How to Make an End-of-Year Classroom Recap Video

The end of the school year is a time for reflection; for looking back on all your students have learned. And video gives you a meaningful way to wish graduates well or to say goodbye to students before summer vacation begins. To help you create your own video to share with students and their families, take a look at this end-of-year video guide. Or, dive right into Animoto by using the This Year's Moments template.

Collect photos and video clips

Want to create a video like the one shown above? Start by collecting photos and video clips from throughout the year. You can look through your phone or even ask students and parents to send you images. You can also dig through a school Google drive or photo service if your school has one.

Here are a few images you might want to include:

• First day: Photos from the first day of school can be a fun way to show how much your students have grown.
• Class pictures: Using the class photo is a simple way to make sure all of your students make it into your video. Who doesn't love an adorable picture day smile?
• Sports and clubs: Capture highlights from extracurricular activities to celebrate after-school accomplishments.
• School events: Document assemblies, concerts, plays, and school dances to show your students making memories and having fun together.
• Class trips: Field trips are the highlight of the year! If you have photos from any trips, make sure to include them.
• Class projects: Add in photos of presentations or special assignments that show your students learning.
• Messages from teachers: Want to let your students know how much you're going to miss them? Have the school staff hand-write signs to students and snap pictures to add into your video. Check out this user-generated video that connected students and teachers across the remote classroom.

Start your end-of-year video

It’s time to make your video! Animoto has tons of customizable templates to help you get started. We recommend the Graduation Memories or Class of 2022 templates for a misty-eyed celebratory send-off, or the I Graduated or Graduation Message templates to showcase your students' journeys. Once you’ve started your project, add your photos and video clips and get customizing.

Personalize your video

Animoto gives you lots of options for customizing your video. Click on the "Design" icon to change colors, fonts, and more. That's also where you can make style changes to your video, including choosing different transitions and text effects for your video. You can remove the corner watermark by upgrading to the Basic, Professional, or Professional Plus plans.

Choose music

We have a library of licensed music with thousands of songs. While every Animoto plan has many different licensed music tracks to choose from, upgrading to the Professional or Professional Plus plan grants you access to over 3,000 tracks to suit nearly any occasion. Choose an upbeat song to get students excited for the summer vacation, or take a trip down memory lane with a heartwarming instrumental song. You can use our music selector tools to find the right one for your video. Search by genre, mood, and more. if you can’t find what you want, you can upload your own licensed music right into Animoto.

Use Voice-over

Want to send off your students with a message straight from the heart? Try creating a voice-over. Available with the Professional and Professional Plus plans, this feature allows you to record, edit, and add personalized voice-overs to your videos. What better way to encourage and inspire your students than with a message from their favorite teacher? Check out our Complete Guide to Voice-over for tips and tricks.

Share your video

Once you’re happy with your project, simply download it or to your desired social channel. Animoto lets you post directly to social media and also offers embed code so you can add your video to your class website. To learn more, check out our guide to sharing your Animoto video.

Have you created an end-of-year video using Animoto? We’d love to see it! Join our Facebook group, the Animoto Social Video Marketing Community, and share your work.