Past projects 12
Making Movies!
Funded May 20, 2015My class is so thankful for your donations. We have already made our first movie and are excited about making more movies as well as songs. While I teach in a low income school, my students are more familiar than I had expected with using the iPads. We studied a unit on fairytales over 5 weeks and during the sixth week, they worked in groups to rewrite a fairytale. They used their script to create backgrounds and characters. I created a movie of my own to show them the process and what I expected. Many of them were shocked and a little startled by the sound effects that I used, but many chose to incorporate the sound effects in their own stories. We took a whole week to create the movies and they turned out great. The students loved working in groups and learned how to match the audio with the visuals of the movie. I was blown away by the creativity in the classroom.
The class did such a good job working in groups. They learned how to divide the work. Every student had a role. The more artistic students loved drawing and coloring the characters and backgrounds in their movies. Once they were all completed, we watched them as a class and the students were so wowed by what everyone had done. Our principal was equally impressed with our movies and is looking into getting more iPads for our classroom.
This project couldn't have happened without your donations. We are so grateful that you believed in this project. Many students have been inspired to use their own iPads at home to create more videos. I was so impressed with their work that I purchased miniature soldiers for students to create movies about the American Revolution. I am also excited to introduce Garage Band to them so that they can create original songs.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Cowan
Scholastic News
Funded Oct 3, 2014Scholastic News has brought new topics into our classroom and inspired interesting discussions. I see new-found curiosity in my students and that's equally exciting for them and for me. We read an issue at the end of the day every Friday. It's a great way to wrap up the week and it's a fun way for my students to be exposed to non-fiction.
When we received our first issue, my students were so excited! I think I am the only teacher using it on campus, so the students weren't familiar with it. They immediately started looking through the magazine, pointing at pictures and talking to their friends about what they were reading. I used the online resources to introduce the first topic, which grabbed the attention of my students. We talked about the vocabulary words and began reading the latest issue. They enjoyed following along as I read the information to them. They loved completing the last page, which quizzed them on what they had read. Lastly, we played the online game, which they loved.
I have continued using this routine each Friday. I love the excitement and energy that it brings to our classroom. The topics are aligned with holidays and seasons, which helps the students to relate to the information. While I have non-fiction books in our classroom library, Scholastic News presents information in a different format and I think that it's important that students discover that there are many ways to find information. Also, my students are more familiar with text features such as headings, captions, bold words, etc. Only seeing these features occasionally in their anthology isn't enough. Scholastic News has built upon their understanding of non-fiction and made it easier to read and comprehend. I have kept an extra copy to laminate and keep in the classroom library.
We are so thankful for your generosity!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Cowan