Using A Digital Camera in the Classroom

Using A Digital Camera in the Classroom is another great site of ideas on getting the students using digital cameras in the classroom. This site breaks the ideas down by subject, which can be very helpful for quick browsing. I really liked the following ideas from the Language Arts section:

"Journal Writing. Classroom newspapers. Autobiographies. Insert student photos in a biographical poem. A great way to start off the year and get to know your students. Demonstrate vocabulary, emotions, compare/contrast. Use a photo as a prompt for narrative or descriptive writing. Students take pictures of each other and import them into a word processing document for an "About the Author" page in a student anthology. Use the digital camera to take photos of students then incorporate the photos into interviews written by other students in the class. (Students are assigned someone to interview and write about.)"

Objectives:

1. For the first grade student to appropriately use a digital camera to take a photograph of a classmate.
   
2. For the first grade student to use a photograph to write a paragraph that includes a topic sentence, at least three detail sentences, and grade level appropriate conventions.
   
3. For the first grade student to publish their writing and photograph using MS Word.

Sunshine State Standards:

LA.1.6.4.1 The student will use appropriate available technology resources (e.g., writing tools, digital cameras, drawing tools) to present thoughts, ideas, and stories.

LA.1.3.1.2 - The student will prewrite by discussing the purpose for a writing piece.

LA.1.3.2.1 - The student will draft writing by maintaining focus on a single idea using supporting details.

LA.1.4.2.3 - write an informational/expository paragraph that contains a topic sentence and at least three details

The student will correctly use:

LA.1.3.4.1 - common spelling patterns (e.g., onset and rimes, words families, and simple CVC words) and conventional spelling of high frequency words;

LA.1.3.4.2 - capital letters for the pronoun I, the beginning of a sentence, names, days of the week and months of the year;

LA.1.3.4.4 - singular and plural nouns, action verbs in simple sentences, and singular possessive pronouns (e.g., my/mines, his/her, hers);

LA.1.3.4.5 - subject and verb agreement in simple sentences; and

LA.1.3.4.6 - end punctuation for sentences, including periods, question marks, and exclamation points.

The student will:

LA.1.5.1.1 - write numbers and uppercase and lowercase letters using left to right sequencing; and

LA.1.5.1.2 - use appropriate spacing between letters, words, and sentences.

Materials:

Digital Camera; Tripod

4x6 Photo Paper; Photo Printer

Computer with MS Word and Laser Projector

Sample Photo and Story

Camera Coloring Sheet; 5x7 tag board; scissors, glue stick

Picture or Photograph? Sheet

Parent Volunteer

Procedures:

· Show the students the Picture or Photograph? sheet on the laser projector. Ask students to tell me the difference between a photograph and a picture (painting/drawing).

· Have students identify each piece of clip art and drag it to the appropriate column. Call students’ attention to the fact that even though we can tell which ones are pictures and which ones are photographs, that they look very similar: discuss and compare color, size, and shape of clip art.

· Tell students that they are going to try to do the same thing with their drawing from now on. They are going to try to make their drawings look like photographs by adding details to their drawings.

· Show the students the camera coloring sheet. Tell the students that on the top camera they are going to draw a picture of themselves. Then on the bottom camera we’re going to take photographs and compare how well we drew ourselves to the actual photograph.

· Ask students to tell me how we get photographs (answer: from a camera). Show students my camera and tell them that today they are all going to get the chance to be real photographers – they’re going to be the ones taking photographs of each other!!

· Model how to take a photograph using the camera: Show and discuss the functions of the viewing screen (make sure they can see the subject), shutter button (push it halfway until they see the green box and then finish pushing it down to take the picture), tripod (helps keep the camera still to take a better picture), and floor mark (so the subject knows where to stand). Model all of these steps by taking a photograph of the parent volunteer and then switch and have the parent volunteer take a photograph of you.

· Tell students that while they are drawing the picture of themselves in the camera lens, coloring both the cameras, cutting out both camera, and cutting out the center of the bottom camera (go over each step and have an example already made to hang on the board) I will be calling pairs of students over to the tripod and floor mark to take photographs of one another (have the volunteer circulate and assist the students while they are coloring and cutting).

· After each child has taken a photograph, save the photographs to the computer that is connected to the laser projector.

· Call the students back to the carpet. Have the parent volunteer print out one 4x6 of each student (or if you do not have a volunteer…stop after the students have photographed each other and complete the rest of the lesson on the following day…this will give you time to save and print the photographs).

· Ask students what details they noticed about each other while taking the photographs. Discuss: people have different color hair, eyes, and skin, we have different shaped eyes, noses and faces, some people are missing teeth, etc. Lead to the conclusion that we are all different…we each have special details that make us who we are. Tell students that we are printing a picture of each one of them to keep at their desk. This is to help them remember what their special details are when drawing pictures of themselves. And to help us learn all the special details about each other, we’re going to make a book!!

· Ask students what we will need to make a good book (pictures and words).

· Tell students that they are going to get the picture of themselves and use it to write a story that describes their special details. First they are going to write it on regular paper and then they are going to type it on the computer to make a real book.

· Use the laser projector to do a sample writing as a class in MS Word.

1. Model how to open MS Word by double clicking on the icon.
2. Model how to type the story. Discuss using Caps Lock to make capital letters and using the Backspace to erase any mistakes. The model story should include all parts required by the students, for example: My name is Miss Thomas. I have brown hair. My eyes are green. I have pink cheeks. I have white teeth and a big smile!
3. Model how to select and add the picture to the story by clicking Insert, then Picture, then From File, then double click on the picture of themselves. Remind students that there will be a parent volunteer to help them if they have any questions, but that I want them to try to do it on their own first!

· Allow students time to write their stories.

· As each student finishes, have them bring their paper to a parent volunteer at a computer. The volunteer will help them type their story into MS Word and guide them on how to put the picture with it.

· Before/after they type have students glue the picture of themselves to the tag board. Have them glue the second camera (with the hole cut out) on top of their picture so that their face shows through the camera. I will have those laminated for students to keep in their desks.

Then we will print the student’s page. We will put them together to have a book to tell us details about our friends! I will have it laminated to read to the students and keep in our classroom library.

Evaluation:

Students will be evaluated on their handwritten stories based on the following rubric:

Correct use of camera: 1 point

Story matches the photograph: 1 point

Story stayed on topic: 1 point

Story had a topic and at least three details sentences: up to 4 points

Correct use of grammar: 1 point

Correct use of punctuation: 1 point

Correct formation of letters: 1 point

Correct use of capital letters: 1 point

Correct use of spacing: 1 point

Total Points Possible: 12

*I am not grading the MS Word version, because I would like the parent volunteer to help the students edit and “publish” their very best work. I want the experience of making this classroom book to be fun, not stressful!*

Reference

Duncan, Deborah. (2008). Using a digital camera in the classroom. Retrieved April 14, 2008, from http://www.wam.umd.edu/~toh/image/DigitalCameraUses.htm