Adding+Digital+Images

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= =  Adding digital images to enhance the text is a skill I teach my third graders. Through modeling and practice, my students learn how to compose and crop a picture so that it tells a story and adds information for a reader. I encourage them to limit personal information on the web, so we often crop out faces and zoom in on what is happening during a lesson. **I have found that students are more interested in reading posts that have a visual component in it.**

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I started a classroom 365 project and it has proven to be a popular site that attracts student interest and participation. Anyone can contribute a photo and text! The comment section has provided wonderful writing opportunities for my students. Check out the clever commenting that happened on January 1, January 2, and January 3!

Blog Examples Using Digital Images
 * ===Here is a link to a post written by three boys. They wanted to write the directions for playing a multiplication game we learned in class. The boys arranged all of the photos. They spent a lot of time thinking about which shots would explain the rules of the game in the best way. I assisted them with cropping some of photos to **zoom in on each step of the game.** [|Multiplication Property Games]===

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 * ===Here is a link to an array lesson using digital images. Rather than taking photos of the students from a distance, I took close-up shots of their work. The array and the equations were photographed. Now the post is a review lesson of arrays. The following day, I used the post as a quiz. I slowly scrolled down so the students could see the array, but not the equation. [|Hip! Hip! Array! 2009]===


 * ===Here is a link to another array lesson using digital images. Students located arrays on the school campus and then photographed them. It can be used as a quiz as well. [|Hip! Hip! Array! 2008]===

= =  It is important to teach students about posting appropriate images on the web. I have taught my third graders to only include photos that enhance the text, but do not reveal too much personal information. These stories include digital photographs created by students at home. Parents emailed me the image. (I encourage them to send a small file, around 100 kb)


 * ===Here is a link to a lesson using digital images in storytelling. [|Winter Break Fun!]===


 * ===Here is a link to another post about using digital images. [|Halloween, Who Are You?]:===

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