Second grade has been studying the regions of Georgia as part of their social studies standards. I pulled multiple resources for them to use including informational books, Georgia stories, posters of animals and plants, and regions of Georgia posters. In each classroom, students were placed into groups to research a specific region. This was built into both writing time and social studies. Students were supposed to use their research to write a script for a regions of Georgia commercial. Their job was to convince someone to visit that region by telling about the land, animals, plants, and things to do in that region. During some of these sessions, students came to the media center in small groups for research support. I worked with them both on researching facts and also writing scripts. Finally in class, students designed backdrops for their commercials.
In the library, students came in small groups to film their commercials. We filmed in our studio and used one of our fusion flip tables to tape the backdrops to. I used an iPad to record the students acting out their commercial. Our iPad had a dual shotgun microphone plugged in to improve the sound quality. It was interesting to see the students’ different ideas for how to do a commercial. Some incorporated puppets, creative slogans, and even a breakaway door.
I took each video and put it into iMovie, uploaded it to Youtube, and then attached it to a Thinglink. For our Thinglink image, I took a photograph of a map of GA which is found on the floor just outside of the 2nd grade rooms. Thinglink allows you to attach multiple links to one image. I’ve used Thinglink for individual projects, but I liked that this use of Thinglink pulled all of the videos into one easy to reach location. I shared the link with teachers so that they could see the progress being made toward finishing all of the videos. They pulled the Thinglink up on their boards and let students watch the videos that had been made so far. It created a great review tool for where all of the regions of GA are and also allowed classes to hear the research that had been gathered in the other classrooms. We will make a QR code for the Thinglink so that visitors with mobile devices can scan the code and visit the project. 
This was a great first quarter project. I think it is a stepping stone toward the next technology-related project that 2nd grade will do. My regret is that I wish that more students could have been involved in actually creating the final product. I wish that I had at least had a few students from each room sit and watch or help make the Thinglink.
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