I used the iPad app called iMovie to create a trailer for a lesson about plants! To see my review of the iMovie app and the starter guide, click here!
The iMovie app has a variety of different trailer templates, I had a hard time choosing just one to work with! I decided on the “Indie” movie trailer, since the in-between animations looked very cute and appropriate for elementary school students. I decided to go with a science lesson on how humans can make a good impact on the environment because although there is no place for a self-made garden behind my townhouse, I love to care for plants and I wanted to make a little garden of my own. It’s also very important for young students to learn some ways they can help the environment or make a little garden of their own. I used videos of my own kitchen and my own backyard, but as long as you have an image or video saved to your iPad, then you can import anything! It’s that easy!
One of the key takeaways I wanted my students to know when they view my trailer was how to make compost and its importance. I wanted my students to learn that you can use the throw-away parts of your food to nourish your plants. In fact, I learned how to make compost from a kid that I babysat a while ago. It was really surprising that you don’t have to waste your food when you’re done with it; you can use it to help the dirt! I decided to demonstrate the examples of coffee grinds, an apple core, and an orange peel as use for compost. If I were showing this trailer to my class, I would ask them what kind of things they saw in the video such as “What did the person do to the plant? Why do you think that the plant would need coffee grinds, apple cores, or orange peels?” Depending on the grade level, they may have an idea that those objects decompose and become part of the dirt to make it healthy. If not, I would teach them about compost and decomposition and how it helps the plant grow.
Using trailers to introduce lessons or concepts to your students is easy and will definitely entertain them. I can only imagine how excited students would get if they saw the teacher pull up a trailer of what they were going to learn next! You could use it for any subject, too! You could make a trailer for a book you’re about to read, or a trailer to show at the beginning of the year highlighting your classroom management strategies, you could hype up the class on learning multiplication or division; the possibilities are endless!
Check out my iMovie trailer below!
The iMovie app has a variety of different trailer templates, I had a hard time choosing just one to work with! I decided on the “Indie” movie trailer, since the in-between animations looked very cute and appropriate for elementary school students. I decided to go with a science lesson on how humans can make a good impact on the environment because although there is no place for a self-made garden behind my townhouse, I love to care for plants and I wanted to make a little garden of my own. It’s also very important for young students to learn some ways they can help the environment or make a little garden of their own. I used videos of my own kitchen and my own backyard, but as long as you have an image or video saved to your iPad, then you can import anything! It’s that easy!
One of the key takeaways I wanted my students to know when they view my trailer was how to make compost and its importance. I wanted my students to learn that you can use the throw-away parts of your food to nourish your plants. In fact, I learned how to make compost from a kid that I babysat a while ago. It was really surprising that you don’t have to waste your food when you’re done with it; you can use it to help the dirt! I decided to demonstrate the examples of coffee grinds, an apple core, and an orange peel as use for compost. If I were showing this trailer to my class, I would ask them what kind of things they saw in the video such as “What did the person do to the plant? Why do you think that the plant would need coffee grinds, apple cores, or orange peels?” Depending on the grade level, they may have an idea that those objects decompose and become part of the dirt to make it healthy. If not, I would teach them about compost and decomposition and how it helps the plant grow.
Using trailers to introduce lessons or concepts to your students is easy and will definitely entertain them. I can only imagine how excited students would get if they saw the teacher pull up a trailer of what they were going to learn next! You could use it for any subject, too! You could make a trailer for a book you’re about to read, or a trailer to show at the beginning of the year highlighting your classroom management strategies, you could hype up the class on learning multiplication or division; the possibilities are endless!
Check out my iMovie trailer below!