 animals for us to watch their habitat video so we can go on a virtual field trip. My kids LOVE this! They feel a sense of pride and accomplishment by playing an active role. Now all my students are at their best in hopes of being the helper for tomorrow!