Why Should I Use a Camera in the Classroom?     

Pictures personalize learning, clarify it, frame it... and add depth.

    Taking a Picture with the Sony Mavica  from Linda Spudic

    Check Out   these directions for viewing and deleting pictures, as well as inserting them into Microsoft Word, Kid Pix Deluxe, and Power Point.

    Going Digital With Curricululm Activities
            Use Photos:

  As a writing prompt 

  To illustrate the steps in a procedure 

To record a field trip, allowing the students to write about them at a later time

  To record a virtual tour  

To create class books 

To illustrate concepts, i.e. math in nature! 

  To create ABC books and others

To create a documentary   

To Capture Class Historic Reinactments (need latest version of Shockwave Player)

  To make written biographies "Come Alive"  

  To encourage creativity      

Capture classroom activities for newsletter, web pages, student portfolios with reading inventories.

Explore 'Picturing Literacy' from the Backpack Trek Tools

Other classroom uses include:

• use a photo as a prompt for narrative or descriptive writing
  
• school newspaper
  
• graphics for written reports and presentations
  
• write letters to penpals and others (such as reading buddies in another grade), inserting photos
  
• send photos via e-mail to electronic pen pals
  
• e-mail class updates to parents, with attached photos
  
• write a class novel with live-action photos as illustrations
  
• ABC alphabet book [use real objects to enhance letter-sound correspondence]
  
• We Spy books [go on a scavenger hunt through out the school as an extension for a completed unit]
  
• sequencing books [using a digital camera is especially useful to sequences which cannot be brought to school for students to experience]
  
• All About Us [take photos of students and let them write about themselves - this is especially good for Kindergarten!]
  
• big books [to make a photo large enough for a big book, resize photo for whole prage and print out - you can then run it through a poster maker (in a publishing center, such as Region X) to enlarge it even further]
  
• publicize a class play or project

Even More Ideas:

• make personalized name tags or desk plates
  
• recording projects and presentations for Open House
  
• create a digital class archive
  
• demonstrate vocabulary, emotions, compare/contrast
  
• illustrate perspectives in art
  
• observe weather over a period of time
  
• student portfolio
  
• illustrate process for complicated projects
  
• illustrate a science experiment
  
• document growth of classroom plant or pet
  
• demonstrate a P.E. exercise
  
• develop a student-generated, graphical web research site
  
• school showcase

More Good Information for Using Digital Cameras in the Classroom:

  1001 Ways to Use a Digital Camera

  Using a Digital Camera in the Classroom

Fun Projects Using the Digital Camera

Using Digital Cameras in the Classroom from Jerrie's Curriculum Hotlist - extensive list

Lots of Great Curriculum Ideas for Using the Digital Camera

Be Creative.......Empower Your Students.....Make Their Learning Visual......Use 21st Tools!!!!

Sandy Beck
Instructional Technology Specialist
Forsyth County Schools
February, 2005