Photography Mini-Lesson: What is Your Subject?

Turning kids loose with a camera is always a fun adventure. You never know what you’re going to get pictures of—maybe a picture of a person with their head accidentally cut off or a picture of the floor when they didn’t know they were taking a picture, etc. With this mini photo lesson you can help your students slow down and think through what the subjects of their pictures are.

What you’ll need:

• At least 1 camera your class can share. (Any simple point-and-shoot camera or smart phone will work.) Ideally, it'd be great to have 2 or 3 cameras so that you can split your class into teams, each with a camera to use.
• A printout of the different examples used in this lesson. (Just click here to download.)

Instructions:
This lesson is broken into five sections––an introduction, three principles, and a conclusion. Each principle is broken into two parts: Group Time is a group lesson when the whole class will learn and discuss together. Team Time is when each photo team (camera in hand) will practice the principle they just learned.


Introduction
Group Time
After you take a picture, you want to show people what you’ve done, right? You can show your parents, your friends, or your teacher. Well the people that you show your pictures to are your audience. When you want to take a good picture, it’s important that you always keep your audience in mind. You want to think about how they will see your picture and what your picture will communicate to them. Today we’re going to learn three important principles to help you do this.


Principle 1: What are you trying to show your audience?
Group Time
When you’re going to take a picture, the first thing you need to do is decide what you’re going to take a picture of. For example, let’s say I’m going to take a picture of my dog, Ralph. That makes Ralph the “subject” of my picture. So I take my camera, point it at Ralph, and snap the picture. I’m done right? Let’s look at the picture I took. 

You are my audience. Looking at this picture, can you tell that I was trying to take a picture of Ralph? (Have the students share about what they think the picture is really about.)

Ok, so it’s not too clear that Ralph was supposed to be the subject of my picture. This is why our first principle is so important. We need to make sure that our audience can tell what our subject is supposed to be. I clearly didn’t do that with my picture of Ralph. So what are some ways I could’ve done better at showing that Ralph was the subject of my picture? (Have the kids list their ideas. Possible examples: Zoom in closer to Ralph, wait until the girls walk by, or lay down on the grass so that you’re eye level with Ralph.)

Team Time
Now have your class break into teams and practice taking pictures that have a clear subject. Have each member of the team take at least one picture.


Principle 2: Check the background
Group Time
The second principle we’re going to talk about is double-checking your background. Now the “background” is everything behind your subject. You want to always check the background to make sure that there isn’t something distracting in your picture. Let’s look at this example. What’s wrong with this picture? (Have the students share what is wrong.)

Right! He has a plant coming out of his head. If the photographer had been paying attention to the background they would’ve spotted this problem. What could the photographer have done to fix this problem? (Have your students share ideas about how to fix the plant-head problem. Possible examples: Move closer to the subject when taking the picture, move to the right or left when taking the picture, or have the subject move so they don't have anything distracting behind them.)

So you see it’s not only important to clearly show what your subject is, but it’s also important that the background isn’t distracting your audience.

Team Time
Now have your class break into teams and practice taking pictures that (1) have clear subjects, and (2) don’t have distracting backgrounds.


Principle 3: Show your subject from different perspectives
Group Time
So far we’ve learned two important principles to help you (the photographer) communicate your subject to your audience. There is one last principle that we’re going to discuss, and that is making your picture interesting. We don’t want to take plain, boring pictures, right? We want to take cool pictures that are interesting to look at! This principle will help you do that. We make pictures interesting by taking them from different perspectives. This means that you show the subject in a variety of different ways. Example: Take some pictures from close up and far away, some from high up and some from low down. Let’s look at this example:

(Have the students list the different perspectives shown in the example. Talk about where the photographer had to be to take the picture.) So you see, you can have fun and be creative with all the different perspectives you take a picture from. Here is a good rule of thumb to make sure you get several different angles: Always take one picture close up, one from a medium distance, and one from farther away. (Show example)

Team Time
Now have your class break into teams and practice taking pictures that (1) have clear subjects, (2) don’t have distracting backgrounds, and (3) are from the three following perspectives: close up, medium distance, and far away.


Conclusion
Group Time
For the conclusion, have a show-and-tell time. Each team can show the class the pictures they took during team time (especially the one after Principle 3). Have them explain how their pictures show the three different principles. You can do your show-and-tell two different ways: If you would like to have the conclusion on the same day as the lesson, just have each team hold up their cameras and show the pictures on the camera's display. Or, if you don't mind waiting a little to have your conclusion time, you can download the pictures and show them using PowerPoint or your computer's image-viewing software.

I hope this lesson can encourage your students to not only think about their subjects but also enjoy being creative with perspectives and angles. Have fun with your budding photographers!

Cheers!

HAPPY about Art

I love finding new art ideas online so I thought I would share this one that I do with my class almost every year (it is great for teacher on call work as well).  

Here is how it works:

1.) Give students half a piece of 8 1/2x11 white card stock and 7 different coloured happy face stickers.

2.) Tell students to put the stickers anywhere on their paper.

3.) Once all the stickers are on the paper tell students that they have to create a scene without moving any of the stickers (I have an example for them). The stickers can be people, animals, or bugs. Really they can be anything with a face. I have had students turn them into suns or flowers.  It is interesting to see their faces when they realize where they put the stickers. Some of them are even upside down :) I tell them the whole page has to be part of the scene and that I want colours (no black and white). To add some humour I also tell them they cannot tell me that their picture is 7 people in a snow storm.

 4.) When students are finished I give them some tape and let them hang their masterpieces anywhere on the door. 

Here are some pictures of what this years crew did.

This activity helps me assess students persistence with work, especially when they put stickers upside down. It is great for seeing who can adapt to unforeseen circumstances. Every year a couple of students cannot handle it and ask to start over because they don't want their stickers where they put them. I always let them start over but I put the stickers on the page for them (none upside down). From this years crew I could quickly see that I needed to focus art lessons on adding details and colouring neatly in one direction. I don't think they were lacking in the creativity department so this is great.

Whenever we complete an art project I have students reflect on their work. Anyways here is a link to the art reflection sheets I have my students complete. 

  Cheers,

Photography Mini-Lesson: Rule of Thirds

Here's a fun little lesson to teach your class some of the basic principles of photography.

What you'll need:

• At least 1 camera your class can share. (Any simple point-and-shoot camera or iPhone will work.) Ideally, it'd be great to have 2 or 3 cameras so that you can split your class into teams, each with a camera to use.
• Printout of the example sheets shown in this blog (Click here to download files)

Instructions:
This lesson is broken into five sections––an introduction, three principles, and a conclusion. Each principle is broken into two parts: Group Time is a group lesson where the whole class will learn and discuss together. Team Time is when each photo team (camera in hand) will practice the principle they just learned.

Introduction

Group Time
Pictures are a fun way to capture memories and share them with other people. They're also a great way to tell a story. We're going to look at a special photography principle called the "Rule of Thirds" that will help us learn how to use pictures to tell a story.  

Principle 1: Rule of Thirds–Left and Right

Group Time
Let's say you're at a birthday party, and you want to take a picture of the birthday girl. Most people would take a picture of the birthday girl and put her right in the middle of the picture. 

 

This is a good way to show who the birthday girl is, but it's not a good way to tell a story about what's happening at the party. In order to tell a story about this birthday party, you can use the Rule of Thirds–Left and Right. Now, when you look through the camera, I want you to imagine 2 lines––one on the left and one on the right. This splits the picture into 3 sections. 

To tell the story of the birthday party, we want to put the birthday girl on one of these imaginary lines, NOT in the middle. Putting the birthday girl on either the left line or the right line leaves room for us to show what she's doing. That helps us tell the story of her birthday party. 

For example, we could put the birthday girl on the left line and show her with her presents, or we could put her on the right line and show the birthday girl with her cake. 

Do you see how putting the birthday girl with either her cake or presents helps us tell the story of what's happening at the party?

Let's look at a second example of using the Rule of Thirds–Left and Right to tell a story. Let's say we want to take a picture of a boy walking. If we put the boy in the middle of the picture, we don't know where he's going or where he's coming from. 

 

So we don't know the story of why he is walking. However, if we put him on the left line or the right line, we can show where he's going and where he's coming from.

Team Time
Now have your class break into teams and practice taking pictures using the Rule of Thirds–Left and Right. You may want to remind the class to imagine the left and right invisible lines to help them place the subject in their pictures.

Principle 2: Rule of Thirds–Top and Bottom
 

Group Time
One way to tell a picture story is to use the Rule of Thirds–Left and Right. Another way to tell a story is to use the Rule of Thirds–Top and Bottom. Now, when you look through the camera, I want you to imagine 2 different lines––one on the top and one on the bottom. This splits the picture into 3 sections. 

Let's say you're at a school play. You want to take a picture of your best friend on stage. When you look through your camera, should you put your friend right in the middle? No! That doesn't help tell a story. We want to use the Rule of Thirds–Top and Bottom. If we put your best friend on the top line, then you're helping tell the story of who came to see the play, because you can see the audience in the picture. 

Or, if we put your best friend on the bottom line, it tells the story of what's happening in the play, because you can see much more of the stage. 

Do you see you using the top and bottom lines helps us tell a story?

Another example: What if you were taking a picture of your teacher at her desk? If you put your teacher on the top line, then you're telling a story about what she's doing at her desk. If you put your teacher on the bottom line, then you're telling a story about what she has on the whiteboard.

Team Time
Now have your class break into teams and practice taking pictures using the Rule of Thirds–Top and Bottom.

 

Principle 3: Using All 4 Lines
 

Group Time
Now we're going to take the Rule of Thirds–Left and Right and the Rule of Thirds–Top and Bottom and use them both at the same time! So first, what should you imagine when you look through your camera? You should imagine all 4 lines together. These lines would make a 9 boxes, like a tic-tac-toe game. 

Now when you take a picture you don't need to use all 4 lines at the same time. You need to use 2––– one of the Left or Right lines and one of the Top or Bottom lines. For example, if you were taking a picture of your friend looking out the window, and you want to show that they're looking at a bird on a tree branch outside, you need to put your friend on one line and the bird on the other line. 

Can you see how we're using two lines at the same time to tell a story?

Another example: If you're taking pictures at recess, and your friend kicks a soccer ball, put your friend on the right line and the ball on the bottom line, and that helps you tell a story of where the ball is going.  OK, let's try this out.

Team Time
Now have your class break into teams and practice taking pictures using 2 of the 4 imaginary lines.

Conclusion

Group Time
For the conclusion, have a show and tell time. Each team can show the class the pictures they took for each of the three principles, demonstrating how they put the subject on the appropriate line or lines. You can do this two different ways: If you would like to have the conclusion on the same day as the lesson, just have each team hold up their cameras and show the pictures on the camera's display. Or, if you don't mind waiting a little to have your conclusion time, you can download the pictures and put them into a PowerPoint slideshow so that it's a little easier for everyone to see the pictures and for your students to explain how their pictures demonstrate the 3 principles. 

We hope this lesson helps inspire your students to become young photographers who can tell stories instead of just taking regular old snapshots. 

Enjoy!  

Tiffany 

Inferencing Through Comic Strips

Hello, 

I’m Teri from Teri and Tiff’s Creative Resources. I am half of a sister team. About a year ago, my sister, Tiff, and I decided to combine my nine years of teaching and her eleven years of graphic design experience and create our TpT store that highlights engaging supplemental resources. This past year has been a whirlwind of an adventure.  We are both so excited to be a part of this new Who’s Who community!

Well now that you know a little bit about our team, I’d love to share an inference activity with you.  There are so many fantastic ways to reinforce inferential thinking, but one of my favorite methods is to utilize comic strips.  At this point in the year, my fourth graders have a pretty good understanding of how to combine the clues given with their prior knowledge to make an evidence-based inference; so I decided to challenge them one step further by asking them to create inferential clues for each other. We did this by playing a game of Comic Scoot. Here’s what we did.

Day 1: We read a few Calvin and Hobbes comics and made some observations about comic format.  My students highlighted that a comic still follows a basic plot line by having a setting, mini rising action, a climax, and a conclusion. They also noticed that the characters tend to have unusual quirks that make them memorable. 

Day 2: Once we gathered some tips from Calvin and Hobbes, we started to prep for our own classroom comic strips. First, I had my students break into small groups and create 4 main characters that could be the focal point of our comics. As a guide, I gave my students four categories to brainstorm through:

• Personality
• Likes
• Dislikes
• An unusual quirk

Once they were done brainstorming the character traits, they typed up their list, printed off a copy for each group member, and each illustrated a version of their character.  When everyone was done, this gave us three to four versions of each character description.

Here’s a quick peek at our character creations.    

The timid, animal loving . . .

 

The adventurous, anti-shopping . . .

The bossy, candy loving . . .

 
The imaginative, allergy ridden . . .

Day 3: After each group introduced their character, I reassigned the groups so that each table had a member from each character group. This gave each table a set of all four main characters.  At this point, my students thought they were ready to begin creating their comics; but I had to add two more twists.

1. One person was not allowed to write a whole comic. Instead, I shared that each student was going to create one slide for each comic and therefore, travel around the table.
2. Each table received a different setting that their comic had to highlight.

The classroom began to hum with anticipation as I assigned the different settings. 


 Day 4: We began our game of Comic Scoot. Every student was given a blank comic strip and a character description.  They had to take a few minutes to brainstorm how their character should respond to the setting and then they began the first slide.

Once the first slides were complete, I asked each student to rotate around their table one seat to a new comic. At each new comic, they had three tasks to complete:

1. They had to gather clues for the next slide, by investigating “Slide 1’s” illustrations, talking bubbles, and narrations.
2. Once they found the clues, they were supposed to infer the next step and create the next slide.
3. As they drew the next slide, they had to respond to clues given as well as move the comic forward through creating new clues for the next classmate.

As I saw students wrapping up their slides, I would call time and ask everyone to rotate again.   

Here’s an example of 3 slides complete.

Here’s an example of 4 slides complete.

During each rotation, I roamed the room reminding students to:

• Pay attention to the inferential clues rather than just creating whatever they wanted
• Pay attention to where they were in the storyline – setting, rising action, climax, or conclusion
• Make sure their slide responded to the inferential clues in the previous slide but also moved the slide along and created clues for the next person.

After several rotations, it worked out that the original author circled their table and returned to their comic on the last slide.  This allowed the original authors to create the introduction and conclusion to their comic. The last slide was a challenge for many of my students because they realized that the comic had changed a bit from their original intent, and some of them wanted to create a conclusion that redirected the comic back to their original idea.  This struggle lead into a great conversation about how you need to infer based on the clues given, not what you want to have happen.  In the end each author responded to the direction the comic took and wrapped up their comics appropriately.

Here’s a quick look at some of the final products: 

 Day 5: We wrapped up this activity by having a special presentation of the comics and by reflecting:

• What we learned about inferring
• What types of inferential clues were found in the comics
• How the characters changed based on the setting given, and what skills they took away from this activity that can help them to continue inferring.

This was such a fun inferential activity. My students were so engaged throughout the project. In the end we were able to practice clue-based inferring through finding and creating clues.

By changing the main characters and the length of the comic strips, this activity can be easily adjusted to fit the specific needs of any classroom.

If you are interested in trying this out in your classroom, all you need is a character brainstorm sheet, and a blank comic strip. Both of these 

For Grade Levels: 3rd, 4th, 5th, & 6th

can be easily created on a word document by inserting tables. If you'd like to try out another comic activity be sure to stop by our store and see our Prediction Comic Strips.

Well, I hope I got your creative wheels turning for yet another fantastic way you can enhance your students’ learning. I’d love for you to share the inference activities you are doing in your classroom.

Cheers,