Using a Green Screen to Support AND Enhance Your Curriculum!

Do you have access to a green screen? Or, do you have access to green butcher paper? Read on about two fun activities you can do with your students in front of these materials!

This past summer my school went through several renovations. One of the renovations included creating a green screen room. I have always wanted access to one, but once we had it I wasn't sure the best way to use it. That is when I started thinking about it like I do all technology - how can I change what I have always done now that I have access to different technology? After I thought about it like that I came up with these two fun ideas!

Who doesn't have their students perform reader's theaters in their classrooms? I am positive they are a part of every primary reading curriculum. My students and I always have fun working on them to work on our fluency and our speaking skills.

This winter I found new and fun reader's theater scripts from Jessica Tobin's TpT store. My students and I had a blast rehearsing them and she even includes reader's response sheets for you to use! After we started rehearsing them it came to me - why only perform them in front of our class when we could in front of the green screen instead?

The first step was to help my students find backgrounds for their plays. I have a subscription to Dollar Photo Club, so we downloaded from there. You can find them in several places though. When the students were ready to perform, it was as simple as having them stand in front of the green screen while I had the app Green Screen by Do Ink open on my iPad. The app is super simple to use and it was just a matter of me recording them while they performed. Anyone could figure it out!

This is a sample page of what the app looks like!

The result? Check it out below! The video is a little lengthy...so feel free to skip around! After we finished we watched them in our classroom. It was both fun and an additional learning experience for my students.

The second idea I had was with our writing program. We use Lucy Calkins and were working on opinion writing. The program has students write book reviews and encourages them to write them "Reading Rainbow" style. Instead of just writing and performing them, we recorded them in front of the green screen!

For the background my students and I downloaded pictures from google images. I then just had them stand in front of the screen while I used the app again to record them.

The second result? Check it out below! I hope you find some new books that you would like to read! We had so much fun watching this one together also.

How do you think you can incorporate a green screen in your classroom? Even if you do not have one you can use any green background!

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