My Five Favorite Flipgrid Video Features

Over the last few years Flipgrid has added so many great features that it has evolved beyond being just a platform for teachers to ask questions and have students record selfie videos in response. Now you can use it to create video lessons, to create audio-only conversations, and much more. In this new video I demonstrate how to use my five favorite features of Flipgrid's video recording tools (web browser version). 

In the video you will see me demonstrate the following Flipgrid features:

• Uploading and sharing videos made outside of Flipgrid.
• Creating whiteboard videos with split screens.
• Blur backgrounds and use virtual backgrounds. 
• Enable the microphone-only option. 
• Use the picture-in-picture feature. 

Bonus Feature!

• Use the sticky notes function to keep yourself on track while recording your video. Click here to jump to that section of the video. 

What's Onomatopoeia Mean? - Another Question from My Daughters

Every night my daughters (ages 4 and 5) ask us all kinds of interesting questions. Some of them are about things that I haven't thought about in a long time. Some of them aren't easy to answer in a way that they can understand. And some of them are a bit of both. That was case one night last week when my five-year-old asked, "what's onomatopoeia mean?" I did my best to explain that it is a word like "moo" that is created from the sound that it makes. 

After dinner and my somewhat unsuccessful explanation of onomatopoeia, I turned to YouTube to try to find a video that might help my daughters better understand what onomatopoeia is. That's where I found this cute and short music video about onomatopoeia. I'll warn you, the song is kind of catchy (if you're a five-year-old). 

On a related note, Next Vista for Learning hosts a great video explanation of onomatopoeia. The video was produced by a high school student for one of Next Vista's many student video creation contests.