Wrap up any Flocabulary lesson with some student rhyme writing with Lyric Lab. Vocabulary terms from the lesson are provided, encouraging students to ground their rhymes in academic vocabulary. There’s also a built-in rhyming dictionary and a beats library so students can practice rapping their rhymes over a beat. Finally, students can also download their written rhymes -- a great way showcase student learning and student voice!
The Lyric Lab activity gives students the opportunity to create their own rhymes using the academic vocabulary covered in the lesson. You can assign a Lyric Lab for students to complete or they can independently create their own rhymes simply by logging into their student Flocabulary account and selecting Lyric Lab for any lesson. Teachers can also use the Lyric Lab as an interactive writing lesson with students through the teacher account and sharing your screen, either through a video conferencing tool or a projector.
In this article, we will cover the following:
Using the Lyric Lab
You can find the Lyric Lab by clicking on the link to the left of the video.
Once the Lyric Lab activity is selected, the first thing you will see is a welcome message and the prompt for the activity. Click "Start" to begin.
The first step will appear on the screen asking the student to think of a fact or detail about the lesson topic and to write that line in the space provided. The vocab words for the lesson will be listed on the top left corner of the activity screen.
If you use any vocab words, they will be highlighted in the Vocab Words box and in the rhyme. Once the first line is finished, click "Get Rhymes."
Step 2 will now appear on the screen and there will be a new space to write the next line of the rhyme. Suggested rhyming words will appear to the right of the rhyme. These words are generated based on the last word in line 1.
The second step will prompt students to pick one of the provided rhyming words or come up with their own to continue the rhyme. Once the next line is finished, click "Next."
The third step will provide a prompt to write another short line about the topic, but this one doesn't have to rhyme with the last two lines. Once the third line is finished, click "Get Rhymes."
A list of suggested rhyming words will again be provided. This will repeat every other line for the remainder of the activity. Once four or more lines are added, the steps will be hidden. You can always hide and show the steps by clicking on link in the steps box.
Once the student completes the activity, either by writing a set number of lines, using some or all of the vocabulary words, or another requirement that the teacher communicates, the student can select the Submit button in the top right corner to send their rhyme over to their teacher.
Clicking on the icon next to "Saved" will allow you to download a PDF version of the rhyme that was created.
For those that want to practice their speaking skills, the Lyric Lab also has a list of beats that can be played while students practice reading their rhymes independently or to a group. Select from one of the 20+ beats in the drop down list and then click on the play button. The audio timeline can be used to move forward or backwards along the beat.
Assigning the Lyric Lab
When creating an assignment, you can customize the prompt for the Lyric Lab activity. A default prompt will be provided, but you can modify the prompt and make it best fit the needs of your students. To make changes, first select the Lyric Lab activity from the assignment screen and then click on "Customize Prompt."
The default prompt will appear. Click in the box to customize the prompt by adding, deleting, or modifying the existing text.
When a student gets to the Lyric Lab assignment on Flocabulary, they will see the customized prompt appear.
For classrooms on a Flocabulary Lite plan, the teacher can pull up the Lyric Lab to practice whole group but cannot assign to students.
Reviewing Student Lyric Lab Submissions
If you assign the Lyric Lab for students to complete, you can review their submissions in the assignments section of your classes. You will see a blue "Grade" button for any student who has submitted their Lyric Lab. Click on "Grade" to view that student's activity.
You will be able to view that student's submission on the bottom right of the screen. The vocab words for that lesson will be listed on the left, and any words that were used in the student's Lyric Lab will be highlighted.
Select the number of points to be awarded (from 0-10) using the dropdown menu and add any comments in the space provided. Click on Submit to save the information into the assignment.
Move between student submissions using the drop down menu or by clicking on "Previous Student" and "Next Student."
Once you have awarded points, a grade will automatically be calculated and will appear in the Summary section of the assignment.
