Did you know that Animoto has an education program that offers free accounts to teachers, plus 50 free accounts for your students too? If you haven’t already, now is the time to take advantage of this amazing program and help prepare students for the future by adding video to your classroom.

Creating videos is simple with Animoto’s easy-to-use interface and hundreds of video templates to choose from. You or your students supply the photos, video clips and text, and Animoto takes care of the rest. See animoto.com/education/classroom.

Here are five video ideas you can quickly and easily integrate into your curriculum.

1. Help students connect with you
You could give a speech about yourself, hoping no one falls asleep, or you could wow students with a visually engaging video showing pictures of your family and hometown, and video clips of the time you hiked Yosemite or took a pottery-making class.

2. Virtual field trip
The best part about creating a video field trip is that it’s not bound by space or time. You can “visit” the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, or give a tour of the International Space Station.

3. Student introductions
Video is a way for students to get to know one another without the pressure of public speaking. Introductions can be a quick get-to-know-you video or a longer project that lets students create more involved autobiographies.

4. Research report
Let students engage with their research by presenting with video. Encourage them to find appropriate pictures, video and music to demonstrate their new knowledge on topics like world cultures, historical figures or scientific phenomena.

5. Scavenger hunt
Set students loose to find examples of what you’ve taught. Give them a theme, such as discovering different angles and shapes in the world around them, or pinpointing historical features in their neighborhood.