Effective Projects Case Study

5th Grade Celebration at Keene School District

www.fuller.k12.nh.us

This is a story about a project that started 5/1/2007.

For more information, please contact: Mary Ellen Powell at mpowell@sau29.org.

The students used enhanced digital photos for 5th grade celebration.  Students took each others photo and then embellished/enhanced then in Kid Pix and then mounted on posterboard and used as part of their prop when reading their Favorite Fuller Memory at the 5th grade celebration (graduation) at school.

Funding: This project was supported by $0 from and $0 in local funds. The project illustrates how federal funding supports “Access - Enhancing existing technology and acquiring new technology to support education reforms and improve student achievement (includes servers, desktops, laptops, peripherals).” The project addressed the following grades and content areas: 

 Gr3-5      EngLangArts        TheArts  NETS 1,5, 6

The Setting: We are a small neighbor K – 5 elementary school in Keene, NH, with 3 divisions of each grade.  Our elementary school was the first to have a computer lan in the district, but with budget issues and money constraints, our ability to keep current or buy equipment has been severely hampered.  We were fortunate to be able to buy 5 digital cameras at the end of the 2007 school year.  Just recently, our school was burglarized and 4 cameras, and 2 brand new projections devices were stolen.  The art teacher and I have been collaborating with the digital equipment doing animations in the Art room with the cameras and I have been expanding projects in the computer lab.  Last year’s group of 5th graders were so excited to use the cameras and create this project for their family members to see on an important night in their school career

The plot: The biggest planning challenge for this project was to have enough cameras for each class to use during the computer lab time.  The school had other cameras but they were old and each one was different.  It was hard for me to teach the students how to use the cameras with them all being different.  This is why we bought 5 cameras that would be the same for the students to learn how to use. TIME!!!  Not enough time to teach the skills before we got the cameras and  getting the students to give up the cameras when they were done taking pictures!  They loved using this technology and took this project very seriously as they were showcasing their photography skills.  I will overcome the lack of knowledge on the students part by preteaching the necessary skills they will need for this project before May.

The teachers: 5 teachers were directly involved. The fifth grade teachers were very important in this project as they became an extra set of hands and eyes for the computer class.  The planning of this celebration takes about a 4 - 6 weeks and having this piece of technology integrated into the program made it more special to the students and they had "ownership" in the finalize product.

The students: The students were extremely excited about this project.  After their photo was taken, each student had to write a favorite school memory they had during the time they were at Fuller, so they were implementing creative writing skills.  The memories were word processed in the computer lab so NET standards were addressed.  The photos were imported from the cameras to the local network where the student retrieved it and imported it to Kid Pix.  In Kid Pix, they were able to use the drawing tools to embellish the area around the photo.  Some chose to use stickers and stamp, too.

The data: No true "data' was collected other than printing of the final photo.

The difference: Student gains were measured by the final project and observation. I felt it was important to share this project as an easy "first" project for older elementary students to do.

Essential conditions: I feel that to make this project successful, the following would be needed: cameras, preferably the same for a small group of students to use, iPhoto installed or similar photo software, Tux Paint, Kid Pix or similar drawing program.  Students would need to know how to use a digital camera and downlaod the photos into a photo software program.  From there, they would have to import the photo to a drawing program so they could manipulate them.

Changes for the future: Preteaching all the skills needed.  This year, I have the skills imbedded into my curriculum so this project will be easier for them to do and should feel "seamless" I will have a rubric for the students to follow with a teacher assessment and a student self assessment.

Recommendations: I highly recommend this to other elementary schools.  The project can be adapted to fit the classroom and age level.  I am about to start something similar with the second grade students.

Telling our story: I am the advisor for the 5th grade newsletter at school and the students have the opportunity to take photos and write articles.  They have the chance to learn the skills needed for this project if they work on the newsletter.  This project was shared with all the parents of a “graduating” 5th grader at the 5th Grade Celebration as they were able to see the results of their student’s work.  I also shared this information in the parent monthly newsletter, Focus on Fuller.

Documents to share:  none at this time