Our Oyster Graduates

A friend of mine posted this video on Facebook recently. It is a video montage of an early fall day ten years ago at one of my favorite places: my former school where I was the 3rd grade teacher. I've often said it was perhaps the greenest school in America!

Oyster Day became an annual tradition at Eagle Cove School. Typically our eldest, the 5th graders, won the right and privilege to put on the hip-waders and be the ones to get in the water to put the oyster spat cages and bags in the water. In this video of a decade ago, though, the 4th & 5th graders were both on their annual team building outdoor trip, based on the way the calendar dates fell. So this special year, our 3rd graders, as the oldest on campus that day, earned this surprising privilege. As their 3rd grade teacher, I can guarantee, I had a lot of ecstatic kids in my class that day who got to do the really cool, big kid, important stuff.

I think it's fitting this year (AND at this time of the year) because my 2010 third graders are heading to college this fall. They are the ones that experienced their senior year spring in the middle of a pandemic and remote learning. They are the ones who had a topsy turvy, unique, & unexpected graduation. Our seniors at my current school had a socially-distanced graduation on the school campus lawn, with paper-faced faculty posters stuck to chairs so the students could have an audience there supporting them. Our seniors received their diplomas in a special, almost militarily-scheduled, individualized Diploma Ceremony, crossing the stage... all the while being video-taped, and this footage was sewn together to create a Zoom-style graduation that no one ever expected. The school did it right, and the faculty, staff, and parents were proud. As I watched our 2020 graduation (where many of my former 3rd graders were graduating), I was touched, and often thought of those environmentally-active third graders of a decade ago.

Now, as we have hit this point at the end of summer, these once-third graders are heading to college. Some heading to campus while others are readying for a semester online at their own homes. For that reason, this video seemed more than just memories to me, but a tribute to all of those former students of mine as they head off into their next adventure. Masks in hand, ready to put on when they get to campus... maybe getting a Covid test along with all their text books... and ready to dive into this next chapter. May we wish them well as they pack the car, deck out their dorms, and find new passions and pals. They will rock it! Of this I know!

Video created by Carl Treff, from https://youtu.be/XQtRmi3VjME, Image from https://theamericanonews.com/2020/03/24/college-bound-in-the-time-of-coronavirus-heres-what-class-2020-can-do-to-succeed/ and https://www.okaloosaschools.com/programs/hs/college-bound

Pursuing EcoTourism in the Classroom

I co-lead an twice-a-week elective for 4th and 5th graders called "Funtography." It's a combination of photography and digital design. The photography side (run by my colleague) ultimately feeds the yearbook by building digital photography skills. On my digital design side, we talk about all sorts of graphic design elements (like color, typography, and layout). In both halves, there's a lot of opportunity for student exploration and creativity.

This year, we're going with a "going green" theme, which ties to playing with color, and delving into some environmental pursuits including a green screen project. That green screen project will be for my students to make an eco-tourism commercial.

I began by compiling a Wakelet board. Wakelet is a website that allows you to curate everything you want to share with students (or any other group of people). The best part is that with a QR code, link or an embed code, it's one-stop-shopping to all the resources I need for my students to have for the entire project, with the exception of doing their own research. Here's my Eco-Tourism Wakelet board, which details everything from resources to assignment for their green screen activity. I can't wait to see what they come up with!




Videos from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcbzb3uUfpc and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDIfFTs9V1A; Wakelet board from https://wke.lt/w/s/gSA3_c,

Happy St. Patrick's Day Season!

St. Patrick's Day Season has spoken to me through the years in a variety of ways. 

Sometimes it's "go green" (in an eco-sort of way). 

Sometimes it's taken the flavor of green tea (just had my 2nd anniversary DietCoke-free, on the green tea bandwagon). 

Sometimes it has come in a more edtech sort of way--as in going green with green screens!! 

No matter how you celebrate it this year, may you have the luck o'the Irish and green be your favorite color!!

Image created at Canva.

Grand Adventures with Green Screen

I've written about a lot of #green here at Green Team Gazette--green, from the #eco standpoint. This time, green takes a bit of a different driection. More of a "tech-ified" direction, going with my other love: #EdTech! Plus, the perfect color for St. Patty's Day today!

My role as a Lower School Technology teacher has me all over my school, bulking up on my steps on my Fitbit while working with students and brainstorming with teachers. I love that I get to dabble here, there, and everywhere, "talk tech" with all--something I love to do. Sometimes brilliance happens in these casual "what if" or "what can we do" conversations... then takes on a life of its own.

That's kind of the way it's been happening in the planning stages of some activities over the last year and a half when it comes to green screening.

For those of you who don't know what a green screen is, think about the weather portion on the nightly news. Back in the day, those weather maps were largely done via green screen technology, and the meteorologist needed to make sure not to wear that color or else Dubuque, Iowa and it's storm front might swish across his or her outfit rather than behind his/her back. These days, smart screens and computers might be more what is making the weather map show up.

Green screen technology has a lot of draw in the classroom: student engagement, motivation, collaboration, creativity, and the design process of the maker movement. Not to mention it is fun, and brings writing, information, presentations, and skits to life in an entirely new way.  In the past, we've created environmental travel infomercials with 4th and 5th graders, United States regions reports with 3rd graders, and a historic trip on the "Road to the US Revolution" with our 4th graders.

Our latest adventure in green screening was with 2nd grade. We recently finished a unit with Second Graders on the innovation and impact of 8 game-changing inventions over time. Our school news writer beautifully wrote about it here! Plus, at that link, you can see our movie debut and final project (created with the DoInk, PicCollage, and iMovie apps).

If you are ready to dive into the wonderful world of green to up your student engagement, here are some great links & resources to check out:

• Green Screen Magic Smore Page by Janet Corder and Joan Gore
• Cybraryman's Green Screen Resource Page
• The Green Screen Maker Space Project Book by Todd Burleson

Now, all you need to do is load up your camera, hang a green screen (I got mine relatively inexpensively on Amazon.com--the Dollar Store or fabric store is another great place to shop), and start filming!

Weather map image from https://filmora.wondershare.com/video-editing-tips/how-to-shoot-a-green-screen-video.html, my green screen office (and red arms) from https://www.severnschool.com/page/Severn-News?pk=935177. Title header created in Canva.com