In Practice

My students really look forward to the Week in Rap. They have become interested in world and current events.

Flocabulary serves up such poppin' fresh music, videos, and rhymes that kids are instantly engaged. Students experience meaningful, authentic, and culturally relevant learning with the bonus of hip-hop swagger.

My eighth grade students love Flocabulary. Each Friday we begin our class with the Week in Rap. We predict what events may be featured and then discuss them afterwards. Even my normally shy students share during these discussions. If we ever miss a Friday, my students make sure we watch Flocabulary when we return. Thank you so much and and keep up the great work!

WOW! It is a great program! My Juniors get a "boost" everytime we have a new one to use with our materials. So many of my students are auditory and visual learners and this program helps them "get it"!

We use Flocabulary to help increase our word knowledge and math skills. Usually, after we listen to subject, I have a contest between girls against boys and the group that wins receive a ticket because at the end of each day, we pull a ticket for a prize.

Working with students who have learning difficulties is wonderful and difficult. One school year in the classroom, and I had an autistic boy. After three months of rejection-turned out to be the talented autistic. for me occurred Copernican revolution. He became my teacher and I am student. contacting you to tell you what I learned :)

I loved your website! I teach kids that are newcomers to the US, and also those that were born here, but their vocabulary is too limited to read and write English on the appropriate level. I teach 5th/6th graders, and it is very hard to find material that hits lower reading levels for students that are older. They definitely got into the rap/cartoon videos even though they were on a 2nd/3rd grade reading level….wonderful!

During study hall, a student came to me, asking for my Flocabulary password. She said that she loves the videos, and even though we only use the website in my class, she wanted to use the website to help her study for other classes.

Flocabulary has brought LIFE to my classroom! My students light up when they see me go this site and immediately start requesting their favorite videos. These catchy raps are a WONDERFUL way to teach students. Through music learning can be limitless.

I love, love, love that Flocabulary brings the learning to music. I've always incorporated music, but to see that they are able to learn about a person and their life through rap, the kids love it. Keep up the great work!

The students absolutely love the videos and raps. They use the vocabulary in their writing and love to show off the fact that they were able to apply the words in their own context! We play the songs ALL the time, though! We end every day with a song while the students pack their backpacks, and 9 times out of 10 its a Flocabulary song that's requested.

I love the positivity and creativity that is brought to the curriculum. It makes it so much easier to motivate students to learn - and I get cool points because I let them rap! ;)

I brag about and recommend Flocabulary to everyone who asks and even those who don't! :) Keep adding to all of it!!

I used Flocabulary videos for our big state test review in May. It was a wonderful way to break up the test prep. Thanks!

The raps really engage my students and they love it so much. I can actually use a learning tool as motivation for them to get their work done. AMAZING! Flocabulary is ahead of the game. You rock!!!!

It is fun to walk through the halls and hear students singing parts of the raps. It means it is sticking with them. Meets students where they are and delivers info in a student-friendly way.

It adds another dynamic and engaging way for kids to learn key content, and it's fun! Flocab is a very useful component of my teacher's tool box.

My kids like to listen to, dance and sing the raps while they learn. They are a very active class, so it helps them move while learning.

I love music and so do all kids, so this makes it fun and interesting for them. They LOVE the videos and doing the challenges each week. It helps them to retain the meaning of the words much better because they relate to music much better than boring direct instruction all the time. We watch the video several times a week and I love that I can see my kids mouthing the rap lyrics during their vocab tests to remember the definitions of their new words!

I love that the kids look forward to it. If I am ever absent on a Friday and they miss their Week in Rap they are disappointed and can't wait to watch it on Monday. They tell their friends and parents about how much they like it and pay more attention to current events by finding their own material to make their own Week in Rap about.

I have used Flocab ""The Week in Rap"" every Friday for 4+ years to create teachable moments through current events. My kids can't wait until they're seniors in high school so they can see the ""18 Years in Rap"" of their lives. I have had many students over the years of using Flocab who have opened their own accounts at home. I teach American History, Civics and Economics and integrate the videos in the social studies and civics sections into my lessons. My students love them. We have even compared/contrasted the Flocabulary videos to School House Rock videos (from my childhood) of the same subject matter, to show the evolution of using music in education. I challenge my students every year to do their own ""Year in Rap"" and use the idea of music videos and subject area content to engage my classes in multimedia projects that teach them so much and that they truly enjoy. My classroom is so much better using Flocabulary's resources, it is well worth the subscription that my school does not cover, so I pay out of pocket. I recommend Flocabulary to all my teachers friends, it is a wonderful addition to any teacher's arsenal of learning.

I love how it is an "attention getter" and the students look forward to hearing it. I think this is the best website out there.

We love the Social Studies raps. We sing the World History raps at the beginning of almost every period.

My AIG director (my supervisor) was gushing on and on about this great program that 6th graders at Morehead City Middle are using to enhance rigorous vocabulary understanding and make reading comprehension activities have meaningful, up-to-date, relevant connections. When I asked what they were using, she pulled a small scrap of paper from her pocket with your website on it. No doubt! As I have know for about a decade now, Flocabulary is dynamic for all levels of differentiation.

We have a state test for science in fourth and seventh grade. I'm using your science songs/videos to go over all the areas tested. My students LOVE them. I found the new science videos because my students begged to see PEMDAS. Thank you so much.

I fell in love with Flocabulary after downloading from iTunes History of Hip Hop. This was probably 4 years ago. Since that time, my kids have memorized the Bill of Rights, recited the Ghosts of the Civil War, and beg for more. Flocabulary has become a daily ritual for us. We work to your beats daily!

My students were enthralled by the program last year. They would sing the songs all day. They even wanted to try their hands with writing a rap! We love Flocab!!!

Teaching students information they will remember for a lifetime. The 21st century version of School House Rock!

My students are loving all of the flocabulary videos. We've listened to songs in every subject and they enjoy starting our day with bouncy, catchy, & educational tunes. I must admit- I like them too. Thank you!

Simply revolutionary! Our whole sixth grade team uses and loves it. The best part is when I put on a video and even the students that typically show the least amount of engagement are yelling to everyone, "Quiet! it's Flocabulary!" Not only is it engaging, but it delves deeper into the HOW and WHY for every subject and not every learning tool that is fun can do that.

Just got enrolled and was working on finishing my Egypt unit. Absolutely loved the lesson and all four of my world history classes asked to see and resee the video again and again. It went very well with all the vocab they had been learning but putting it to music really lit them up. Going to go back and use the earlier lessons with the kids as we prepare for midterms and need to review cavemen and Mesopotamia and Hammurabi's Code! Thanks for a great product that the kids love and will remember.

My son came home today and asked if we could look up the 5 things video. I sat and listened to the song twice with him. Not only is it educational, but you guys can actually rap. I've listened to a lot of hokey raps in schools and in the work place, written and performed by people who have no connection whatsoever to hip hop. I have loved hip hop as an art form for many years, and what you guys do is amazing. Keep up the good work.

In my most recent position as Global History teacher to 11th and 12th graders at a charter high school in downtown Manhattan, I routinely incorporated Flocabulary's wealth of interdisciplinary and multi media resources into my lesson plan. My students responded with enthusiasm to the cleverness of your methods, and testing that followed always confirmed an outstanding grasp of concepts and data retention. Your approach is unparalleled not only in its effectiveness, but also in the speed by which you relay data. With increasing sources of stimulation available to today's students, I think you developed a product that simultaneously competes with and resembles popular media.

My students love to go to FLOCABULARY! They really enjoy the Challenge Questions after each "Week IN RAP" cover video. They never let me forget its Friday and time for the Week in Rap. They earn points that translate into treats or a special Freaky Food Friday party, where I introduce them to gourmet foods from cultures around the world. Whenever I'm teaching a new Unit of Literature, I look through your section on READING to see which Raps I can use to kick off the lessons...I used to pay privately but so many teachers in our District love you that this year our District Superintendent and the Board of Education bought a district-wide Subscription! Keep up the great work!

Vocabulary red (3rd grade) makes my after school tutor kids go nuts! They love it and take pride in doing the activities in small groups. It is a wonderful way to continue their learning after many have struggled to get through a difficult academic day. The music not only infuses vocabulary, but leaves students with many positive messages. A+

Flocab is such a great way to really show everyone who watches it what is happening in the world and I love how informed anyone can be by only watching one video. I'd like to thank the WHOLE Flocab team for successfully being as awesome as possible!!!

We watch the Week in Rap every Friday. If we ever miss a Friday, that's the first thing they say to me on Monday morning: "We didn't get to watch the Week in Rap!" I even have former students say "I miss getting to see the Week in Rap."

Flocabulary is a reward for students at the end of music class. The classroom teachers love that I am helping with common core vocabulary. I love the songs! By the way, I used to be a recording engineer and recorded the first De La Soul record, so I know good hip hop songs!

Flocabulary is the single most compelling way to make students understand the power, magic, and musicality of words. It is so incredible to watch their reactions when they first hear a new rap. They eye up their neighbors to see if it's cool to bob their heads or sing along. In some cases, they even rise and dance. Afterwards, they reach out, clutch the words, and invent new art. They write poetry, other raps, stories, dramatic scripts, and college essays. They are empowered by this. Rest assured.

I love it. I am very impressed with how the Word Up material is set up. Working in the vocabulary field with students from K-12 it is very difficult to find all the engaging elements of learning new vocabulary: interest, definition/meaning in synonyms or words we already may understand, how the word is used/parts of speech, practice/application, comprehension, exposure to the word and exercise and creative thinking with the word. All in the same Unit.

Most of my material merely introduces 10 words with definitions in short story format and then the students are on their own. I love how in the song, the lyrics follow up the new word with a synonym sentence explaining the vocabulary word. The student doesn't even know they are being taught in song. I can't sing enough praise about this material.

My son is a hip-hop/rap artist at the age of 20 years. I have supported and encouraged him for years. He now has a relationship with a producer and enjoys growing his dream. I introduced him to your music and material and he was impressed, as well, on how great it is - the music and material is not inferior or lousy. Please continue with your superior work. It is incomparable in the education field!

My students cannot stop raving about Flocabulary. I discovered it last year and began using it during the Spring Semester. It was a huge hit and I have continued implementing it this year. I have introduced it to my fellow 5th grade teachers and I have begun to introduce it to our entire staff. It is my sole Vocabulary Program, and I develop activities to supplement the units, mostly graphic organizers and games. We just want to say a million "thank yous." It such a motivating program and the words continue to "pop up" all over; students are always making connections to their word lists! I know that my email is "rambly"; it is just so exciting to see how much my students are loving words. This program allows me to foster their creativity and my own!! One of my at-risk readers is consistently scoring 80% or above on his quizzes and voluntarily completes his Word Study homework. For the "Ecosystems" song, my students are creating a storyboard to try to make their own video to accompany the song.

I want to first thank you for creating The Week in Rap. My students love watching it each week. I have a junior geography class and I even have seniors come back on Fridays to watch it and talk about the news.

My 9th grade World History students and 10th grade US History students have watched The Week in Rap loyally every Friday for the last two years. All of us LOVE it, students and teacher alike, and it is always a highlight of the whole week! You make current events COOL for teenagers!

We watch The Week in Rap every Friday and we love its fresh, informative nature. We look forward to this activity all week and it is the first thing we do in class on Fridays. It sparks conversation and debate and encourages us to watch the news during the week so we can try and guess what topics will be included in The Week in Rap.

I show the weekly video to all my classes; it has become a tradition and former students actually stop by in hopes of catching The Week in Rap. My students and I love it. By the end of the school year, the kids would actually applaud when the video concluded. In addition to discussing content, the kids became fond of discussing rapping and musical styles featured each week. The seniors were especially moved by the special feature "The Last Eighteen Years in Rap."

Kudos to you and your talented staff; rock on!

My kids love your site and wanted me to email you and tell you how much we appreciate your work. We use The Week in Rap, vocabulary, and grammar songs. I want to say thank you for the wonderful job you do in combining hip-hop with core curriculum. I wish this was around when I went to school. Learning certain topics in school could/would have fun to learn through hip-hop. Thanks again and keep up the amazing work.

Use of Flocab is increasing! We have a cart of iPads, and I have created a shortcut for kids to access Flocab, so students are using it! One of my teachers is using the "Missing Lyrics" activity as a listening activity and kids are really seeing what they do and do not hear! I have promoted the use of subject-specific raps for introduction and review for units and teachers. As I receive big Flocab updates via email, I forward to my staff as a reminder -- and while it's a Friday "tradition" in my class, kids don't mind seeing the Week in Rap multiple times.

I'm always trying to get my teachers to get out of their box, and try new things, and Flocab is an easy resource for them to try.

This is my first year teaching and I learned about your website from a random book that was left in my house when my wife and I moved and it turned out to be a really awesome tool that I use in my classroom. In the beginning of the year I signed up for The Week in Rap and I showed it to my students who at first made jokes and laughed about it. It quickly has become a necessity for my students who make it a point to ask me on Fridays: "Hey, aren't we watching Flocabulary?"

I want to thank you for all that you guys do and I continue trying to incorporate Flocabulary into my lessons. I have had principals and the administration come into my classroom and evaluate me and every time I happen to have Flocabulary they are so impressed with how much the students are engaged with the current events in The Week in Rap that I always get a good rating. So thank you for being so creative and doing what you do.

Next week, I am starting a new project (after students have asked and asked) where they will be responsible for coming up with their own Flocabulary. The assignment will be "The Great Depression in Rap." Students will get in groups of 3-4 and have to use 10 events that are newsworthy and create a rap.

My students absolutely love The Week in Rap. They can’t wait to watch it every Friday and discuss what’s happening in the world around them. I teach in a very small town in New Mexico and many of my students have no clue what happens outside of their little town. So The Week in Rap is an excellent way to involve them in global happenings.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you also for your great product. Every week my students are excited to see The Week in Rap and are often heard exclaiming as they come into class, "It's Flocab Friday!!" Your videos are both engaging and informative and I truly believe that the majority of the current event news my students get is from your videos.

I have had the opportunity to talk to a lot of middle school teachers. I have really been sharing my success with Flocabulary!! Everyone has been very excited about the program. So I was very eager to share that with you... :) The program is amazing and I still really love it and see such great results with the kids.

My 100 Reading/Language Arts students absolutely love Fridays and your Week in Rap. It is the high point of the week for them. We always do the activities and bonus. Your product opens up a new world of information and vocabulary.

I would just like to thank you for the extremely pivotal pedagogical boost you have provided me, therefore providing a better learning experience for my students (grade 7-8). I regularly use The Word Up Project and my scholars respond to it very well. Students (with and without encouragement) actively use these vocabulary words in their essays, quickwrites, and journals with ease because they’ve heard them/seen them get used in seemingly non-academic ways. I wanted to show you how you all have inspired me to better service my students by being culturally responsive, the way that Flocabulary taught me.

I am a new subscriber this year to Flocabulary. I am a teacher at a small school in Los Angeles. Anyway, I have shared your site with the other teachers, and more subscribed and are enjoying Flocabulary. I just finished the latest Week in Rap, and I just had to write to tell you how wonderful I think all of your work is. Go Flocabulary... You rock!

I am a student teacher in California, and I stumbled upon your website online, and I just wanna say... YES! As a 23-year-old female coming out of the Bay Area, these songs are not cheesey rap songs just trying to get in touch with the kids... They actually sound solid and are filled with great information -- and sound great. I'm gonna tell all my teacher friends about you guys :) Thanks for doing good stuff!

My students love The Week In Rap and begin asking on Wednesdays if there is going to be a Week In Rap on Friday! My sixth graders are really interested in current events because of The Week In Rap and read the newspaper front to back all week long to see how much of what they've read will be in Friday's raps. Thank you for doing what you do -- inspiring our youth to be interested in what's going on in the world around them.

I LOVE your website! I think it is a valuable classroom tool to enhance any social studies curriculum!

Your site is amazing. I'm a pre-service teacher, just in the final weeks of my degree. Here's a little rhyme of mine, inspired by your work. It's entitled "Rhyme Is of the Essence":

When it comes to adolescents
sometimes rhyme is of the essence
to commence the efflorescence
of their as yet latent talents!

Please keep up your Flocab-surdly awesome goodness!

I teach eighth grade science in the South Bronx and WE LOVE YOUR WORK! At first when my friend told me about this site, I was skeptical, as there's so much well-meaning, low-quality educational media out there. But I tested it on my students, without hyping it up, just to see what feedback they'd give me. They loved it! My advisory asks for the Week in Rap every Friday, and it prompts news discussions, often led by them speaking their own questions and opinions, before I ask anything. We started using it for math and ELA review, and now we're hooked! I play science content songs almost any time they're coming into the room and getting settled, we use lyrics for note-taking, etc. I even hear them singing them in jest in the hall and classes. Great songs and helpful resources.

As a district math coach, I was visiting a teacher yesterday and asked him if he’d tried Flocabulary yet. His answer was “no.” However, he mentioned a student who just recently transferred to his class from another school. The young lady told him, “You ought to try Flocabulary. We used it at my other school and it was great!” Her previous school had been using it quite a bit. When you get kids recommending the product, you know you’re on to something. I helped him log in to watch a video related to that day's lesson and he was hooked. He planned to use the video with his next class.

We listen to Flocabulary at least once a day. It's been a great prep for testing and encouragement for students to focus on topics (because they like the beats). I have also passed your website to my partner teacher who has purchased it and uses it with her students as well! Sixty-two fifth-grade, inner-city students give you an A+.

I wanted to let you know I used your Macbeth rap in my classroom, and my students absolutely loved it. They actually requested it daily (even when we were finished with the unit).

Thank you for creating such a wonderful learning tool.

I use the website daily as a hook into many of my lessons. My kids and I love Flocabulary. We just had our state tests and your product helped no doubt. I could hear students humming some of the tunes (especially ""Area of a Triangle""). The rap battle between Jefferson and Hamilton was great too and went along exactly with one of our units.

I was able to use Flocabulary in a center too. I set up some iPads and had them listen and fill in the lyrics with one of the challenge raps. Keep the videos coming, the whole thing is an awesome product. I am moving states next year and will definitely be looking into purchasing Flocabulary for my classroom!

The summer school site has a slot in their daily schedule strictly for Flocabulary! I love it also! I never watch TV or read the news, so every Friday I watch The Week in Rap so that I am not "totally" disconnected from the real world.

One of the teachers made a comment today about how talented the folks in your company were! Keep up the good work!

I have really enjoyed using my Flocabualry subscription! The math songs are awesome! My children have caught on to the catchy tunes and have mastered most of the skills, especially fractions. Some of them have come to me saying their parents have signed them up for the free trial and they have been playing them at home. Whoever came up with the plan to do this should commended for the great job they have done to connect instructional concepts to the 21st century! I LOVE it!

Flocabulary is a very exciting website. My students look forward to The Week in Rap, which facilitates current events, great discussions and good journal entries. The ninth grade curriculum reads the Shakespearean play entitled, ""Romeo and Juliet."" My students watched ""Shakespeare is Hip Hop."" They also perused the Romeo and Juliet videos. ""Much Ado About Nothing (Call Me Shakespeare)"" includes glimpes of the Globe Theatre. I love this concept and my students do as well. I find my students look forward to the visual effects and the music of these little snippets. Please keep up the great work which inspires many students to realize how the old can become new. It's all in the packaging/presentations which you have created and in turn produces a outstanding contemporary product. Good Job!

My Kindergarten students love Flocab because they can learn new concepts through songs and dance. Studies have shown that students learn best through movement and a song to remember concepts. The visual pictures along with the songs and movements help students "paint a picture" of a concept which helps them to recall the new concept more quickly than just saying it without the visual.

I just wanted to let you know I'm a HUGE fan of Flocabulary and your concept as a whole. I've used it with my kids and to see the lightbulbs go on is amazing.

I'm actually presenting at a National Differentiated Teaching Conference in Las Vegas next month on how to teach to students of poverty. There's an entire section of my presentation devoted to Flocabulary and its benefits in the classroom. I show the website and use my mic with the teacher audience and teach them how to teach their students how to rap. They absolutely LOVE it! Many of them think they can't rap, but when MC Cara Taylor and Flocabulary are done with them, they're rappin' all the way back to their classrooms!

I strongly, strongly believe in your product and would suggest it to any educator and/or parent even. Actually, [my son has] worked with Flocabulary too! And he's only 6. That's how strongly I believe in it. His favorite is actually the song about Lisa. Too funny. My fifth graders thought that one was the best also. Something about Lisa thinking she's all that and then when they get to Red Lobster, it's over for Lisa.

Once again, thanks for providing such a wonderful service to students all over the world, even the young one in my own house.

Loved the program. I presented it to the rest of my staff and a couple teachers plan on trying it out. They loved the test-taking vocabulary song/video in the language arts section. They just about scream every time they hear the lawyer did it. I agree it was a great list of words.

In my class I told the kids if they pointed out and defined the word when heard or found in text I would pay them $1 (class money). Well I ended up creating little Flocabulary monsters! Not only do they actively search for the words, they now will use various words while asking questions, making comments, or giving answers so that other kids get a chance to earn a dollar. One of my English Language Learners has become the most ardent vocabulary hunter.

I would just like to say once again thank you for a fabulous vocabulary program. I really feel the kids have increased their vocabulary by leaps and bounds.

I am such a strong advocate for the tools that Flocabulary provides and have seen how it has taken student engagement and achievement to a completely different level, especially for students and families that have been marginalized in our educational system for generations.

I think Flocabulary is AMAZING. I feel that every student in our school would benefit from it. Currently I teach third grade as well as coordinating the Gifted and Talented Program. I'm hoping that by using Flocabulary with the third grade and GT, our administration will see the benefits and our school will invest in Flocabulary for the whole school.

I discovered Flocabulary in March when my librarian received a trial membership. My students were captivated. When students had choice time on the computer I noticed quite a few wanted to go to Flocabulary. While walking to lunch, I overheard one student singing the Parts of Speech in the hall.

I have been using MSN Week in Pictures for a few years to provide more interesting subjects during our English Language Development period. We added The Week in Rap to this time. Students started going on at home during the weekend in order to research the bonus questions. They made connections between The Week in Pictures and The Week in Rap. It was really amazing to see how aware and interested they became in the world around them.

I am really excited about being able to use Flocabulary from the beginning of the year. The songs are so catchy and well-written. I really feel they will help students solidify the many concepts they are required to master. In addition, The Week in Rap provides them awareness of the world they will one day be responsible for.

I am so invested in this program I have already been telling anyone who will listen about it!

This is my best story about Flocabulary and teenage boys who are always in a hurry, play too many sports and are driving their parents crazy. I tutor lots of teenage athletes: swimmers, divers, water polo players, golfers, ice hockey players, basketball and baseball players, etc. Many of them are scholar/athletes and are shooting for scholarships to colleges all over the country. They just do not have the time or patience for making up vocabulary study cards; the time involved in sitting, looking up words and making the cards is excruciating for them. So along came the flocabulary rap CD. Well, at first they were skeptical... This just did not sound like serious work. Yet, they tried listening to it in the car while dashing around from school to sports to activities and guess what? They loved it and they learned the vocabulary required for the SAT and now their parents are happy too.

College students love Flocabulary! I asked how many students remembered nursery rhymes, top-ten songs from grade school and high school, and/or their couples' ""song."" Hands went up and pieces of songs were heard. Everyone can remember tunes from the past. Therefore, why not learn skills through songs? My college students loved the creativity and song beats combined with concepts offered by Flocabulary. Even though Flocabulary has not marketed to higher education institutions, we believe it's a perfect fit for college students!

I LOVE Flocabulary! I teach sixth grade social studies/ELA and my kids beg me to play Flocabulary. Flocabulary made memorization easy for my inclusion students who typically have a difficult time. They especially love the conjunction rap. I am so excited to use your new ELA songs this coming school year. Thanks for making my life so much easier!

I have used Flocab vocabulary units for the last two years in my classroom as a part of my language arts program. The students love the videos and often want to watch them several times until they learn the song. The worksheets that accompany each vocabulary unit are well-written and provide valuable practice to help learn the words. Matter of fact, we use the word chart for all our vocabulary word across the curriculum. Additionally, we integrate the social studies, math and other language arts Flocabs throughout the year. This is an awesome program and I would recommend it to teachers everywhere! I also recommend it to my students' parents as extra practice at home if they want to do it.

There is simply nothing cool about reinforcing vocabulary or math concepts... EXCEPT Flocabulary! We started off with the Ancient Egypt rap, which contained many of the key points we were teaching, and noticed the class rapping through assessments. Then the magic happened - the students begged for flocabulary, and used it for a variety of reasons. What a wonderful way to reach students and capture their attention!

All the staff were so captivated - not only by the program itself but also with your outstanding, witty, knowledgeable presentation.

It was our pleasure to have you and your colleague train and uniquely engage the 21st CCLC summer staff, including veteran, certified teachers, on the common core standards, web based vocabulary building supplemental learning tool, Flocabulary. We are so impressed with the scope and sequence of the program and strongly believe that with consistency, fidelity of use, and follow up, our students will build their vocabulary which will hopefully in turn lead to improved literacy proficiency.

I wanted to say thank you to Flocabulary for providing the free trial recently. I am the assistant principal in a K-8 school, and every grade from 3rd grade through 8th grade is utilizing your website. I appreciate you making it easy and entertaining for our students to learn; you would not believe how many of our students sing the newest song from Flocabulary they heard that day in the hallways. As we move into the new Common Core State Standards, continuing to find ways to engage and challenge our students, while reaching them on levels that they can relate to, will be our greatest challenge. I believe that a small step towards that goal will be the utilization of programs like Flocabulary.

Diane Phillips is an English Language Arts teacher in Cocoa, Florida. Working with mostly at-risk students performing below grade level, Diane faces challenges that few graduate programs can really prepare you for. But Diane isn't daunted by the challenges she faces. Instead, she's been able to form real connections with her students by showing interest in their lives and their tastes. Here is Diane's story.

Junior year as a sophomore teacher. That's the way I refer to it. Year 3. In 2007, I made the decision to give up a 24-year career in textbook editing to bring my love of literature to teenagers in the classroom. I interviewed at a number of schools in our county's school district. During my interview at one high school, I was offered an English teaching position on the spot. I accepted it. When friends asked about my hiring, I was able to tell them I had landed a job fairly quickly into the process. That's fantastic! they had said in support. Until they heard that I had accepted a job at Cocoa High School : #15 among the 15 high schools in our otherwise high-achieving Florida school district. I had heard the same rumors they did, but I refused to let discouragement take hold. This was a new chapter of my life. A foot in the door. If I hated it, I could always apply for a transfer after my first year. (In the meantime, God, please don't let any of the students throw a desk at me!)

It didn't take me long to realize that I have found a home here. So many of my students have seen things many sheltered adults, myself included, will never see. Many of them are the adults in their households. They are often scared, scarred walking wounded. If any of them have ever considered tossing a desk-and the rumors, thankfully, were grossly inflated-it would be because the world first tossed them its ills and anguish. Drugs. Abandonment. Abuse. Death. Divorce. Homelessness. Poverty. The night the cops came. Moments that caused them to grow up too fast, to bring into my classroom a boulder-sized chip on their shoulder and an expectation that I wouldn't care about them either.

Of course, all they needed was to be loved on their own merits and to be respected. And that began with listening to them, getting to know what they enjoy, breaking down the barriers between student and material so that education would become more accessible, keeping them coming to school because the alternatives are grim and because it can actually-who knew?be enjoyable! All educators know that a solid command of language and vocabulary opens doors within any content area, making reading easier and more fluid, but weekly vocabulary lists can seem more punitive than inviting, alienating the groups we most need to reach. Just say SAT vocab, and prepare to hear at least some kids say, Yeah, well, I ain't goin' to college. But think like that reluctant reader and play a lesson-loaded rap song instead and, bam!: engagement, connection, laughter. For Pete's sake, they even sit up straighter in their chairs!

Flocabulary has done more in my classroom than draw skeptical students toward the lofty material they would normally have shunned. It has enhanced my credibility with them for having gone outside traditional boxes in order to make work fun. And it has empowered them to communicate in a world that used to speak what sounded to them like a foreign language full of big words. Now I hear students whine about an unwieldy backpack, refer to a behemoth football player, or tell me about feeling listless after all that dancing at Homecoming this weekend-and I see them grinning about how smart they feel. They're reading more than they were, no longer intimidated by a word they don't recognize. Instead, they're bringing novels to me and saying, Look, Miss! There's one of our words! Its been wonderful. This whole adventure, in fact, has been wonderful. And I'm glad to say that the students naysayers and mine couldn't be more wrong.

Craig Campbell is a special education teacher at a middle school in a tough part of Brooklyn, New York. Craig's students face significant challenges. Using Flocabulary materials as a springboard, Craig has created his own program that he and his students call The School of Rap. The results are phenomenal. Here's Craig's story.

I first started using Flocabulary in my classroom when my principal purchased Hip-Hop U.S. History. I used the books and music in my 7th grade self-contained special education classroom with great success. My students loved the songs and didn't think they were hokey or wack like other programs that try to pander to students' interests.

U.S. history was their least favorite subject, because of the long chapters written many grade levels above their reading level and because they lacked any connection to the material. Hip-Hop U.S. History got them interested and involved and we ended up covering the same material in much less time with much greater retention of the information. When we did crack the official text, the class had some prior knowledge, and were more interested in history.

Impressed with Flocabulary it occurred to me to go to the website and see if there were other programs. I found exactly what I was looking for, the Word Up series. I purchased a set and tried the program with equally positive results. My students favorite activity was reading along with the lyrics and trying to fill-in-the-blank with the correct vocabulary word. We made it a competition with a prize for the student who got all 15 words first.

My students interest in Flocabulary got me thinking. I had some Mac computers with Garageband software, a personal interest in home recording and, low and behold, a talented 7th grader named Pablo who could play piano and program beats. Soon we were writing lyrics, positive and school appropriate, as modeled in Flocabulary.

We called ourselves School of Rap and recorded about six songs. Everyone had a chance to rap and Pablo went from a disinterested rebel to an engaged student producer. Interest in all subjects increased and conflict in the classroom lessened. The class was obviously proud.

School of Rap presented their music to all the administrators in the building and to Dr. Cashin, CEO of the Knowledge Network, who was honored with a live performance when she visited our classroom. Later in the year Pablo and a few other students went to the Math, Science and Technology Fair to present their project and explain how they used technology in the classroom to record music.

Allison Ehinger is a high school English teacher who has worked in the well-to-do suburbs and in the inner-city. Never afraid to "make a complete fool" of herself, Allison not only played Flocabulary songs for her students, but danced and sang along. The results, both among suburban students who loved the program and among inner city students who started up conversations with their parents at home, were phenomenal. Here's her story:

For the previous three years, I taught 8th grade English in a typical affluent, suburban school. My first year, there wasn't a set vocabulary program, so I floundered through the first couple months teaching vocabulary through the reading. Yes, I know that most English teachers teach vocabulary through the reading, although I am convinced that does not work, but I was a newbie trying to keep my head above water. That year, my mom - yes, I know - went to the National Middle School Conference and brought back the first and original Flocabulary. She even brought back the t-shirt and I wear it on the first day of Flocabulary every year and on test days. Again, cheesy? Absolutely! I decided to try it with my honors class: 45 words and SAT level was more suited to them. It was unbelievable.

Yes, at first the kids thought I was nuts as I was dancing up and down the aisles making a complete fool out of myself, but it worked. The kids begged me to play the song one more time before their test. We made music videos. The kids actually used the vocabulary in their writing - the first time I had ever seen that truly happen. After Transformation, I had the kids rank how effective they felt learning the rap was to remembering and using the vocabulary. Out of a class of 32, 31 students gave using the rap a 5/5 which meant they needed the rap to remember all of those vocabulary words. I ended up starting to connect the different raps with what we were doing in class. I made associated grammar worksheets. My kids identified phrases and clauses in the raps, identified types of sentences, constructed symbols to represent the message or theme of each rap. I used the Dr. Doctor while we read The Pearl by John Steinbeck. The worksheet said, Yes, the doctor is hip-hop, too. Cheesy, but it worked. I used Transformation to teach theme. I used Shakespeare is Hip Hop while we studied A Midsummer Nights Dream. The list goes on and on. It was unbelievable that at the end of the year the students were still using the words from the first rap in their writing, and not because it was a requirement. Those new words just made a way into their writing and speaking vocabulary.

I was able to receive a copy of the Blue Level Word Up Project to test run in my desperate attempt for the corporation to adopt the vocabulary program. We started rapping Battle of Brooklyn when we studied the Revolutionary War with the history teachers. The history teachers were rapping Battle of Brooklyn in their rooms as well. Same goes for Southern Ladies. Can you hear me? We were able to see the same growth we saw in our honors students with all of our classes.

I am now teaching 9th grade English at a much more inner city school, and we just started our first Flocabulary unit yesterday. They are taking to it as well. Last night was Back to School Night, and I cannot express the number of parents who came in talking about how their child never comes home and talks about school, and these parents had already heard all about rapping vocabulary in the classroom. Parents, who get the standard nothing when asked what their child did/learned in school that day, were able to get true answers. They did do something worth mentioning; their crazy English teacher rapped vocabulary with them. Not only does this program improve my students writing, speaking, and reading vocabulary, it is something that is facilitating conversation at home, and sometimes that is just a powerful as what happens here at school. I am positive I will see the same wonderful results I saw with my old students in my new school and am excited to get started!

Donna McMeen is an 8th grade English Language Arts teacher near Dallas, Texas. A passionate teacher dedicated to making sure her students stay motivated in the classroom, Donna decided to try using hip-hop to connect to her students. She started out with some Flocabulary materials, and soon had students singing along in class and writing and performing their own songs for various projects. Here is Donna's feel-good story.

"Mrs. McMeen, do you ever use rap music in class?" An inquisitive student who loved the fact that I used music in my classroom posed this question; however, I avoided rap music because of inappropriate lyrics and content. My immediate response was, "Not yet because I cannot find any without bad words, but I will certainly keep searching!" Ironically in January of 2005 I attended a Texas Counsel of Teachers for English Language Arts (TCTELA) conference in Houston, Texas. As I scanned the program that displayed all workshops being presented one caught my eye, "Flocabulary: Shakespeare is Hip-Hop." As a veteran educator, I continuously search for workshops that could actually improve my teaching techniques and introduce me to something that could engage my students in ELA education. I wondered if this workshop could aid me when I was teaching Shakespeare by showing me how to incorporate music.

Sitting in the room reading the handout given to me as I entered, I looked at Alex Rappaport and Blake Harrison wondering just how these two wholesome looking white boys could pull off rap music. Then they told their story. Two young men sitting around after high school discussing the boredom they felt when they were in school especially in relation to mundane and complex content such as vocabulary and Shakespeare. From that discussion the Flocabulary journey began and has proliferated in the past 5 years. I was blown away! These young men taught us how to write a rap then took the raps created by the workshop participants and rapped them extemporaneously. What fun! I was certainly impressed and fervent! I literally RAN to the area where Alex and Blake said they would be after the workshop to purchase their CDs, workbooks, and of course a Flocabulary t-shirt. I believed then and it is still my contention today that these young men ROCK, and I told them so repeatedly. My inquisitive student's question now had an answer!

I took Flocabulary back to my classroom donned in my new Flocabulary: Shakespeare is Hip-Hop t-shirt, and immediately implemented it with Holocaust vocabulary that students had always struggled with in the past. Understanding the Holocaust requires a certain comprehension of the vocabulary in order to retain and find significance in its study. The assignment included working with a partner (or alone if they chose) the students had to look up a synonym for 15 of the Holocaust vocabulary words on a list I generated. They then took the vocab word and synonym and wrote them into a rap with a Holocaust theme. They typed the rap in the correct format in Word, chose a beat, revised the rap to fit the beat chosen, practiced the rap orally, and then presented it to an audience. This particular assignment developed collaboration skills, critical thinking skills, using a thesaurus, technology skills through Word and downloading beats correctly, as well as evaluation skills and oral skills when presenting. Some even experienced use of RhymeZone.com if they chose to create a rhyming rap. Flocabulary employed all learning styles as well as multiple intelligences. I was astounded! The students were energized, animated, and some even dressed up and created choreographed movements to go with their raps. They presented their raps in front of other classes who also became excited about creating raps in other classes. Each year I incorporate more diverse assignments with Flocabulary.

I sent an email to all educators in my building then later the ones in my district telling them that Flocabulary was something they needed to at least try. In 2006 my district inservice for teachers required that we share something to all ELA teachers that had increased engagement and achievement of students. Two of my students volunteered to go to the meeting and present their Holocaust rap for the entire ELA department. They received a standing ovation. I was so proud! Since then ELA teachers in my district email me for instructions concerning how I use Flocabulary in my classroom. Social studies teachers in my district have now incorporated Flocabulary in their classrooms; moreover, I am still working on the math teachers.

I am at the end of my Masters program; all graduate students have been asked what programs or applications they have learned about that they will continue to incorporate into their classes and instruction. I felt great satisfaction when I noticed that many of the students in my class noted that they were excited to learn more about Flocabulary and would continue to utilize it in their classrooms.

It's now been almost 5 years since I met Alex, Blake, and Flocabulary; my classroom has never been the same! I currently have students who ask if they can create raps for projects I assign, and my answer is a wholehearted YES! We all remember our ABCs because of the mnemonic element, we sing or hum when at play or in the shower, we remember Schoolhouse Rock including "Conjunction Junction"; it is because of the ingenuity and courage of two bored young men that today we have at our fingertips the educational weapon that that has altered education as we once knew it and obliterates illiteracy, monotony and apathy-Flocabulary!

Flocabulary truly rocks!

Britt Pumphrey is a 5th grade teacher in Kansas City. His students, mostly Spanish-speaking immigrants, struggle to keep up in school and often feel intimidated by school work. A combination of creativity, determination, and finding the right teaching tools has helped Britt bring out the curious, confident learners hidden inside these kids. Here's Britt's story.

Picture a class of high poverty students - many of whom read two or three or more levels below the 5th-grade level they should be at - following along with the lyrics of a social studies rap and singing the whole thing. Now picture them being interested in Native Americans because they are hooked. They are not hooked by the rap song, the rap song was the bait. They are hooked because the content of the rap song is intriguing to them. The song is over and hands are up all over the room. "What does it mean by 'land bridge'?" and "where is the Bearing Strait?" and "where are all of the Native Americans now?" and "Why does it say, 'nomads; hut to hut like quarterbacks'?" The class is ready to have fun researching those questions and sharing their work.

My class is made up of predominantly Hispanic immigrant children. Spanish is the dominant language at most of their homes and their families are spread out all around this country and the one they have immigrated from. The language issues make it difficult for them to keep up in school and the social issues of the low-socioeconomic neighborhood attack them everyday. The real-life circumstances these students face on a daily basis can make it very difficult for them to care much for their education, and often they fall behind.

In social studies, it requires a lot of reading and a lot of background knowledge. When reading is so difficult and the textbooks are written at and 8th grade level; how is the student going to become interested in something so confusing and complicated? That challenge made teaching social studies incredibly difficult my first year here. My students lost engagement and they didn't learn the content. It left me frustrated. I felt like I was floundering. I knew these were incredible kids. In other subjects they would work day and night to learn the concepts. I had seen them love math and love reading and writing, but developing a love for social studies proved to be beyond my grasp.

A friend introduced me to Flocabulary. Even though the lyrics to the songs were well above many of their reading levels they wanted to learn to understand them. The content covered in a single song could serve as the foundation for an entire unit, be it Native Americans or the American Revolution or Civil Rights. Flocabulary helped me bring out the passionate learners I had seen in other subjects. They had smiles on their faces and their minds were busy.

Flocabulary has helped me, a 5th grade teacher in the poverty-stricken inner city, by providing songs that were created with skill in their craft and lyrics with the depth of a textbook. Flocabulary has helped my students by getting their heads nodding with the rhythm which magically helped their minds start asking questions. It helped my students become interested and engaged in the complicated concepts of history and social studies.

This is one of the best vocabulary programs to ever be invented. It is perfect for this generation of students.

The day the students were given the results of the growth from their pre-test to the posttest after seven units of The Word Up Project was one of the highlights of the school year for me and them. Simply put, the results were stunning! One student who admitted he didn't even try on the post-test even showed growth! He could hardly believe what he was hearing and then wished he had tried. I heard comments like I'm so smart and saw smiles on faces where normally test results would give them frowns.

I love, love, love Math Rap... so do the kids!

The music and the historical summary worked brilliantly for my English learners. Thank you!

Thank you so much. I had the kids vote as to whether to continue Word Up or to go back to the vocabulary that we had done before, and they voted unanimously to keep Word Up.

I've used your songs in class, and have to say that I've never seen students so enthusiastic about history! It's a wonderful tool to motivate students to think, be creative and remember what we teach!

Because of Flocabulary, my kids were absolutely riveted by Shakespeare. They all understood the story and were able to summarize it, analyze it, and define and use Shakespearean vocabulary. They were able to understand the characters and to put on plays of their own modernized versions of Macbeth.

My kids love you, beg for more vocabulary (Yes, I really did say that!), and actually recognize their vocab words when I sneak them into everyday lessons! Ah, the sweet sound of learning...

I bought the Word Up Project last year and the ESL teachers love it. I observed a class yesterday where students who have been in this country for a year or less are using high level vocabulary words. Congratulations on creating such a brilliantly simple project.