Picture This

Creative Communicator

Overview

Children love to take pictures and videos. They also like to move around and find things. This lesson combines these two things into one fun and active lesson. Students will be showing their knowledge of the alphabet and letter sounds as they move around their classroom or school taking pictures of different items they find.

Students will:

  • Demonstrate their knowledge of the alphabet and letter sounds.

  • Be able to work cooperatively with a partner.

  • Be able to communicate appropriately with a partner.

  • Demonstrate appropriate classroom and school behaviors.

To prepare for this lesson:

  • Become familiar with the iPad and the camera feature.

  • You may find it helpful to introduce your students to the iPad and camera feature prior to the lesson. Allow students to take random pictures to get a feel for how the process works.

  • Create a template for which to upload student pictures once they have taken their pictures: This may be a Google Slide where each letter gets a Slide and you then upload all of the student pictures for that letter sound.

See the Accommodations Page and Charts on the 21things4students website in the Teacher Resources. 

Directions for this activity:

  1. Introduce students to the iPad and the camera feature.
  2. Discuss the importance of following classroom and school rules regarding behavior when independently moving around the classroom or school (no running, talking quietly, etc).
  3. In pairs, give students a paper with the alphabet listed.
  4. Tell students they will be working with their partner on this activity and will need to talk with their partner and make decisions about what items to photograph and who takes the picture. They will need to agree on each item.
  5. Give some examples of ways that are fair to make decisions (take turns would be an example)
  6. Explain that they will be working with their partner to find items in the room (or school) that begin with each letter sound.
  7. As they find items they will take a picture and write the name of the item on their paper next to the letter.
  8. Once all students have completed their pictures the teacher will upload the picture into the pre-made template.  
  9. Students may then either view the finished product online or the teacher may choose to print a copy of the completed product for each student.

Different options for assessing the students:

  • Observations
  • Check for understanding
  • Observation of students choosing objects that begin with specific sounds.
  • You may choose to collect the paper students used to record the names of the items.
  • Assess final collection of pictures: must include a picture for every letter of the alphabet.

MITECS: Michigan adopted the "ISTE Standards for Students" called MITECS (Michigan Integrated Technology Competencies for Students) in 2018.

Creative Communicator
6a. Students choose the appropriate platforms and tools for meeting the desired objectives of their creation or communication.
6b. Students create original works or responsibly repurpose or remix digital resources into new creations.

Device: iPad 

Browser: Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Edge, ALL

App:
Camera App

Websites:
 

CONTENT AREA RESOURCES

Students will be utilizing their knowledge of the alphabet and letter sounds.

Variation: Students could utilize their knowledge of the numbers 1-10 or 1-20 (or more) and take pictures of items in groups.

Variation: Students could utilize their knowledge of animal species (mammals, birds, reptiles…) and take or find pictures of these types of animals.

CREDITS
This task card was created by Jean Smith, Van Buren Public Schools, April 2018. Updated October 2023.