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Straughn Elementary School fifth graders are getting hands on reporting experience by reporting events and news during Tiger TV, a program started by third-grade teacher Leah Grimes and Mandi Morris.

“There was actually a training that happened at central office,” Grimes said. “It had a lot of Google training and a lot of different technologies that students could use in the classroom. It was taught by Nikki Guilford and she wanted us to integrate it into the classrooms. I thought this would be a great project and the fifth graders are wonderful with it.”

Students use “green screen apps,” to make videos as if they are live from a newsroom.

“They really just report on the upcoming events and news going on at SES,” Grimes said. “We will do it once a month at the very beginning of the month. It is just a great way to inform students and parents about what is happening at the school.”

Grimes said that the students have taken complete ownership of the project.

“They want it to be completely perfect,” Grimes said. “If they even have one little mess up, they want to redo it. They even help with the writing of the scripts. A lot of it was written by the students themselves. They have been really interested in how the green screen app works. It has been a lot of fun and the students are getting a lot of hands-on learning. It also gives them a sense of school pride. They want to represent their school well.”

Grimes is no stranger to making videos as projects. She has made several activities where students make videos on different projects and books that they are reading in class.

“I think it is our job to prepare students from an early age to be ready to use these skills in the workplace,” Grimes said. “I honestly think this is where the jobs of America are going and they will need these skills to be competitive. We need to start giving them the tools that they need as young as we can.”

With the project, Grimes hopes that her students will have a renewed sense of school pride.

“I hope it forms the students in a more entertaining way,” Grimes said. “Mandi has been my partner with this project and she is a huge help. I don’t think I could have completed this project without her.”