With a functional green screen studio at their disposal, teachers at May Moore will be able to expand educational and technological opportunities for students in grades K-2 thanks to a BOCES grant they pursued.

The green screen grant had its genesis in a successful 2012 election video project that used basic Flip cameras. It left the educators eager to improve the school’s video capability with a green screen, which layers video images through a process called chroma keying. “We wanted to do a newscast for the entire school and community to see, to introduce new technology, and to help kids with their ELA skills for the Common Core,” explained teacher Sue Steinman.

Steinman and five other May Moore teachers – Jennifer Cambria, Jessica Caputo, Tammy Cotrone, Dana Grafstein and Lauren McHugh – submitted a Model Schools Grant application through Western Suffolk BOCES last May, and won. The grant funds were utilized to entirely furnish a professional green screen studio in the May Moore Media Center, facilitated by computer consultant Ellen Robertson. The initiative provides access to this exciting technology to teachers and students for a variety of upcoming projects, including additional newscasts and the school’s READ parent reading program, using the screen in conjunction with laptops and programs such as Google Drive and Photobooth.
 
“In these days, our schools need to keep up with technology,” said Steinman. “Without tools like this, school is not a cutting-edge place to be.”

“We are so proud of this group of innovative teachers for taking the initiative to pursue the Green Screen project grant,” added Principal Alicia Konecny. “Our students are really enjoying the capabilities of this new technology and we are hopeful for a future Spielberg or Scorsese.”