My 5th grade students asked me in January if they could create a retirement card for their 5th grade science teacher, Mr. McVicker.  I declined this offer immediately and told them that I have a better idea. This idea was a retirement video.  Not just any video but one that was inspired by Ellen Hinton.  I had watched this video of her's a month earlier and was blown away by the transfusion of technology, music, and creativity.

What was I getting myself into? Check out below the tools we used to make this project come to life.  Don't forget to check back in after June 1st to see a sneak peak of this finalized video.

The students were responsible for-

-Creating teacher/student questionaries-What they will miss most about our retiring teacher?
-Finding a song for our video to recreate-Don McLean, American Pie vs. our version Bye-bye Mr. Science Guy.
-Rewriting the song lyrics to reflect the memories of our science teacher.
-Ordering Sheet music
-Utilizing Garageband instruments-Guitar, piano, and drums
-Students singing/recording the new lyrics into Garageband after the instrumental tracks were complete.
-Uploading the finished song to our iTunes account.
-Reviewing teacher/student questionnaires and selecting some for filming.
-Collection of photos
-The student will begin filming the selected participants.
-Scanning and uploading the pictures to iPhoto for editing
-Uploading the videos and photos to iMovie
-Editing the iMovie-trimming clips, theme selection, setting the music, timing, and format of the video.
-Sending the iMovie to iDVD.
-Creating a DVD cover for a jeweled CD case in Adobe InDesign complete with lyrics page.

This video has turned out even better than I had imagined.  I am so proud of my seven creative fifth grade gifted students!

Posted by Mrs. Welsh, Primary Computer Teacher/Elementary Gifted Coordinator at  May 9, 2011 @ 6:03 AM

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