Taking Photos - A Success Criteria

Kindergarten are learning to take photos using iPad. We first got them into the learning commons, we wanted to get them just taking photos, so we learned how to take a selfie (an important skill in today's world).

Then we switched to the other camera and learned how to take a photo of an object. We then created a success criteria of how to do so. The students came up with the criteria. I provided them some words to help describe each criteria.

Now we have something to refer to when we taking photos in the future.

Documenting in Kindergarten

In Kindergarten, we are always looking for new and engaging ways to use technology. Today we started a centre type activity where small groups of 6-8 are coming into the learning commons to take part in a sorting centre.

The students have been learning about grouping and sorting and this was a chance for them to independently apply their new learning in a way that suits them.

We used iPads to help them document their learning. Once they completed their set, they used iPad to take a photo of their work. Then they tried to make a new set.

 

To keep their work amnd to access it later on, we simply added a name tag to the work so we could track it later, once downloaded to another device or computer.

With todays work, we exported the finished images by using Airdrop to get them all onto one device before downloading.

  

Documenting Trees with iPad

This week I started a project with a grade one class to do with trees and changes. The plan is to take photos of trees through the different seasons of the year.

Taking photos and DC

Firstly we had to learn/review how to take photos with the iPad. We also looked at some digital citizenship around taking photos with a mobile device as well as some handling guidelines. We decided to have each student in the shot for ease of organizing the photos once we downloaded all the photos off the iPads.

First go at it

We headed outside and broke the class into two smaller groups (about 12 students) we walked around the school to find trees and take some photos. After a little bit of modelling, we all chose our tree and then took our first photos.

  

Review and full class assessment 

After completing the outside task, we headed back in to view some photos and clean up the camera roll from the extra shots. We quickly realized that the students were not able to take photos of the trees  as we had hoped. There were cut off tress, crooked photos, unrecognizable students etc, etc

Success criteria 

We selected a few examples and non-examples of good photos and had a discussion with the class. Using a Google presentation, we made notes on what we noticed was wrong with the photos and what was good about the photos. We also added some tips about what the photographer could do improve on that photo.

More practice

After creating the success criteria and tip sheet, the student once again took some photos using the iPads. This time, we just worked in the learning commons and took photos around the inside space, being mindful of the composition of the photos.

Outside: Part 2

After having further practice, we moved outside for the second time and tried taking our photos again. It turns out that the practice and discussion about how to be successful made a big difference.

Watch the blog for some of the things we do next with our photos.

    

Start Simple!

Learning to use the camera app is a great place to start when learning about the power an iPad can play in learning process.

This past month I have begun working with three classrooms who have never really used an iPad before. In my new school we have only had 5 iPads and have not used them a great deal to create knowledge. Last month we borrowed 10 iPads from our Outreach program provided by the CBE ILC (Innovative Learning Commons). 

I thought, what better way to begin using these devices than to use the camera app to take some photos around the school. Here's a snippet of what the three different classrooms did.

Graphemes Around the School

This grade 1 class used the iPad to take photos of letters (graphemes) that they could find around our building. Of course this was an easy task but a great one for students to get excited about finding the different letters they were learning about. 

We created our own success criteria from holding the device to taking the photo, and also to deleting images that weren't worthy of being downloaded.

After we gathered all the photos (which I downloaded from each iPad and then shared to our community folder) we talked about which images were good photos and which weren't so good and why that was.


 

Once all images were accessible from our server, the students then wrote their names (in Comic Life) using the different letters everyone in the class had found. 

Numbers Around Us

This grade one class put a spin on what they would take photos of. They went out around the school building to find different numbers they recognized. This proved more challenging as they found many numbers they could not recognize.

I downloaded the photos, as I did for the letters group. Once we had sorted them them somewhat, students were to choose numbers that were meaningful to them and then create an info graphic based on there chosen numbers. 

  

Colour, Colour Everywhere!

The kindergarten students took photos of different colours around our school. 

Once all photos are gathered in the same manner as above (we have not finished this project yet), we will use comic life again to share our work. We plan on adding photos and the names of each colour to a document then comparing to each other and building on to it further from there.

More to come on this project!

Real Math, Real Shapes

On Fridays in our Kindergarten class, we have our two classes (AM and PM) join together for the morning. It can be an intense time with 30 kinders all in the same small room.

To help alleviate the pressure on everyone in the room, I help with centre time. I usually try to do something on the iPads but sometimes struggle as we only have centre time for 45 minutes at the most.

This week I tried something that would hopefully take 45 mins at the most.

We wanted the kinders to relate 2 dimensional shapes with real world objects. To do this we used three apps; The camera app, PicCollage App and Doodle Buddy App.

Drawing in Doodle Buddy
First, the students drew a shape in the Doodle Buddy App. We kept this simple to save time. Once finished they exported their drawing to the camera roll.

Taking pictures of Real World Shapes
Students then found an object that matched their chosen shape and took a picture of it.

Putting it all together in Pic Collage
Inserting images and text into PicCollage is an easy process. The students mastered this within a couple of minutes. We used a word list for the shape names each student needed.

Exporting from the PicCollage App

The usual export button (the box with the arrow popping out) is the important button in this app for exporting the Pic Collage to the camera roll. See the images below to see what it should look like. 

 

The Finished Pieces

Approximately 30 minutes later, this is what the students had produced. AWESOME!