Kids making MOVIES

I have a really great 4th grade class this year and I am enjoying trying different types of technology with them!  I have a great passion for anything techy so my students don't hardly have a choice, but to become techy too!  Just to start here are a few of the tech things I've implemented this year thus far

• Scootpad...love
• Sumdog...love
• Animoto...love
• Glogster...love
• Voki...love
• Kidblog...love
• Twitter...not so much love
• Edmodo...love
• Raz-Kids...some love
• Classdojo...can't live without kinda love

I have tons of things to share about each one, but I thought today I wanted to share with you the fun my students had making MOVIES.  It all started when I wanted to integrate Animoto into my classroom and get the most bang for my buck the only problem is I wasn't sure exactly how.  I. finally. decided.  I created and gave my students a rubric and step by step directions for the site and let the creating begin! Below is a video one of my students made independently for a math project.

The annoying cool thing about Animoto is it only allow you to put so many characters on each page.  My students found this incredibly annoying, but I found it to be the perfect way to get students to be specific and get in the important information only!   You should have seen some of the videos.  For one assignment they had to include vocabulary, character traits with support, setting, etc.  As the students finished we had a movie showing day where they got to present and share their movie with the class.  They were so excited and I had the best audience!  Not only did the movie producers learn more than they ever thought possible, the audience now has a list of books they can't wait to check out!  It was a WIN WIN situation.

(HINT - Animoto has an educator's account that you can sign up for.  You get unlimited videos and minutes...it must be renewed every 6 months, but it is soooo worth it!!)

If you are interested in letting your students produce their own movie I have my rubric and student directions in my Teacher's Notebook store and TPT store just click below.

I would love to hear how movie making goes in your classroom!!  

Dana  :)