In Which Direction Is My Collection? A Photo Editing and Web Page Project

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A collection is more than simply a set of objects; the relationships among the objects tell a story. A story about a collection could be about things in your room, people in your community, hip-hop slang or ways to give directions. Because almost anything can fit into a collection, projects focusing on collections give you the flexibility to reinforce curriculum goals ranging from vocabulary, math, and science to art and technology.

In this project, kids decide on a topic, create or assemble a collection of information or items related to that topic, and build a Web page to show off the collection.

This example incorporates digital photography and photo editing to create a collection of imaginary road signs to reinforce vocabulary building and synonyms. Don't limit yourself to our topic, however. You can do the project with text alone, replace the photography module with one on computer drawing, or create a multimedia presentation as the end product instead of a Web page.

Why collections? Because everyone collects things, especially kids. From baseball cards to stamps, dolls to books, video games to funny-looking rocks, everyone knows the feeling of accomplishment one gets from putting together a comprehensive collection and searching for new additions. One of the most popular and important sites on the Internet, Yahoo!, actually began as a collection of links to other Internet sites. (It still is, to a large degree.)

Working on a collection-based project has another advantage, as well. All collections follow some kind of model or template, even if it's just a definition of what kinds of things fit into the collection. Kids master skills and knowledge only through reinforcement and practice, but that usually becomes boring. A project on developing a collection that kids care about provides a platform that makes repetition fun.

Recommended Time: 

Plan on working on the various elements of this project for about 30 minutes each day for a week or longer, depending on how complex and complete you want to make it. Break it up into modules that make sense for your program schedule and the age of your kids. Younger children will require more time on modeling and practice for various segments.

Goals: 
    • To reinforce almost any learning topic or basic skill
    • To introduce or reinforce Web-development skills
    • To introduce or reinforce computer graphics, digital photography or photo-editing skills, as desired.
Materials and Equipment: 
Computers with or without Internet access, Journals or sheets of white paper for drawing, Assortment of pens, crayons and/or markers in various colors,
Software for drawing or photo editing, if desired, Oversized pad of paper, 2' x 3' (preferable), or blackboard for mapping
Software for Web authoring, Digital cameras, if desired
Preparation (Before You Begin): 

Make sure that you are familiar with any elements you intend to include in this project, such as

    • using mapping,
    • the basics of drawing
    • digital photography,
    • computer graphics and image editing, and
    • creating a Web page.

You can use this project to introduce any or all of these topics, or you can introduce them in advance and use the project to reinforce them. Leave yourself more time for modeling and exploration if your kids are younger or new to any of the software applications.

Activity Steps: 

Part 1: Planning

The key to all successful activities is good planning. Before you do anything else, determine your main objective. Is it to support a certain skills set or topic, such as vocabulary or science? Maybe the overriding goal is to teach Web-page development, in which case a particular topic may be less important than, say, making sure the kids have pictures or even sounds to insert. Because the kids will ultimately select their own topics, make sure that you're clear on what you're trying to accomplish, so that you can guide them.

Creating collections can also reinforce vocabulary skills. If you're working on history, you could do a collection of American Presidents; for studying ecology, you could do photos of different environments in your neighborhood; for math, you could build collections of charts and graphs. The possibilities are virtually endless.

tip Plan the other activities of the day so that they anticipate, reinforce and get the children thinking about collections before you introduce the project. For example, if you start class with a journal exercise, try something like writing or drawing pictures of "things we collect." If you always read a book in each session, select one that shows a collection, like an alphabet or a field guide.

Also, find several books, magazines and even Web sites that show collections and have them ready to show the kids to help them get ideas.

Part 2: Finding Ideas

Once you know how you want to frame the project within broader curriculum goals, the next step is to help the kids plan their particular topics. Do a mapping activity, starting by writing "collections" in the center. Follow the standard mapping process, asking questions like the following:

    • What can we collect?
    • What types of these things can we collect? (If one topic is boxes, you could list cereal boxes, matchboxes, etc.)
    • Where can we find these things? (Boxes can be found in the home, in stores, etc.)

If you're guiding kids toward a specific topic area, be sure to adjust the questions accordingly. Remember to model each stage of the mapping first, then let the kids work on their own in pairs. After a few minutes, call them back to work on the next question in the map.

Part 3: Generating More Ideas

Show the kids some of the books, Web sites and other materials you've collected. These will spur even more ideas, not only for topics but also for style and execution of the finished project. The kids probably never would have thought of using edited road-sign images to display a collection of vocabulary words, as in the sample project, or they may not have realized that they could collect sounds as well as pictures or objects.

Let the kids refine their maps some more, and work with them to pick a suitable topic.

Part 4: Demonstrating and Working on the Project

How you proceed will depend on your particular goals and objectives. You should work all the way through one project that incorporates some or all of the steps in the completed project (e.g., the stop sign example). To create something like that page, you would do the following:

Step 1: Have the kids take photos of signs outside the building. Be sure that you've covered the basics of using the digital camera. Another option is to have them scan photos from a magazine.
Step 2: Open the file in PhotoShop, and save the file with a new name that includes the new word (e.g., halt.gif, cease.gif). Then demonstrate how to erase the old word (stop); type in the new word in the right color, size and font; and move it into the correct position. Repeat for as many variations as you have in your collection. 
Step 3: Demonstrate how to create a simple Web page, including creating a new file, adding text, placing the photos and creating any appropriate links. 

tip

Your first step in this part will be to sketch what your Web page will look like, much like a storyboard. After all, you have to get the kids thinking about and planning the layout as well as subject matter, including which elements to include on the page.

Do a sketch yourself for your demonstration project and show it to them—it's good modeling and shows that this step is important. They may get more ideas through their planning and may eliminate ideas that don't work.

Keep in mind that this is only an example of one kind of result for this project. You could just as easily end up with drawings on paper or a multimedia presentation—the important work happens in steps 1 through 3. If you have the time, try doing as many as five collections before reaching your final, most sophisticated project, as in the following example:

    • 1st collection: the whole group
    • 2nd collection: pairs of students
    • 3rd collection: change the pairs
    • 4th collection: individuals.

If you're doing multiple collections, you might stage in different technologies by just doing a mapping and pattern writing activity the first time, then a drawing activity on paper, then image editing, then a Web page, and so forth, finally bringing everything together in a project similar to the signs. Follow the guidelines for teaching about and with technology as you demonstrate each new piece of software. If your kids are new to any of the software, you have an especially good reason for doing multiple, interim collections so that you can focus on one software tool in each stage.

tip However you go about creating your Web pages, be sure to provide a method for communication. The simplest way is to put a "mailto" on the site or on each page. A mailto is just a special kind of link that automatically sends an email to someone you specify when a visitor clicks on it.

By adding a mailto and a request for comments, you can set the stage for more projects around online communication and help kids get positive reinforcement about their work. Remember that adding the mailto is not enough by itself. You need to let people know that the page is available, even if the site is just for parents or kids in other sessions at your center.