Recommended time

Sessions that are between 60 and 90 minutes generally work well for younger children. They can handle longer sessions (two hours or more) if the activities are broken up with physical exercise, snacks, and rest or play periods. Scheduling time for group welcome and closure activities during every session is especially important for this age group. They benefit greatly from having clearly defined transitions between activities, such as physical games; sharing comments as a group; and practicing routines, such as setting up, cleaning up and lining up.

Goals for the session

• Build vocabulary
• Think critically
• Practice writing words and sentences
• Work cooperatively
• Learn how to operate a digital camera and properly care for it
• Learn techniques for taking photos at different angles and distances

Outcomes

• Idea Map
• Photos
• Newsletter

Materials and equipment

• A computer with Internet access
• A copy of the book Chato and the Party Animals, by Gary Soto
• A newsprint pad or roll of butcher paper
• Composition books (one for each child and facilitator)
• Regular pens and/or colored gel pens
• Colored markers
• A digital camera(s)
• Copies of a newsletter template sheet

Part 1: Introduction to Journals

What is it?
Journals can be used to record notes, creative writing and responses to questions as well as to keep drawings, photos, and newspaper or magazine articles. A routine of using journals and modeling their use will help participants form a habit of writing for their personal reflection and enjoyment. Facilitators can use journals to pose questions that connect to reading materials and project activities. Check out the article on journals for a description of these books and suggestions for their use.

How to

For the first journal exercise, ask the participants to respond to a question that requires creative problem solving and imagination. (e.g., "In words and pictures, show how we can solve the problem of pollution.") Here are some other sample questions:

Post the question on a board or piece of paper where everyone can see it. The facilitator should also respond to the question in a journal. At the start, the facilitator should share his or her response in front of the group (show the book, explain the words and pictures used, and then pass it around). Ask at least two children to volunteer to share their journal entries with each other in front of the group. Then have the children pair up and ask them to share their entries with one another. Finally, individual students share their responses with the whole group.

Tips
It is preferable to use pens (regular or, even better, colored pens) for journals because they cannot be erased. Erasing wastes time and makes it easy for children who are not happy with their writing or drawing to delete their work.

Children who have not received instruction in drawing will often become easily frustrated by drawing tasks, both on paper and on a computer. To help a group become more confident with drawing, try setting aside at least 10 to 15 minutes in each session to work on drawing exercises from the book Drawing with Children: A Creative Method for Adult Beginners, Too, by Mona Brookes. The exercises are easy to follow, even for facilitators who have had little experience with drawing. Try doing one new exercise per session.

Part 2: Read-Aloud

What is it?
Suggested reading is Chato and the Party Animals, by Gary Soto. This book is about a surprise birthday party thrown for Novio Boy, one of the cats in the neighborhood, by his buddy Chato, "the coolest cat in el Barrio." It is a special party because Novio Boy, who came from the pound, has never had a birthday celebration.

How to
The facilitator should read the book before the session to become familiar with the text and pictures and to identify questions for discussion. Check out the article by Robert Price on discussion builders and questioning techniques. During the read-aloud, the facilitator shows the pictures in the book to the group. After reading, the facilitator asks the group to discuss a few questions. Have the children pair up to discuss the questions with a partner, and then have them report back to the whole group.

Sample questions

• Who in the neighborhood helps make Novio Boy's party happen?
• Where in the neighborhood does Chato go to get things for the party?
• When Novio Boy tells the birthday party guests, "you guys are mi familia," what do you think he means?

Tip
Read-alouds provide great opportunities to introduce children to new vocabulary. One way to practice new words is to build a word bank: a collection of cards with words written on them. The facilitator identifies words in the reading that are new to the group—or words that may be familiar but which most of the children in the group do not yet know how to read or spell—and writes them on index cards. The cards can be posted in the room to discuss, copy and use for sentence composition exercises. Children can create their own word bank cards to store in personal folders.

Part 3: Idea Mapping the Neighborhood

What is it?
Idea Mapping is a technique used to generate, share and display ideas as a group. Participants break into small groups to work on hand-drawn maps made out of concentric circles. Children at all reading and writing levels, including prereaders, can contribute to the maps. Drawings, single words and word phrases can be used to represent ideas.

The purpose of this first map is to introduce the mapping technique, which will be used in later sessions.

How to
Check out the article on idea mapping

Each group should have several pieces of newsprint or butcher paper and a set of markers. The map starts with the facilitator writing a word in the center of a sheet of paper and drawing a circle around the word. Ask a question that relates to the word, and have the group respond to it in drawings and words. Add another circle that encompasses the first to hold responses to an additional question.

If the group is small (10 children or less) do the first map as one group. As the children gain more experience with mapping, they may prefer breaking into smaller groups to work independently. If the group has more than 10 participants, break it into small groups of four to six to work on separate maps.

Map ideas

• Central word: Neighborhood
• Question for the first circle: Where do children spend time in the neighborhood (e.g., house, playground, school or store)?
• Question for the second circle: What do children do in these places?

• Central word: Celebration
• Question for the first circle: What kinds of celebrations do we have for friends and family?
• Question for the second circle: Why do we have celebrations?

Part 4: Web Review of Children's Photography Sites

What is it?
Participants will look at Web sites containing photos taken by children to get ideas for their own photos. This site review also provides an opportunity to demonstrate Web site navigation techniques.

Suggested site
Hoffer Elementary School Angles and Words
Black-and-white photos taken by third graders at a public school in California, led by teacher Robert Price.

How to
It is easier for participants to access the sites if they can work from an email or Web page that has the links for the Web sites already embedded. If the group has prereaders and emergent readers, it is especially preferable to link them directly to the sites as opposed to having them type in URLs or use search engines to find sites. A closed page of links will also reduce the likelihood that the students come across sites containing inappropriate content. The facilitator can use a Web publishing program such as Netscape Composer to create a simple page containing links to the appropriate sites. This page can be placed on the computer desktops to facilitate easy access. If all the participants have email accounts and can access them at the program site, the facilitator can send an email to each participant with the links embedded.

The adult facilitator should gather the group around one computer and pull up each Web site, demonstrating what to look for and how to navigate the pages. If the group is new to using Web browsers, the facilitator should emphasize basic navigation techniques, such as using navigation buttons, scrolling and clicking on links.

Children can work in pairs or independently to review sites. After a review period of no longer than 15 minutes, participants should share comments on what they liked best about the sites. Participants can do this by walking as a group from computer to computer.

Tips
Facilitators should thoroughly review all sites before directing participants to them. Reviewing the sites will allow the facilitator to point out particularly interesting areas and will ensure that participants are not directed to pages that have inappropriate content.

If Internet access is not available, books with examples of photographs by children and/or adults can be reviewed instead. Reviewing such books can be helpful even if Internet access is available.

Part 5: Up, Down, Close and Far Photos with Digital Cameras

What is it?
This exercise introduces the proper care, handling and operation of the digital camera. It also introduces basic photographic composition techniques.

If a digital camera is not available, a Polaroid camera can be used. Cameras that require film to be processed before pictures can be seen are not recommended for this activity.

How to
The facilitator points out the parts of the camera (e.g., lens, lens cap, shutter button and view window) and describes their functions. The facilitator asks the students to practice naming the parts, shows them how to hold the camera properly and has them practice passing the camera to one another carefully, in a circle or in small groups. (With young children, safe handling of the camera will be a big issue, particularly if they have to share the camera frequently.)

Show the group how to use the shutter button to take a picture. Show everyone how to take a picture from different angles and distances. (Using simple terms such as "up," "down," "close" and "far" is helpful.)

Let the group practice taking pictures. Give it a specific assignment (e.g., "Take three 'close' pictures from a 'down' angle.") If there is time, download the photos onto the computers and ask everyone to pick one or two pictures to show to the group and explain why he or she took it.

Tips
If the facilitator does not have extensive experience with photography, browse through a beginner photography book or Web site such as Exposure: A Beginner's Guide to Photography to become familiar with basic photographic terms and concepts. Check out the San Francisco Exploratorium photography site page for links to other sites.

If the camera has features such as zoom and photo effects (e.g., sepia, negative), the facilitator may want to point them out later. It may be overwhelming to introduce them in the children's first session. These features, along with techniques such as panning and stop motion, can become the focus of short lessons during later sessions.

Part 6: Daily Newsletter

What is it?
A daily newsletter is a one-page news sheet of writing and drawing that participants will make at the end of each session to take home to their families. The newsletter helps parents learn about the progress of the project, creates a record of activities and accomplishments, and provides an opportunity for children to practice writing and visual communication skills.

How to
Check out Robert Price's Flash Newsletter templates (One, Two, Three) for sample newsletter templates. Newsletters can have space for the date, weather (space for drawing and words), accomplishments (e.g., "Describe three things you learned today."), favorites (books, photos or Web sites), quotes, riddles and information for parents (e.g., "Our next field trip will be..."). Newsletters can be filled in with pencil, pen, colored pencils or markers. Creating the daily newsletter is also a time for the group to reflect on the day. Questions to be responded to in the newsletter can be posted on a whiteboard or on a piece of paper and shared as a group before being written down.

Tips
If the children in the group do not know each other, do not know the facilitator or have never worked together on a project before, begin the session with one or two community building activities that will help the children learn about each other, open up and become more comfortable. Community builders for 6- to 8-year-olds should involve lots of physical activity.

Group journals are useful for participants who finish activities early. One composition book can be shared by the whole group, or, if the group is broken into smaller groups, each small group should have its own. Group journal assignments should be simple, such as vocabulary-building exercises (e.g., "List things that you like to eat at home."). See the Robert Price article on group books for more information.

Extension activities
Using HyperStudio or KidPix, make a slide presentation of photos of people or objects in the room. This project involves giving participants a focused photo assignment, taking the photos, editing and sorting the photos, and then incorporating the photos into slides with accompanying text, sound and graphics. Successful assignments are very focused and provide opportunities for imagination and adaptation (i.e., take photos close and up or down that show part of something but not the whole thing). Participants could take photos of living things outside (bugs, plants or birds), patterns in the room (clothing, wallpaper, furniture fabric or carpet), shoes worn by the group, or other subjects.

Use Inspiration K-12 (or some other easy-to-use software that can make charts) to make compare-and-contrast charts about the characters in Chato and the Party Animals or another book. (Who is tallest? Who is smallest? Who is the most fun? Who is the most serious?) The charts can include words and drawings. Participants should work in pairs.