catherine.macmillan » digital cameras

Interviewing People Who Help Us in School

catherinemacmillan — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 18:27:44 +0000

At the moment we are learning about ‘People Who Help Us’ and over the last week we have been focusing on people who help us in school. One example of how I have incorporated ICT into this is by using the video camera with the children to interview staff. We decided on two basic questions to ask, ‘what is your name?’ and ‘can you tell us about your job?’ Next, rather than simply watching it back I have embedded the movie clips into a flipchart along with photographs the children took (using ACTIVprimary software.) I have still to let the children record their voices into the flipchart explaining what we did.
The children will be able to look back at their interactive story and learn about people who help us in school whenever they choose. This was a simple activity which the children enjoyed. It was a great way of using ICT purposefully to enhance learning rather than simply using ICT for the sake of using it.

Alien Puppets

catherinemacmillan — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 12:11:49 +0000

The children made alien puppets using a variety of art and craft material. I incorporated ICT into this activity by using a digital camera. Before the activity started I took photographs of all the resources on offer to the children and printed them onto sticky back paper. I also made a sheet with two boxes- ‘what I used’ and ‘what I made.’ After the children made their puppets they helped each other to take a photograph of it. The children then used scissors to cut out pictures of what they used and also the end result. They really enjoyed this activity. There were lots of skills being developed- creativity, cutting skills, their confidence in using a camera, working co-operatively with others as well as the variety of language they were using to explain what they made, why they used what they did, what their alien liked/disliked etc.

Young photographers in the making!

catherinemacmillan — Wed, 31 Jan 2007 17:37:11 +0000

Today the pre-school children were learning how to take photographs with the digital blue camera. They were really motivated by what you could do to the photographs using the software that came with the camera.

They quickly picked up how to both take the photographs and download them onto the laptop. The activity was linked into our Space topic. The children could animate the photographs they had taken by adding special effects or space backgrounds.

I then encouraged the children to go around the school and take photos of other members of staff. This helps them to become familiar with other people and places within the school before moving up into primary one.

The children are already confident in taking photographs with digital cameras but this activity allowed them to further develop a range of basic photography skills in a fun way. When they had taken the photographs they independently downloaded them onto the laptop via the USB camera base. They were then introduced to using a simple storyboard as they added the photos they wanted to edit. When they were animating their pictures they were using a range of skills- clicking, dragging, minimising/enlarging, using preview mode before finally presenting their end ‘masterpiece’ to others.

This activity was a fun way of introducing very young children to a new way of using digital photography. It linked in with our current theme as well as supporting the children’s transition from nursery to primary.

Shape hunt using a digital camera.

catherinemacmillan — Wed, 04 Oct 2006 16:04:10 +0000

Today my pre-school group of children were learning about different shapes in the environment. We had a circle time in the nursery first and talked about some of the different shaped objects we could find. Afterwards the children were given the digital camera in groups of three to go around the school and take photographs of different shaped objects they could find. It was an exciting and motivating way to learn about shapes. The children were also developing their skills in using the camera, they had a sense of ownership of their learning, they were co-operating with each other and they were becoming familiar with different places within the school and meeting other staff members. Next we plan to go around the local area and take photographs of shapes in the environment.

Using digital cameras for Emotional, Personal & Social Development

catherinemacmillan — Thu, 14 Sep 2006 18:53:08 +0000

During our first topic this session we did a lot of activities about our emotions. One activity we did involved the use of digital photography. During a circle time we discussed different emotions and when we experience them etc. The children then took photographs of each other displaying different emotions. We had some very dramatic poses! The photographs were displayed and we scribed the children’s comments in speech bubbles. For a change we printed the photographs in black and white. An example of the comments included “I feel happy when my dad hugs me at bed time” and “I feel sad when my mum and dad go to work.” The children enjoyed this activity and it shows that ICT can be used in all curricular areas, in this case emotional, personal and social development. The children often spend time reflecting on the photographs with each other and with their parents.