Kids love learning vocabulary ... with iMovie!

Vocabulary - one of the necessities of learning new content is learning new vocabulary terms. This can be a mundane task: Write the word, write the definition, memorize, and test. But it does not have to be that way! iMovie on the iPad has many great uses in the classroom. How about giving students the choice to make a movie about their vocabulary words?

A great strategy for using this activity with students is starting with a storyboard. It helps the students make decisions about what images and words they want to use in their movie. It gives them a plan or a script to follow when making the movie. I tell the kids it is just like making a Hollywood movie, you have to plan it out first. Here is a storyboard that I have created to use with iMovie activities in the classroom. You can make it longer or shorter depending on the content and creativity of the students. 

Students fill this in with a simple sketch that represents each of the vocabulary words. They write a short "script" in their own words explaining what each vocabulary word means. They can write the vocabulary word as the "caption". Once the storyboard is completed and a brief conference with the teacher has occurred to go over it, the student can begin the exciting activity of showing their understanding of the vocabulary terms with iMovie. The sketches on the storyboard will help them decide what kinds of pictures to draw in a drawing app on their iPad or search for on the internet and save to their iPad camera roll. They will then insert those pictures into their movie. They will record their own voices reading the script they wrote on the storyboard that goes along with each image.

The act of creating the movie and using the vocabulary in context is a meaningful learning activity. Also being able to share their finished product with others is powerful - students hearing other students examples of making meaning with the vocabulary words helps with understanding. Here are pictures of second grade students in Mrs. Glover's class at Drayton Hall Elementary using iMovie to learn vocabulary. This was a choice at their vocabulary center. 

Completing the storyboard

Completing the storyboard

Making the vocabulary movie in iMovie on the iPad

Making the vocabulary movie in iMovie on the iPad

Now it's your turn. How do you use iMovie with your students? Please comment below if you have any questions or have a fun learning activity you can share that your students do with iPads.