VIDEO CONTEST FINALISTS ANNOUNCED

Although we didn't make the final cut, we have to admit that the collaborative effort of working on this classroom project provided benefits beyond those of winning any contest. It was an awesome experience for our 22 fifth grade students at Lake Hills.

Here is the email we received on Friday afternoon. For those of you who haven't seen the music video we submitted, scroll down past the email to the media window to view it.

Dear Mr. Chittenden,

Thank you for your submission to the Interactive Classroom Makeover Contest!

The contest judges were tasked with the difficult responsibility of selecting 15 finalists from nearly 300 video submissions representing schools from 40 states and four countries (the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand). Each submission was an amazing demonstration of collaboration and creativity and while your video, Learnin' Up, was not one of the finalists, it will continue to be viewed and enjoyed by thousands of people as we enter the final round.

You should be very proud of what you and your students accomplished. According to our tracking, more than 350,000 people have already visited the site and had an opportunity to watch the videos. Please note, during the first few days of the voting period, your entry will not be accessible. However beginning next week, ALL the videos will be accessible by going directly to your video's page. And once voting has ended on November 14, all videos will be re-posted to the home page.

We encourage you to support your peers by voting for your favorite video after 12 noon ET (16:00 GMT) on Friday October 31 by going to www.eimakeover.com. (The online ratings count for 30% of the final score.) The voting will close at 12 noon ET (16:00 GMT) on Friday, November 14, and the winners will be announced on Wednesday, December 3.

Once again we, and our co-sponsors, want to thank and congratulate you and your students for taking part in the contest and delivering an important message to other educators, students and parents around the world.

LEARNIN' UP

Although we didn't make the final cut, we have to admit that the collaborative effort of working on this classroom project provided benefits beyond those of winning any contest. It was an awesome experience for our 22 fifth grade students at Lake Hills.

We want to thank Grand Haven Area Public Schools and even Grand Valley State University for classes who viewed our video project. Thanks for your support. Leave us a comment or note of encouragement.

Learnin' Up
Lake Hills Elementary School
Kirby Chittenden, Grade 5 Teacher

MUSIC VIDEO CONTEST

THE FIFTH GRADE STUDENTS in Kirby Chittenden’s class at Lake Hills Elementary School are working on a music video to enter in a $25,000 Interactive Classroom Makeover Contest sponsored by eInstruction of Denton, Texas. The class must submit their video by October 24 and a panel of judges will determine the top 5 finalists in each of the three school categories (grades K-5; 6-8; and 9-12).

The finalists will be posted online at http://www.eimakeover.com/ from October 31 through November 14, to be viewed by members of the general public who will be asked to vote for their favorite entry. The online votes will determine 30% of the final score and a panel of judges will determine 70% of the entrant’s final score.

The Lake Hills' students decided to produce a parody on a song by the Jonas’ Brothers. The original song, “Burnin’ Up,” received new lyrics and a rap section created by the class who titled it, “Learnin’ Up.” The instrumental tracks were created by Chittenden on his Yamaha keyboard workstation and the class recorded the vocal tracks on October 3.

The 22 fifth graders also worked in cooperative teams to develop storyboards for more than 60 video clips used in the 2 ½ -minute music video. Final post production work on the project is scheduled for this weekend.

Judging will be based on the following criteria: effectiveness of demonstrating the use of technology in the classroom; the extent to which the entry demonstrates collaboration between the students and teacher in creating the video; and overall creativity and spirit of the entry.

The class will post their video with eInstruction by October 22. You have the option of “rating” our entry at that time. However, we’ll have to wait until October 31 to find out if we are among the finalists in our category…then you can officially vote for our video.

Former Lake Hills student Jeff Chittenden helps with the digital sound recording, mixing the instrumental and vocal tracks. Jeff is now a freshman at Grand Valley State University majoring in film and video production.

MEAP AND MORE

MEAP TESTING for grades 3-5 will begin on Tuesday, October 14. Please avoid scheduling outside appointments for students during our testing days: October 14, 16, 21, and 23. Make up tests are scheduled for Wednesdays and the week of October 27.

OUR MUSIC VIDEO project continues to evolve. We will shoot the last video clips this Wednesday, so students should wear clothing without logos. We viewed a "rough draft" of the project today after 6 hours of editing this weekend. Please sign and return the release form your child is bringing home today. The final editing will begin this weekend and we'll let you know when the video goes live on the eInstruction site.

THANK YOU for making Parent-Teacher Conferences very successful. Each student in our class was represented at a conference last week. It's all about community and commitment!

BLOGGING among staff members at Lake Hills is increasing. Our reading specialist, Patti Konarska, has some good things to share in her recent post about Writer's Workshop. Click HERE to visit her blog, The Reading Room.

CLASSROOM WRITERS have now chosen one of more than a half-dozen "seeds" from their Writer's Notebook to develop into a narrative essay. We are in first draft mode this week and students should be narrowing their focus to a single event or short period of time in this first narrative. Students may bring drafts home for assistance, but should always KEEP all their writing.

WE ARE COMPLETING our second chapter in social studies and will review this Wednesday morning. Our test on Indians of North America will be next Monday, October 20.

MY NEXT READ ALOUD is an entertaining historical fiction book by Hope College professor, Albert A. Bell, Jr. A captivating tale, The Secret of the Lonely Grave, educates students on the issues of war, slavery, and the Underground Railroad.

OUR EVENTS CALENDAR is below. Click on any event for detailed information. You can also subscribe to this public calendar if you are using Google calendars.