Hey there, everybody!!! It’s time for another fun HeidiSongs Video Contest! Would you like to win $300 in the HeidiSongs products of your choice? All you have to do is submit a video of your class, child, or group of children rocking out to the beat of any HeidiSongs CD or DVD, and send it to us. We’ll pick our favorite videos and post them here, and pick a winner. Runners up will also win their choice of $40 in HeidiSongs products. (We’ll also cover all of the shipping costs for the winners!)
Check out the winners from last year to help get you started and to show your own class how it’s done!
Are you ready? Here’s what you need to do!
1. Get permission. You’ll need permission from your administration if you are a school teacher. Clear it with your spouse if you are a family sending in a video.
2. Send home permission slips of some kind with your students to make sure that the parents don’t mind that their children’s images are posted online. Most people just send a child or two to another room to do something else during filming if permission is denied for a couple of children.
3. USE A TRIPOD! I can’t emphasize this enough! Borrow one if necessary, because it is extremely important that the camera stay steady. My poor hubby gets sea sick looking at videos shot without a tripod, and so I guarantee you that you won’t win if you don’t use one, because he gets 50% of the say in who wins!
4. Watch the lighting. Back light coming from windows or open doors behind children can mess up all your whole video. If the lights are dim in your classroom when you film, that will mess it up, too.
5. Choose a song your kids LOVE! Then they will be sure to be enthusiastic! We are looking for excited kids that look like they are having a great time learning. That’s the key.
6. Put the most enthusiastic children in front, and the ones that are a bit reluctant in the back. Need I say more? Sometimes I ask the ones that are SUPER excited to “lead us” and put them way in front of everyone else. That really works if the kid is “a ham.”
7. Send in more than one video to increase your chances of winning. Anyway, once you have gotten permission, you might as well!
8. Be creative and have fun with it! Feel free to change the movements, add costumes or hats, put the kids in front of a large screen with a HeidiSongs DVD playing behind them, etc.!
9. You never know when your students are going to be at their best, so consider keeping your video camera set up and ready on the tripod, and leaning in a corner of your room for a week (but keep it charged up.) When they are having a great time, grab it and start filming! That’s how I have gotten my best videos!
10. Not sure how to send us the video? Here’s how: Just plug your camera or storage card into your computer, so that it mounts on the desktop. Find the file you wish to send and drag it to your desktop to copy it from the camera or drive. Rename the file with your name and or school, then check the info to see the size. If it’s under 5 Mb, just attach it to and email and send it to us at “contest@heidisongs.com” with: Your name, your school, and the state your in and we’ll send you a confirmation that we’ve received your entry. If the file is over 5 Mb, use a service called MailBigFile (http://free.mailbigfile.com/) to easily send larger files up to 200mb, then send them to contest@heidisongs.com, along with your name, your school and state and we’ll send you a confirmation that we’ve received your entry. If you don’t feel comfortable with any of those options, just drop us the the storage card into the mail to us here and we’ll see that you get your card back.
Send them to Heidisongs Video Contest, P.O. Box 603, La Verne, CA 91750.
11. Official Rules can be found HERE:
Submissions to the Contest must be received by 11:59 P.M. Pacific Standard Time on February 28th, 2013 in order to be eligible. If you have any questions, just drop us a line at the same address and we’ll help in any way possible.
And greetings to all the wonderful teachers who are with me at the California Kindergarten Association’s 31st annual conference in Santa Clara, CA. It’s always so fun to see everyone and sit in on a few of the great sessions, and this year is exceptional.
For those who missed a printed copy, or for anyone interested in seeing what I presented, here are the handouts for my two sessions. I hope you find them helpful!
Fun Songs for Phonics and Secret Tips for Sounding Out Words
Jumpin’ Numbers and Shakin’ Shapes
