The Wildcat News Club at Westmere Elementary is back in action in the studio! On Thursday, February 3, 2022 the club met during lunch to finish recording their segments for that week’s broadcast. It was one of many meetings the Wildcat News Club has held since the club’s launch back in the beginning of the school year.
The Wildcat News Club was started by Mr. Rudolph, an Enrichment Teacher for the elementary schools in the Guilderland Central School District back in September of 2021. The club consists of two 5th grade classes that meet every Monday, and occasionally at lunch on Thursdays. The classes rotate their meetings each week so they can adhere to social distancing guidelines.
Mr. Rudolph worked with Westmere Elementary students on creating a news broadcast, showing them how to use the video editing program “WeVideo”. Unfortunately, Mr. Rudolph’s position required him to divide his time between all elementary schools in the district, therefore he only had a short time to work with the Wildcat News Club.
Luckily, Mrs. Johnson, the School Library Media Specialist and Mrs. Phelan, a 1st grade teacher at Westmere Elementary, continued the club after Mr. Rudolph’s time at the school came to an end. Students who were a part of the original project with Mr. Rudolph were then invited to join the newly formed Wildcat News Club.
The Wildcat News Club has a number of “roles” students can sign-up for via their Chromebook on a shared Google spreadsheet. Roles include two anchors, writers, editors, cue card holders, a producer, a videographer and a meteorologist. Students work together to report on school-related news, recording their segments in front of a green screen. Editors then examine the footage, and edit the various video clips into a real-life news broadcast featuring themselves! Mrs. Johnson then posts the final edited news broadcast for that week in her Google Classroom for students to view.
