A Special Graduation Animoto Project From Our 5th Graders!

One of the events our elementary students look forward to at the end of 5th grade is their graduation from elementary.  This is a very special event that the teachers put on for our students and their families each year. 

In the past, I have helped with all kinds of graduation projects including iMovies, slideshows, stop motion animations and more.  

This year, we thought it would be really neat for our 5th graders to use Animoto to create videos of their life as an elementary student and what that time meant to them.  They did an amazing and we can't wait for them to share their Animoto's on graduation day with family and friends.  

Here are the directions and resources for this project....

The first thing we did was explain the project to our 5th graders.  We did a little brainstorming and talked about different themes such as, What I Learned In Elementary School, My Life At Van Meter Elementary, My Year As A 5th Grader and more. 

We included the 5th Grade Graduation Animoto Project Directions from this Google Doc on the 5th Grade Symbaloo so they could see the directions at any time. You will find it here. 

My partner, Jessica, also put together this great brainstorming Google Doc for them to use too. You will find it here.  Please feel free to use or change these for your use.

One of the first things we needed to do was get a picture of each 5th grader that looked the same.

I have done this photography project before in front of the brick at our school so I thought this would look cool for the graduation Animoto project too.

 The kids wrote their name on small white boards and...

 ..held it up in front of them for the picture.

When the pictures were all taken, I uploaded them into iPhoto and turned them into black and white photos.  

 They loved how they turned out and were excited to use them in their projects.

I added these photos into a Google Folder and added that to their Symbaloo so they could grab them as needed.  We added a few more as well from throughout the year.

Their Animoto's turned out so awesome!

They all did a wonderful job sharing memories, advice and plans for what is next.  By combining text, music, photos and other images online, every one of them created something special.

We will share their Animoto's as soon as they share them with their parents.

Earlier this week, Megan, one of our 5th grade teachers, and I helped the students create a QR code of their Animoto and place it over the top, in the corner of their photograph.  These will become part of the day by hanging up in our East Dining Hall for families and friends to see and scan.  

They will also take their photographs home as a memory of graduation and 5th grade too. 

We are also taking the photos and turning into a slide show in iPhoto that can be shown as they have their refreshments after the graduation ceremony.  We will share the link to this for them to keep. 

This project has been very special to our 5th graders and we know they are really looking forward to sharing them on their big day.