Project Background
At the beginning of the school year I created an interactive presentation for the daily calendar routine in my classroom. Included in this PowerPoint were YouTube videos of a weather song and a calendar song. Unfortunately, these songs seem to keep getting taking off YouTube. My students happened to be learning about proper nouns including the days of the week, so I decided film our own days of the week rap video. We had previously filmed a video of the Ants Go Marching which was one of my favorite projects this school year! I felt like it was time for another music project;, what better way to shake the winter blues!? I love using songs to teach concepts, because they really help to make the material stick!
Choreography
I made up simple movements to the song and taught them to my kiddos. We practiced for several days!
Props
I sent a parent letter home asking them to send in baseball hats and sunglasses! They looked adorable!
Lights, Camera, ACTION!
I filmed the students using my iPad in short clips while we played the music track in the background. Then I recorded a separate audio clip of the students rapping the song together.
Editing, editing, editing!
I assembled all the clips in my iMovie app. I adjusted the length and speed of the clips as needed so they would fit with the audio track. I also inserted a title page.
Final Product
I posted the final movie on our district’s YouTube channel and posted it on our school’s Facebook page. Then, I embedded it in our morning calendar presentation. Students really enjoy seeing their video each morning!
So Why Not Do it Again?
We had so much fun creating our Days of the Week Video that the next week we decided to make a video for our Skip Counting Rap. In this song students practice skip counting by 2s, 5s and 10s. Again, I taught them some quick choreography and filmed them in short clips. I compiled the clips in the iMovie app, and also recorded a separate audio track of the students reciting the rap. With some adjustments in clip length and speed I was able to get the video clips synchronized with the audio. I really have become an iMovie pro! Again, I posted the video on our district’s YouTube page and on our school’s Facebook page. I was really pleased with the outcome of these videos! Every time I watch them I beam from ear to ear!
Coming Soon:
We just so happen to have a weather unit approaching in the upcoming weeks, so I figured why not have students create a video for a weather song too? I can embed it in their morning calendar presentation, so then they will see their own videos for both days of the week and weather!
What are your favorite songs that you have you used with your students to help content stick?