Tag: video

Jan 17 2012 January 17, 2012 September 5, 2012 NoComment by David

3rd Grade Virtual Tours of Ancient Rome

Posted in 3rd Grade, Social Studies

Today third graders at Holladay Elementary created virtual tours of ancient Rome. I gave them a folder of pictures that you can download by clicking here. They chose the picture they wanted to use for the background of their video and researched facts about that place or topic. Some of them chose to write out a script while others improvised with just a few notes. After discussing the importance of speaking clearly with expression, we opened up Photo Booth and I showed them how to add their background picture using the green screen effect. Depending on the background, some videos turned out better than others. You can see a couple of student samples here: The Collosseum and Grapes.


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Nov 15 2011 November 15, 2011 April 18, 2012 NoComment by David

Kindergarten Thanksgiving Resources

Posted in Kindergarten, Social Studies, Trekkers

Thanksgiving is fast approaching, and several kindergarten classes have been working on technology projects (K.1b). Today at Holladay, they put themselves back in time at the first Thanksgiving and set food on the table in Pixie. They also recorded their voices telling about their Thanksgiving traditions and what they are thankful for. Click to watch a few student samples: Cameron, Fatima, Jace. Next week at Johnson we will be working on Thanksgiving Past & Present using Comic Life and a folder of pictures that you can download by clicking here. You can actually use those photos for a variety of projects… use them as a background in Photobooth, create a Keynote, or make a Thanksgiving video in iMovie. Did you know the first official Thanksgiving was actually held right here in Virginia? I filmed a video for the Virginia Trekkers at Berkeley Plantation where you can find out all about it. I also included several kid-friendly links for your students to research Thanksgiving. Hope you enjoy your holiday next week!


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Oct 31 2011 October 31, 2011 September 4, 2012 NoComment by David

2nd Grade Fall Project

Posted in 2nd Grade, Science

All the second graders at Johnson Elementary had a special day today, not only because it was Halloween, but also because the teachers planned a Fall Project Day. The students moved through different rotations with lots of fun fall-related learning activities at each station. I was in charge of the movie station. First I gave the students a folder of fall pictures to choose from. You can download the file by clicking here. The students got in pairs and selected a picture for their movie background. Then I showed them how to drag it into Photo Booth. Now it looked like they were actually in the fall scene. We discussed how to include facts about fall they they’ve been learning about in class. We also talked how to speak with expression. After a bit of modeling, the students were ready to produce their movies. I tied them all together with a soundtrack and you can see the final result by clicking here.


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Sep 12 2011 September 12, 2011 September 12, 2011 NoComment by David

Henrico Trekkers

Posted in 5th Grade, Social Studies, Trekkers

The Virginia Trekkers have been working hard all summer to create a website for 5th Grade Henrico Studies. It’s finally finished and you can check it out by clicking here. We have a total of 21 videos from different places around the county of historical or geographical significance. Each short video (1-2 minutes) is accompanied by additional written information and links for more research. There is an interactive Flash map as well as a Google Map that you can embed on your website or download to view in Google Earth with pushpins marking the important spots. We will continue to add to the site throughout the year. You could even have your own students create videos about Henrico County and submit them to the Trekkers. We’ll be posting some of them on our website!


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Sep 06 2011 September 6, 2011 September 12, 2011 NoComment by David

Back To School Rules

Posted in Spotlight

At Chamberlayne Elementary we created a “Back To School Rules” video with student volunteers acting out appropriate and inappropriate behaviors for the bus, classroom, hallway, cafeteria, playground, and gym. The inappropriate behaviors are portrayed as negatively as possible (black and white, really bad music) while the appropriate behaviors are shown in color with upbeat music. There is also a place to stop the video after each inappropriate behavior so teachers can hold a discussion with their students. You can check out the video by clicking here. This would be a great idea for you to do in your own class. Students could film themselves using PhotoBooth or the iPad (in K and 1st) showing correct and incorrect behaviors. Let me know if you’d like me to help with something like this.


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Jun 01 2011 June 1, 2011 June 28, 2011 NoComment by David

We Have the Winners!

Posted in Social Studies, Trekkers

This is the second year that the Virginia Trekkers have had a video contest. If your class creates an educational video about a place in Virginia, they can enter it into our contest and the prize is a DJ party hosted by the Trekkers. This year we had some great entries, and it was difficult to select just one winner… so we picked two. I think you’ll agree that their videos are excellent. Check out The Congressional School of Virginia’s video about historical Alexandria. Below it you’ll see some footage from the DJ Party that we had at their school today. It was a lot of fun! Our other award-winning video was Mullen Elementary’s tour of historical Manassas. We’re going to have our party with them on June 10th, so stay tuned for that! Be sure to enter our video contest next year!


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May 16 2011 May 16, 2011 June 28, 2011 NoComment by David

Kindergarten Schools of the Future

Posted in Kindergarten, Language Arts

At Pinchbeck Elementary they are celebrating “Five Decades of Learning” (founded in 1961, this year marks their 50th anniversary). Each class is taking a decade and doing a special project. The kindergarten classes were focused on the future. So today in Ms. Houghtaling’s class we created “Schools of the Future” videos. First we imagined what a school of the future would look like. Then they illustrated their ideas using the drawing tools in Pixie. Next the students used Photo Booth to record themselves explaining their pictures and their ideas. The results were pretty amazing – alien teachers, flying busses, classrooms on Mars! Click here to see some student samples.


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Apr 18 2011 April 18, 2011 June 26, 2011 NoComment by David

Spring Break 2011

Posted in Science, Social Studies, Trekkers

I’ve been busy this spring break with moving, but I was able to upload two new videos to the Virginia Trekkers website. We recently went to the Highland County Maple Festival (March) and made a video about how maple syrup is made. If you are learning about natural resources (SOL 1.8, 2.7, 2,8, 4.8) or even about changing states of matter (evaporation is a big part of the process SOL 2.3, 3.9) you might want to check it out (click here). And earlier this month we traveled up to Manassas to make a video about the Battle of Bull Run (VS.7b). Several teachers have been asking for the Trekkers to film there, so we did! We also met with the fourth grade students at Mullen Elementary in Manassas and included them in our video. Click here to watch it.


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Apr 14 2011 April 14, 2011 June 23, 2011 NoComment by David

Education Day at the Diamond

Posted in Trekkers

Today the Virginia Trekkers were invited to Education Day at the Diamond by the Central Virginia Waste Management Authority (CVWMA) to help promote recycling and our recent podcast at the landfill. We had a great time meeting students from all over the Richmond area. Nancy Drumheller, the Public Information Coordinator, had a cool model of a landfill. We spoke with the students and passed out literature. We even got to pose with the Flying Squirrels’ mascot, Nutsy (that’s me dressed up as Recycling Man). If you are learning about recycling and conserving natural resources, be sure to check out our recycling video as well.


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Apr 12 2011 April 12, 2011 June 23, 2011 NoComment by David

1st Grade Plant Animations

Posted in 1st Grade, Science

First grade students at Holladay Elementary created animations of plants growing using Pixie today. We started by painting a scene of a seed in the dirt with a picture of the student standing next to it. Then we added the word “seed” and recorded our voices describing what a seed does. To create the remaining scenes, we made a duplicate picture (go to File > Duplicate Picture) and changed a few things. Like we added roots, stem, leaves, etc, and changed the word “seed” to correspond to the part we added to the picture. Students recorded their voices for each scene and then exported it as a QuickTime movie (go to Share and click Video). You can see a couple of student examples here: Dylan and Zion.


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