Digital Cameras in the Classroom
Posted by Debra Liverman on 06 Jan 2009 | Posted in: Classroom Management, Preschool, The Mailbox
I’m sure there were plenty of new digital cameras given as presents this holiday season! Maybe you were the lucky recipient of one. I love my digital camera. It is so easy to use and offers that immediate gratification of knowing how my photo turned out. When I was growing up, my mom was an amateur photographer and used to develop her own black-and-white film. She had a darkroom in the basement with all the necessary equipment. I remember watching her through the entire lengthy process. Of course, the most exciting part was agitating the paper in the chemicals, waiting for the image to magically appear. And to think that now I can see the image in seconds!
I bet I could find digital cameras being used in classrooms all over the country. Kim Murphy, the managing editor of The Mailbox Preschool, featured a unit on using digital cameras in the classroom in the December/January issue. Here are a few of the ideas that she selected to feature from her subscribers.
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Greeting Card Fun Print classroom photographs onto plain paper as shown. Then fold the papers to create cards and place them at your writing center. Invite students to go to the center and add writing and decorations to one or two of the cards to take home to family members. No doubt family members will enjoy seeing current photos of classroom activities. –Mary, Keokuk, IA |
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Photo Die Cover a cube-shaped box with decorative Con-Tact paper. Then attach the hook side of a Velcro fastener to each side of the box. Cut out and laminate a head-shot photograph of each child. Attach the loop side of a Velcro fastener to each photo. Then attach a photo to each side of the cube to make a die. Roll the die to choose a child for a specific activity. Then replace the chosen child’s photo with a different photo. –Diane, Hayes, VA |
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28 Responses to “Digital Cameras in the Classroom”
More Comments Pages: « 1 [2] 3 » Show All Comments
More Comments Pages: « 1 [2] 3 » Show All Comments
I have used digital cameras in my room for ten years or so now and it is a very important part of my record keeping.
A picture is worth 10,000 words! Handedness, pencil grip, pattern making - just to name a few. Most important though is the ability to get a copy of the first time they do news and to take several more throughout the year which provides a great record of language development as well as growing confidence; interactions with other children; participation in mat activities….list is endless.
Great to use in a parent-teacher conference when trying to get a point across.
I have also just purchased a digital photo frame to set up in the room so that the kids can see the photos we have taken each day as well as a selected range that I have chosen to put onto it. Will free up computers and will also be good on parent nights etc.
Sm:)es.
I LOVE my digital camera! I assign one child each day to be the “Photo Journalist” of the day. Their job is to take photos of projects or things that happen through out the day. They have to choose their photos carefully because they can only take 5 pictures. The children are becoming excellent photographers! I take time each day to speak with the journalist about their pictures and we decide if all the pictures should be printed or which pictures are “good” pictures. The children have come up with a list of what makes a good picture.
So my kids are learning not only how to take digital pictures, but what makes a good picture and how to care for the camera.
I also use the photos for a yearbook at the end of the school year.
Each child gets a yearbook with all the photos.
I also use photos of the children with their paintings and then load the photos onto my computer and put the photos into i-movie and make it into a theme based movie! We did an Ocean alphabet with each child painting an ocean creature. I took the pictures and the children added their voices to the movie stating a fact about the animal they painted. It was so cool! And fun! Then I burned a CD for each child! They loved having their own movie!
I use my digital camera nearly everyday. I teach older 3’s, younger 4’s and they love “seeing” themselves. I took pictures of childen in each center and made and 8×10 copy, put it in a plastic sleeve and posted it in that particular center. I also took pics of the things that belonged in the plastic tubs, taped to the end of the tub and it’s much easier for the children to clean up and get things back in their proper place. At Christmas, I blew the faces up, cut them out, and pasted onto 3′ tall gingerbread kids made out of tan paper that the children had decorated. They looked so cute in the hall and the parents loved them! At the end of the year I copy all of the photos to a CD and give one to each child for their memory book. Photos that I printed off are also given to each individual child. I don’t know what I would do w/o my camera.
Pictures are great to have at a ‘Where Am I’ board and at the Learning Stations Management board. One of our teachers made student ids (like driver’s licenses). They are great for field trips! ..Of course, making a class year book and powerpoint for the end of the year is always fun.
We use digital cameras to put children’s faces on the projects we find in the Mailbox. The elves were adorable with each child’s face!
One of the jobs in our classroom (4-5 yr. olds) was “Reporter”. The reporter used the digital camera to take a picture of one of the activities that he/she participated in that day. The child then dictated a short narrative about that activity to myself or my co-teacher. We wrote it down for them and they signed their name. We then, posted the report on the class bulletin board. It was the most popular, awaited job among the students and the parents loved checking out the report. We generally left the reports up on the BB for up to a month and then we put the reports in the childrens portfolios that were given to parents at the end of the year.
We use digital cameras to take photos of special things we do throughout the year. We put them into a power point to show at open house, and at the end of the year, we record the power point from the computer onto a video tape. Copies are made for each student; then they have a “videobook” of their special school year.
I take pictures of the kids doing activities during the day. At nap time, I send parents pictures of their kids during the day. At the end of the month my partner and I select pictures and label them with objectives to make a poster for our hallway. The parents can see how playing is learning. The kids see them selves and discuss what they were doing. The pictures that are not on the poster are displayed around the room and at the end of each month we make a book for the kids
We have a letter writing center in our classroom-grades 1-4. I will be adding stationery with our kids in action for letters to grandparents, etc. Our students love writing letters so this will a new topic. Another good use for my new camera.
There are many ways to use photos for preschool.We use photos for sequencing a project( put dirt in the zip-loc bag, add water, add seeds, stages of growth, etc), and we use it to show how we made a cooking project. We also use photos of activities done for the month, so that each child has a scrapbook type page to decorate for each month. When we go on an excursion, we put the photos in a mini album ( the kind that a 4 by 6 photo fits in) and then we put the album on the book display for children and parents to look at.The children enjoy talking about the photos, which helps their language skills.
This year, we’ve used individual digital photos of the children in our program
to label laminated apple labels on their coat hooks and mailboxes, to make Christmas ornament picture frames, (using wooden sticks), for class directory books for each family to introduce the children, and on laminated labels that we use once a month on large wall graphs, (”my favorite season, my favorite color, what I like to do in the snow”, etc.) The children just stick their picture up under the heading for their “vote” and then we can clearly see which choices had the most/least or no votes. I also post photos regularly on a web page that the parents can access to see what we’ve been doing each day in class. That way, I save money on printing and each family can choose to print or scrapbook or email to grandparents, any pictures they like. At the end of the year, we plan to use digital pictures to make memory books for each child to keep, based on the alphabet, (”Letter F is for flag. In school, we sing the flag song.”)
I enjoy a using digital camera in my classroom. I put the pictures into social stories and individualize books for students to read.
For example (Kathy sees a horse) Above Kathy’s name would be a picture of Kath, about horse would be a picture of a horse. Students really love to see their pictures in sentences and stories. Eventually, students learn their names and other words and will not need the pictures to assist in recognizing the written words.