Early Childhood Technology Literacy Grant Literacy Activity

Developed By: : Laura Woodside, Washington Grove Elementary School

Overview: First graders love the predictable pattern of ABC books, to see their own photographs and enjoy publishing their own writing. This activity incorporates all of these child pleasers into a class book that is enjoyable and educational to make and upon completion it will become a treasured part of your classroom library. Each child will complete the sentence for their page, following the pattern as follows, (page one)"Maddie found an apple. Apple begins with A." (page two) "Matt found a book. Book begins with B." Featured on each page will be a digital photograph of each child with his/her object.

Student Level: First Grade (Early Emergent/Emergent readers/writers)
Time Frame: 2 one hour sessions
Objectives: The students will: Use letter/sound relationships of initial consonants. Use graphophonic cues to write words to complete a sentence that follows a given repeating pattern. Identify and write the initial consonant in a given word.

Materials:

• Computer and Printer
• Sony Mavica, or other Digital Camera
• Kid Pix or another Draw and Paint software
• Previously created/saved template (see sample below)
• ABC book (i.e. A My Name Is Alice by Jane Bayer)

Procedures:

1. Read Aloud or review a previously read ABC book. (Opening Set)
2. Invite the children to play an alphabet game. Tell children that you will say a letter and they need to raise their hand if they can think of something in the room that begins with that letter. (i.e. If the teacher says "Letter D", a child may respond with "desk!") If children can easily participate, then they are ready to construct a classroom ABC book. If not, they will need more practice identifying initial consonant sounds before completing this lesson. (Pre assessment)
3. Introduce the idea of making a classroom ABC book by telling the children that you want to take a picture of someone who can find something that starts with the Letter A. Allow a child to find an object in the classroom that starts with the letter A and use the digital camera to photograph the child with his/her object.
4. Remove the disk from the camera and invite the children to watch as you open the photograph onto the computer screen and cut/paste it into your Kid Pix template. (see Kid Pix manual for instructions on pasting digital photographs into Kid Pix and inserting text within a document)
5. Then, ask for a volunteer to help complete the sentence under the photograph.

   ____________found a ______________.
   ____________ starts with the letter _____.

6. After you have created this sample page, explain to the students that each of them will have the opportunity to create their own page and that you will put all of the pages together to make an ABC book.
   
7. Assign a letter of the alphabet to each child and instruct them to find something in the classroom that begins with their letter. Tell the children that when they have found their object, they are to leave it where it is and sit in their seat.
8. Begin calling children who are seated one at a time to take their picture with their object.
9. While you are taking the photographs, have the children write their two sentences by hand filling in the blanks appropriately.
   Helpful hint: It is helpful to use a volunteer, Instructional Assistant or Media Specialist to help you take pictures or provide writing assistance.
10. As the children finish writing their sentences on paper invite them up to the computer to type the words to complete their sentence in Kid Pix. Edit spelling with the child as words are entered into the computer.
    Helpful hint: Early finishers may work together to design/decorate a cover for the book or complete another page if all letters were not assigned. Or, they may assist others who are having difficulty with writing or finding an object.
11. When all of the children have completed their pages, print and assemble the class book.
    Helpful hint: You may want to print multiple copies of each page to support the following ideas: creating a bulletin board display, allowing children to take their page home, placing a copy in writing portfolios, creating a copy of the book to be sent home on a rotating basis.
12. Allow each child to read their page to their classmates and place the finished book in your classroom library.

This project can be spread into a multi-day activity by completing the pictures and handwritten portion on day one and then entering sentences into the computer and sharing final product on following days as time and resources permit.

Additional Resources: Sample Kid Pix Template

Extension: Have children practice ABC order skills by ordering the pages of the book in the Kid Pix slide show.