Soundtrack Storybook Project Ignites Interactive Collaboration

The live presentation was the culmination of the first quarter music class with teacher Sarah Reed. For the inaugural project, students were assigned the task of creating a musical soundtrack for an illustrated story book of their choosing. In assigned groups, the students worked together and researched musical elements that would enhance the characters’ action and moods of each story. To further enhance the project, digital versions of the storybooks were created using WeVideo with the help of Head Media Specialist Stacey Schwartz.

The final book selections included Hotel Bruce authored by Ryan T. Higgins, I Am Not a Chair! authored by Ross Burach, One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish authored by Dr. Seuss, Pete the Cat: Rocking in My School Shoes authored by Eric Litwin, Pig the Monster authored by Aaron Blabey, Scaredy Squirrel Makes a Friend authored by Mélanie Watt, The Lion Inside authored by Rachel Bright, and Yo! Yes authored by Chris Raschka.

With an eager audience in attendance, the students took the stage to deliver a live narration of their storybook in two separate presentations for each class. All the stories were projected onto the big screen to go along with the live narration as all first- and second-grade students along with teachers were encouraged to participate in a call-and-response format. The interactive prompts included asking the students to roar, scream, and clap during various parts of the story. 

“The collaborative project was a great way to showcase the multi-level grade interactions between our students,” commented Ms. Reed.

Ms. Reed shared that the groups were graded on how well they managed their projects, dividing up a variety of tasks such as photography, sound recording, narration, research and editing.