Movie Making In First Grade!

Hi everyone, it's Becky! I am linking up with Mrs. Stanford for another Hump Day Highlight!

I am really excited to share with you how we made our first, first grade movie! I first heard of the White House Student Film Festival around Thanksgiving. When I saw that it focused on community and giving back, I knew that it would fit in perfectly with our curriculum. Before explaining the process, I first want to point out that although I am a 1:1 classroom, this entire movie was filmed with one iPad. It was so much easier when exporting the clips for editing.

I began by showing the students some videos about communities, as well as the movies from the film festival last year. I then told them that we were going to make a movie about our community. At first they were unsure about it, but when I told them that we would be putting it on YouTube for the President and everyone to view, they went crazy! “We’re going to be movie stars!?” was they key phrase going around the room.

After that, we brainstormed important people from our school community that we would want to include in our video, and then I gave them a questionnaire asking them how kids can help the community and why it is important to help the community. The answers you see in the movie come straight from students.

I took their answers and looked for common themes, as well as idea that we could easily portray in our school setting. After identifying the themes, we wrote our script and decided who would be doing what part, making sure that all students were included.

We then needed to practice filming before actually doing the main shots. A word of advice: Invest in an iPad stand! It will eliminate being seasick while watching your kids videos! I borrowed mine from our tech office, and it worked great!

Practicing filming!

Once we were confident both behind and in front of the camera, it was time to start filming! I sent home mini scripts for students to practice, and planned when we would be filming the adults in the video. Helpful Hint: Recruit the help of one of your technology specialists to help take the students outside/to different locations for filming while you are teaching. Our wonderful technology specialist was willing to help with anything I needed/wanted. Also do many takes of a shot so you have more to choose from!

When all the filming was completed, we edited the movie for completion! The students were so excited that I knew we had to have a big unveiling, so I came up with the idea of inviting the parents in for a movie premiere! It was great! Our superintendents, principal, specialists, and parents all came! Everyone enjoyed seeing the students' hard work, and it was truly a great way to showcase their learning! All in all, yes, it was a lot of planning and work, but the experience and outcomes made it all worthwhile! 
And now, I would like to share our movie with all of you! Sit back and enjoy!

I hope you loved it as much as we do! I am so proud of my kids for all of their hard work! Thanks for sticking with me on this post! Be sure to check out the other amazing bloggers linking up with Mrs. Stanford!