Pieces of Me
School: Explore Elementary School
City/State: San Diego, CA
Grade(s): 3
Format(s): Photography
Subject(s): English Language Arts, Visual Arts
Project Overview
This book was created by third grade students at Explore Elementary School in San Diego, California. This book is the final product in a larger project combining technical photography skills, visual arts, writing and self-expression.
To create this book students learned about photography through a program called “Outside the Lens”. The curriculum included learning about different types of photography, how to use a camera, and how to use light, shadow and composition in a photograph.
This book features individual students and their favorite body parts. Each page includes a photograph (taken by a fellow student) of each individual’s favorite body part and hand written text explaining why they selected that part.
A similar project, “Our Favorite Body Parts”, created by pre-school children at the Santa Fe School for the Arts can be seen in this archive.
How This Project Can Be Useful
- A beautiful model of the value of capturing words and ideas of students as they appear – hand written and not overly edited
- The large size of the book (12” x 12”) and professional printing is both appropriate for displaying high-quality black and white photographs and empowering for young students
- Highlights individual student work within a larger collaborative class project
Common Core State Standards
| Standard | Long Term Learning Target |
|---|---|
| W.2.1 |
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| W.3.4 |
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| L.3.1 |
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| L.3.2 |
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| L.3.3 |
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| L.3.6 |
|