Are you a teacher or homeschool parent looking to supplement your curriculum with awesome audio?
We’re producing a series for educators showing you how it’s possible to teach almost ANY subject with Pinna. In today’s post, we’re breaking down how you can teach writing with Pinna.
* Pro tip: when you see an asterisk, it signals that there are complementary extension activities and printable worksheets in the educator resource section of the Pinna website.
How to Teach Almost ANY Subject With Pinna: Part 2 — Writing
- Play a soundscape from The Start* and let it be the start of a new creative venture for your students. Tell them to close their eyes, listen, and imagine a story forming in their minds. Then, they can put pen to paper and write a poem, song, or short story inspired by audio from this fun new podcast.
- Listen to TIME for Kids Explains* with your students and then have them work on the provided activity sheets in the resource section. Another idea is to have your students take a news story from the podcast or TIME for Kids Magazine and use it as a non-fiction writing prompt. Take it a step further by encouraging your class to interview, write, edit, and photograph their own noteworthy news stories.
- HiLL-LaRRy-uS: Word of the Day* makes an awesome alternative to traditional vocab curriculum. Print out the activity sheets provided under the educators tab and have students write down the highlighted word and its definition after listening to the daily episode. You can also keep a “word wall” as a visual reminder of all the new words your class has learned this year.
- Quentin and Alfie’s ABC Adventures* (and the soundtrack, Mixie’s La-La-La-Letters!) is a fun choice for teaching preschoolers their alphabet. Check out the printable worksheets in the teacher resource section for additional writing practice.
- Inspire kids to become writers with awesome author interviews like this one with Ron Roy, A to Z Mysteries series writer.
- Teach kids the building blocks of writing a compelling story with The Story Seeds Podcast.
- Stephen King famously said, “If you want to be a writer you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot.” Pinna has a ton of content with a focus on literacy, but even more than that, they’ve got SO many incredible audiobooks and serialized podcasts that will draw kids in and leave them wanting more.
- The Kid Lit Show* highlights captivating stories and the authors who bring them to life. Inspire a love of reading (and in turn, writing!) by listening to this engaging new podcast, hosted by book enthusiast, 10-year-old Olivia Van Ledtje.
- Listening to audiobooks is helpful for struggling readers. It’s helpful for struggling writers too. When listening to audiobooks kids hear tone and inflection expressed through the narrator’s voice, learn the correct pronunciation of difficult words, increase word exposure leading to an improved vocabulary, and see the progression of a story from the hook that draws you end to the satisfying conclusion at the end.
- Smash Boom Best is the ultimate debate podcast where kids “use facts and passion to make the case for which item should be crowned the Smash Boom Best”! Cats vs. dogs, tacos vs. pizza, and lava vs. quicksand are just a few of the exciting topics covered in this fast-paced audio show. This is a creative way to teach kids the necessary skill of how to compare and contrast. Host your very own classroom debate after listening!
- Delve into the fascinating world of fairy tales with Pinna’s classic and reimagined fairy tale collection. You can do author studies, break down how each story is constructed, and even learn about the history of fairy tales and why they’ve always stood the test of time.
The Wrap-Up
No matter what subject you’re looking to teach, Pinna can help you make it fun and get. it. DONE!
Don’t forget to check out part 1 in the series below.
How to Teach Almost ANY Subject With Pinna: Part 1 — Reading
We’re all ears!
What new ways will you use Pinna in the classroom this fall? We’d love to hear from you! Find us on all our social platforms – Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest – or email us at contact@pinna.fm.
