From photo to printed word: Getting second-graders to write!

1. Do a guided discovery of a camera.
* Where is the on button? How do we take a picture? Why do we use the wrist band?
* Talk about the basics of pictures. We can say a lot about an action shot (somebody doing something), but we can't really say much about our friend's smiling face. So look for the unusual or action.
* Send the students out in groups with cameras (without memory cards works best, so they can only take one or two photos apiece!!!) for 10 minutes to get photos on the playground.

2. Print photos and talk about how sentences have CAPITAL LETTERS and PERIODS!

3. Ask students to write a sentence to describe the photo.

This all seems really basic, but this is the warm-up to a class digital story-telling adventure. The next day, we sent the kids with cameras on a field trip, repeating the same directions. We also talked a little about PERSPECTIVE: Taking a picture of something from down low makes it look taller than it is; taking a picture from above makes it look smaller.

4. After photos are taken and sentences are written, children read their sentence and recordings are pieced together to make a digital story.

BE SURE to take pictures of the PROCESS! It will help parents understand all the learning their children have done and impress the rest of your colleagues when you post them on the bulletin board!