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First-Grade Photography
Velma Kingsley
Holland Elementary School, Holland, Ohio
Subject: Language Arts
Grade: 1
"The marvel is that young children are able to produce such
good pictures with only a little instruction on a simple camera
and also to write such interesting sentences legibly."
Purpose and Description of Project
Velma Kingsley and her 24 first graders took photographs of each
other, school workers, and special events during the school year,
wrote about the photos, and created four group books to be kept
in the classroom and the school library-plus small individual
booklets to take home to parents.
The activities leading up to compilation of the books were designed
to improve the students' handwriting and composition skills, their
reading comprehension and vocabularies, their self-concepts, and
their understanding and appreciation of the people who make a
school work. The students' products included:
- "First Grade, Holland School," which contains snapshots
of each student.
- "School Workers," which features photos of various
staff members, from the director of instruction to a cafeteria
worker.
- "Class of '95," which includes candid shots of the
children at work, along with the students' own stories about themselves.
- "The Year in Review," which highlights special events
such as parties and field trips.
Activities
The teacher took initial snapshots of the students to stimulate
the writing of captions by the class about each child. These photos
were mounted and displayed in the hall outside the classroom before
being laminated on pages with the captions and sewn into contact-paper-covered
cardbook bindings. The book was an "instant reader,"
says Kingsley, "because all could read what they had written
themselves."
Student photographers were chosen on the basis of the best handwriting
as the children copied the group-composed article about this and
subsequent interview subjects. "Handwriting made a drastic
change for the better," notes the teacher. When interviews
were complete and photos taken, they were mounted, laminated,
and bound into books.
The third book included photos of the children involved in various
activities and entailed each child writing a considerably longer
article about his or her likes, dislikes, and future plans. These
longer items were typed by a parent volunteer before being laminated
and bound with the photos. Since a new
camera
had been purchased about this time and the children took additional pictures, they
had enough to use the best ones in the class book- "Class
of '95"-while combining the others with student writing in
little "All About Me" booklets to take home.
The success of the first three books now inspired yet another-
"The Year in Review"-to preserve photos of the many
special happenings the children had taken part in during the year.
All the class books will be kept in the classroom except for "Class
of '95," which was donated to the school library.
Materials, Resources, and Equipment
Human resources included school staff, school secretaries, parent
volunteers, and Kingsley's husband, who taught the children about
simple camera mechanics. Cameras included what the teacher describes
as her "cheap little flash camera" and a Kodak camera
that was bought later. Both used
ISO 400 film.
Outcomes and Adaptability
Kingsley found that the books stimulated reading, that even students
whose handwriting seemed hopeless made definite improvement and
progress, that story and sentence composition had positively improved
the children's writing skills, and that improved attitudes and
self-image were demonstrated through fewer discipline problems
and more pride in accomplishments and learning on their own.
The teacher also believes that any class can use the camera to
elevate self-esteem and motivate writing. Adaptations of difficulty
could be made for higher grades.