Green Screening it with Explorers

I was lucky to have the experience of working with a very talented teacher at Pinchbeck Elementary, Mrs. Dubs. This third grade class had been learning about the early European Explorers (Columbus, Cartier, Ponce de Leon and Newport). We wanted the students to show their knowledge of the subject but the thought of a worksheet or another test nauseated me. Mrs. Dubs and I came up with the idea of having the students act as if they were the explorers, and they needed to convince people to join their expedition. That’s when the idea hit us, we should have the students act it out in front of a green screen.

We started off the lesson by hanging up green paper from the supply room.

The stage was set. Now the students had to record their skit to convince people to join their expedition. The students had been working on these scripts for a few days before the lesson. We decided to use Photo Booth to record their videos. Under the video option there is a spot where the user can put in their own background.

Once the students had their background they were ready to start recording. Mrs. Dubs then uploaded these videos to Vimeo as a review for the students. Check out one of their awesome videos below.

Cartier – Come Join Us! from Jim Covais on Vimeo.

Making a video like this is fairly easy, takes almost no time to create and your students will love it. Simple little changes will keep your students engaged and ready to learn. Plus let’s be honest, It’s so much more fun as a teacher to create something like this than passing out another worksheet. If you want to do a lesson like this schedule a time with me and let’s get started!