K-2 Open Category Definition
Videos in this category are created, primarily, by kindergarten to second grade students. Topics for videos are based on Language Arts or Social Studies California State Standards, Character Education, Math, or Science content areas.

Questions about the differences between student created video and teacher created video or how much to expect from students during the video creation process? Click here for more information.

Link all entries to a specific California State Content Standard.

Examples of K-2 Open Category Video
  • A video used to demonstrate a difficult-to-understand concept or principle.
    • Identify an area of need according to recent test scores. Start with the California State Standard that addresses the area of need. Build your video on the standard, using the visual medium to simplify and teach the difficult concepts.
    • "Good Readers: Behind the Scenes," a first grade video about good reading strategies
  • A re-enactment of an historical event or a scene.
  • A video based on character education curriculum or social issues. See examples of videos created by elementary students in Nebraska who produce PSA's as part of "Character Counts," a character education framework used nation wide. Character Education, required by Ed Code Sec, 233.5(a) falls under this category.
  • A clay animation video
  • Demonstrations of good and/or bad social skills (see "Be Your Best " below)
  • Environmental Issues - Watch "Got Plastic," an award-winning video by first graders
  • Science-based videos (see "Diary of a Crayfish" below)
Tips for Teaching Video Production
  • A Step-by-step video "Good Readers: Behind the Scenes,"developed by first grade teacher, April Payne and Linda Foote, Instructional Technology Specialist from Poway Unified School District. Watch and see how each first grader is assigned an important role in the production of the classroom video.
  • Identify an area of need according to recent test scores. Start with the California State Standard that addresses the area of need. Build your video on the standard, using the visual medium to simplify and teach the difficult concepts.
  • Involve students in the decision making process as much as possible.
K-2 Video Example


Click image to see video

This video was created by third graders, with a little better reading skill and writing than a second grade class might achieve. However, the same type of video might be created by second graders using simpler vocabulary and a bit more help from the teacher in the editing of the final product.

Diary of A Crayfish 2006 iVIE Nominee
Hardy Elementary School - San Diego Unified School District - Teacher: Christine Bailey

Purpose: To Inform
Audience: Students
Educational Objective: Students will write, design and produce a movie that conveys their knowledge of the structures,adaptations and habitat of the crayfish. Students will design a presentation based on the format of books and science informational videos they have read and viewed, that will help other students understand the concepts presented in the unit. All students will participate in a manner that is best suited to their abilities, writing, set design, camera, acting, sound, editing, directing.

California State Content Standards for grade three:

Science Content Standards

Life Science

3. Adaptations in physical structure or behavior may improve an organism's chance for survival. As a basis for understanding this concept:

a. Students know plants and animals have structures that serve different functions in growth, survival, and reproduction.
b. Students know examples of diverse life forms in different environments, such as oceans, deserts, tundra, forests, grasslands, and wetlands.
c. Students know living things cause changes in the environment in which they live: some of these changes are detrimental to the organism or other organisms, and some are beneficial.
d. Students know when the environment changes, some plants and animals survive and reproduce; others die or move to new locations.
e. Students know that some kinds of organisms that once lived on Earth have completely disappeared and that some of those resembled others that are alive today.

Language Arts Content Standards

Organization and Delivery of Oral Communication

1.5 Organize ideas chronologically or around major points of information.
1.6 Provide a beginning, a middle, and an end, including concrete details that develop a central idea.
1.8 Clarify and enhance oral presentations through the use of appropriate props (e.g., objects, pictures, charts).


Click image to see video

 "Be Your Best" 2005 iVIE Award Recipient
Village Elementary School - Coronado Unified School District - Teacher: Mrs. Eileen Farrell

Purpose: To Persuade
Audience: Students
Educational Objective: To create a video to demonstrate courteousness and respectfulness toward others, showing examples of appropriate behavior.

California State Content Standards for grade one:

Language Arts Content Standards

Organization and Focus - 1.1 Select a focus when writing.

1.0 Written and Oral English Language Conventions

Sentence Structure - 1.1 Write and speak in complete, coherent sentences.

1.0 Listening and Speaking Strategies

Organization and Delivery of Oral Communication
1.4 Stay on the topic when speaking.
1.5 Use descriptive words when speaking about people, places, things, and events.

2.0 Speaking Applications

Students deliver brief recitations and oral presentations about familiar experiences or interests that are organized around a coherent thesis statement.
2.3 Relate an important life event or personal experience in a simple sequence.
2.4 Provide descriptions with careful attention to sensory detail.

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