Have you ever been to the movies and watched the previews for upcoming attractions? If you are like me, you have seen lots and lots of them!
Those previews for movies got me thinking. What if we took that same idea and applied it to books? We could have previews for awesome books in the library! And…..what if instead of me making them like the one I made for The One and Only Ivan, the STUDENTS made them? How awesome would that be?
That’s how our original book trailer project got started! After the 4th grade students saw the “Ivan” trailer, they asked if they could make one too! A new technology and literacy project was born.
To get us started, we watched some other book trailers in our 4th grade library classes to get ideas on the website. Then we watched some book trailers that I made. The One and Only Ivan trailer is the one that Katherine Applegate saw and asked to come to our school and meet us! You can see them here on my book trailer page on our blog.
There’s lots more information with photos of our project, on our Kid Lit Movies post. Our students use either Windows MovieMaker or Photostory3 to create their book trailers because they are supported programs in our district.
Tonight on the Titanic
by Mary Pope Osborne
Anno’s Magic Seeds
by Mitsumasa Anno
Good Morning, Gorillas
by Mary Pope Osborne
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Owl Moon
by Jane Yolen
The Return of the Indian
by Lynne Reid Banks
Tale of Despereaux
by Kate DiCamillo
Mummies in the Morning
by Mary Pope Osborne
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever
Jeff Kinney
The Fire Within
by Chris D’ Lacey
Long Shot
by Mike Lupica
Bound for Oregon
by Jean Van Leeuwen
Big Nate Strikes Again
by Lincoln Peirce
Stone Fox
by John Reynolds Gardiner
39 Clues: Maze of Bones
by Rick Riordan
Civil War on Sunday
by Mary Pope Osborne
Bases Loaded
by Mike Knudson
Ivy & Bean: Break the Fossil Record
by Annie Barrows
Paintball Invasion
by Jake Maddox
Trailers from 2015 (grade 4)
made with Photostory3
11 Birthdays
by Wendy Mass
Junie B. Jones and Some Sneaky Peeky Spying
by Barbara Park
Elephants Cannot Dance
by Mo Willems
Inside Out and Back Again
by Thanhha Lai
11 Birthdays
by Wendy Mass
I Survived the Nazi Invasion of 1945
by Lauren Tarshis
I Survived the Shark Attacks of 1916
by Lauren Tarshis
Storybook of Legends (Ever After High series)
By Shannon Hale
Noodle (Puppy Place series)
by Ellen Miles
Zombie Chasers
by John Kloepfer
The Secret Zoo
by Bryan Chich
Hatchet
by Gary Paulsen
The Tail of Emily Windsnap
by Liz Kessler
Emily Windsnap and the Siren’s Secret
by Liz Kessler
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Third Wheel
by Jeff Kinney
Diary of a Wimpy Kid
by Jeff Kinney
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Awesome! What program did your students use to create their book trailer videos?
Dear Ms. Pudlowski,
The students used Windows Live Movie Maker for our book trailers. I have also used Animoto and Photopeach. If you ever want to try I have different resources for making book trailers on my wiki. There is a link on the right sidebar on my blog.
This year we are making non-fiction book trailers and we are using Powerpoint.
From,
Mrs. Hembree
Hello!
I am a 4th grade teacher and came across your blog post on student-made book trailers. We love the idea! As we continue to play around with different programs we are struggling with the music portion. How/where did your students find the music that they added into their trailers?
Thanks!
Hello Madeline,
When we use Photostory3, we create music within the program. However, with other programs that don’t have music I most often get music from http://www.incompetech.com. There is a wide assortment of genres of music and generally we can find what we need. Everything is creative commons and we list our source in the credits.
I hope that helps!
Julie
Hello Mrs. Hembree,
I wanted to know if you are still continuing Books to Africa. I loved Books to Africa, but at IMS we don’t have any of these Book Selection Committees or Books to Africa. Also, how was the visit from Iian Read? One of my friends that is in Ms. Ilgenfritz’s class told me that he came. I hope it was as fun as his visit last year! I have a book recommendation. Do you have the book A Long Walk To Water ? It is a really good book, based on a true story.
Hi Julia,
Yes, we will start Books to Africa in January after the holidays. I haven’t started the Book Selection Committee yet. I need to soon. Did your friend tell you the library is open at lunch recess time this year? It’s a pretty quietly busy place of readers every day!
Our visit with Iain was terrific. He brought the Cougar Ridge version to give away as prizes again. He also brought three copies of books with specialized pages for three students who wrote to him.
Thank you for the book recommendation. I do have A Long Walk to Water. I agree with you that it’s a good book. I hope you are doing well at IMS. Mrs. Allott and I are going to be taking 10 students to WE Day this year. I know IMS is taking some students too. Maybe there is a program you can join and be part of this as well.
Keep reading!
Mrs. Hembree
Your links to two websites that contain student made book trailers no longer work. One is now an inappropriate link.
Jennifer,
Thank you for letting me know about this change in the links. I have deleted both. Ugh! So frustrating because this website used to be filled with kid friendly book trailers.
Julie