Inferring lesson

Before Christmas we read a story called, Shark in the Park in which a little boy named Timothy Pope is looking through his telescope in the park and is sure he keeps seeing a shark. The lens of the telescope is an actual hole in the pages of the book, and as each page is turned the fin of the shark turns out to be something quite ordinary like a cat's ear, a crow's wing, and even his dad's Elvis-style haircut. 

This book was used to help us learn the reading comprehension strategy of  inferring. As an extension of this book and a tie-in to our ITLS Standards (Instructional Technology & Learning Standards). Students worked with a partner to take pictures of an ordinary object up close and then at normal range. We used both digital cameras as well as the cameras on our iPad2s.  Each child then had to tell what they thought they saw when looking at the up close object and then tell what they actually saw. We took our ideas and typed them in MS Word and then learned how to insert our pictures from a network file into our documents. Along with the other first grade classes, we will put all of our ideas into a large class book which will be shared with the entire school.
See below for the raw footage of just a few of the kids' ideas...

Can you guess what this is?

Hunter saw a jail at Glenbrook School...

but it was really just Mr. Sufka's tie! (our principal)

How about this one?

Ayden thought he saw a Captain's hook at Glenbrook School...

but it was just a door handle!!

Countdown to the end of the year

We are using the alphabet to countdown to the end of the year. Yesterday was A for Animal Day. Each of my students brought in a stuffed animal for the day. We read with our animals, measured our animals during math as a measurement review and wrote about our animals. The writing turned out awesome. I had the kids write a description of their animal. My mini lesson revolved around using size, color, texture, and similes to help make their descriptions more interesting. When we were done, we put all of  our critters in the middle of our circle and I read each of the kiddos descriptions. Using the clues, the class had to locate each animal. When we were all done students took a digital picture of their animal which we then printed off and put on our hall bulletin board along with our writing for others to try and guess. The kids had a blast, the writing was awesome, and we embedded a tad of technology usage as well.  Check out my classroom blog post for examples.

3D Shape Hunt

Our 3D shape hunt using digital cameras today went very well.  We started our lesson with a quick review of the names and characteristics of 3D shapes as well as digital camera etiquette. Students were then given a list of shapes to find and a digital camera to record their investigations. 

Student taking a picture of a Coke can as an
example of a cylinder. Love it!! Yes, I am a Coke-aholic.
There's always one, if not two on my desk.  :-)


 (Organizational side note: as I gave each group their camera, I took a picture of them so I would know which group had each camera when I downloaded the pictures).

It was amazing to see the variety of items that each group found that fit the characteristics of our shapes. To be honest, I was a little leary of how this would turn out as I wanted it to be purposeful, not a waste of our learning time, and not just about using the cameras. In the end I can honestly say I will do it again next year but with a few tweaks. It was a great way to check for understanding and for kids to collaborate and work together.  For several of my children it was also a great activity to practice their social skills. It was easy to see which kiddos had a good grasp of the concepts and which needed that little extra bit of help. Once I download the pictures, I plan to print them off, have the groups label their objects and then turn it into a class shape booklet.


Student taking a picture of our globe as an example of a sphere.

Edited to add:
I had a hard time deciding exactly how to use all of our pictures but in the end, Louie, our leprechaun took care of the issue for me. He put most of the pictures into a Smilebox slideshow and uploaded it to our blog. The kids got a kick out of seeing their pics and naming the shapes but were even more enamored by the fact that Louie was to blame!! Click here to see Louie's slideshow of  our 3D shapes.

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

Dr. Seuss went tech this week. This week our school had a door decorating contest for Dr. Seuss' birthday. Our door was inspired by the story, I Can Read With My Eyes Shut. After reading the story, students were shown how to use digital cameras (the timing for this was perfect as I have several projects in the coming weeks that will integrate camera usage). Students then worked in groups of three to take digital pictures of each other- the hitch was, students shut their eyes for their picture.  The collaboration and problem solving skills that were exhibited by each group were fantastic and their pictures turned out silly and wonderful. Once the pictures were printed, students cut out their head shot, colored a Dr. Seuss hat and glued it to their picture. They then created a Dr. Seuss book to attach to their project so it looked as if they were reading. Next year, I'm planning to read Dr. Seuss books well in advance of the project so that the kids can choose their personal favorite for their book and also write about why it is their favorite. Unfortunately, we just ran out of time for that piece this year.
Next week as we wrap up our unit on 3D shapes, we will use the digital cameras to go on a 3D shape hunt. Students will work in groups of 3 to find and photograph real life examples of cones, pyramids, spheres, etc. Once the pics are downloaded, cooperative groups will write about their pics and create a book that they will share with the class. I'm still debating if we will do our books digitally or on paper due to time constraints.
How about you? Anyone have any other great lessons that they incorporate digital cameras into? Would love to hear from you!