TeachersFirst - Getting Started with Flipgrid

LITERACY GOALS:

• speaking
• listening
• comprehension

Describe familiar people, places, things, and events and, with prompting and support, provide additional detail. Speak audibly and express thoughts, feelings, and ideas clearly.

GETTING STARTED:

1. Start by creating a free Flipgrid account
2. Next, create a group in your dashboard by clicking the "+ Group" button.
3. Give your group a name (i.e. Mrs. Smith's First Grade)
4. Add your students to it by typing in your school's domain name (everything after the "@" symbol in your email) or connect your Google Classroom.
5. Then click "Create Group."
6. Topics are the prompts that students respond to. Create a topic by clicking the "+ Topic" button on your group page.
7. Give it a title.
8. Add a description and instructions for your students.
9. Record a video, add media, or upload attachments you would like to share.
10. Click "Save to Group."
11. Now that your topic is created, you can invite your students to participate by sharing it. To do this, click the share icon and copy the link. You can share your topic link anywhere, including through email, Microsoft Teams, Google Classroom, or as a QR code for students to scan.
12. Your Flipgrid is set up and the discussion can start!

TIPS:

• Think of FlipGrid as an interactive learning community.
• Young learners will require modeling, and this can be done easily during circle time or morning meeting. Consider using Flipgrid as a Brain Break during the day.
• Once learners can see how this tool can be used, they will feel more comfortable trying it on their tablets, laptops, or desktop computers.
• Students might be shy about recording their faces and voices. Others will dive right in! Meet them in the middle and allow them to delete and re-record when they would like.
• Encourage sharing, but avoid forcing them to show the entire class at first.
• Start with simple topics: favorite colors, foods, things to do, etc…
• As the year continues, you will find that students look forward to sharing their ideas and will have the chance to improve their listening and thinking skills.
• Be creative! There are many uses for Flipgrid across all subject areas.

PROJECT IDEAS:

Kindergarten:

• Flipgrid provides options for student responses and encourages student engagement. Students can utilize Flipgrid to show what they know as they engage with texts in the classroom, focus on new words, and learn how to read fluently.
• Flipgrid can be used by students who may miss school due to travel. Ask learners to highlight and show places they are going on their journey. In this way, Flipgrid acts like a travel journal.
• Use Flipgrid to make predictions. Show the cover of a new book or picture walk through some of its pages. Then allow them to record and share with the class before listening to the reading selection.

First Grade:

• Encourage students to practice their fluency skills with Flipgrid. They can record and re-watch, focusing on their intonation, voice control, and overall fluency.
• Use Flipgrid virtual field trips (already created!) to explore various parts of the world.
• Head outside! Encourage students to describe and study plants and animals that are active in their environment depending on the weather and season. They can use Flipgrid to share their observations.
• Encourage students to make connections between words and their uses by finding places or objects that illustrate a word like shimmering, refreshing, or mighty.

Second Grade:

• Activate prior knowledge. Use before a lesson to encourage students to show and tell what they might already know about a specific topic.
• Utilize Flipgrid to encourage a home-school connection. Students can work with a caregiver to learn about and then share information about a member of their family.
• In physical education class, Ask students to demonstrate improvement by recording how long they can maintain a skill, such as jumping rope, or a task at the beginning of the class, compared to the middle and end of the class.

Third Grade:

• Utilize for reading responses. Students record their thoughts and can comment on the responses of their peers.
• Use Flipgrid to showcase class news and school events. Learners can share with learners in their school.
• Invite students to design and describe a diagram of how something works. This might include models, graphs, illustrations, or living objects to add to scientific explanations.
• Students can evaluate their own work in a Flipgrid video through discussing what they would do differently if given the opportunity to repeat a project or presentation.

Fourth Grade:

• Brainstorm with Flipgrid. Rewind and review and help learners break down processes in STEAM units.
• Encourage goal setting with Flipgrid, and allow students time to brainstorm and then record their personal goals for the school year. When the year is nearing completion, ask students to re-watch their personal recording and reflect on their progress and growth.
• Provide materials for students to build three-dimensional versions of their favorite things. Using Flipgrid, encourage them to describe the building process. Lastly, ask them to identify the geometric properties of the object.
• Ask students to compare fractions with Flipgrid. For example, ask how ½ of a small object may be bigger than ¼ of a large object.

Fifth Grade:

• Create short presentations and use for debates, reports, and story-telling. Flipgrid can be used for exit ticket purposes too.
• Use Flipgrid to showcase learning processes. Students can discuss and show the methods used to solve their math problem, complete a science experiment, or research a topic of interest in social studies.
• Encourage students to describe relationships between scientific ideas using Flipgrid. This might include differences and similarities, cause and effect, or how scientific thinking has changed over time.