The Best Part of Me

Running with this idea from Pinterest, I started planning my own Kindergarten friendly version. The lesson is based on the book, "The Best Part of Me."  The book is a collection of photographs by photographer Wendy Ewald.  Each close-up picture of a student's "best part" is paired with a child-written

paragraph or poem explaining why that part is so special to them.       After reading a few of the examples in the book, I had students pick their own "best part."  I modeled by saying,  "The best part about me is my feet.  They help me walk to explore new places.  I also use them to run to keep my body healthy."

This lesson gave us the opportunity to let our young photogs put the iPads to good use.  I put the kids in pairs and let them each take a turn photographing their friend's "best part."  (Watching this was my absolute favorite part. Some of them were moving all around the room to pick the best background for their friend's picture.)

Once the group was done, I took the IPad, and sent them off to write about why they chose that part. From the IPad,  I was quickly able to email the images (our IPads are not hooked up to printers) and print them.  Once they printed, the students cut them out and added them to their writing.    

This lesson is great for students of all ages.  Because my Kindergarteners have been writing everyday since the very first day of school, I knew my students were up to the challenge.  They did a fantastic job.

This post was originally posted in March of 2012, my last year in the classroom.

++++Update: now I'd probably have them do this whole activity on the iPad using Educreations, Skitch, Book Creator, etc.