Camera For Kids!

I teach kindergarten in a neighborhood school attended by children from a housing project. Twenty percent of the student body are homeless and my entire class receives free lunch. My young learners suffer from many serious affects of poverty such as coming to school without the proper clothing for the season. They lack basic medical or dental care, and rely on school for nutritional meals. Since my students are without so many basics, my school strives to provide access to as many basic necessities as possible. My goals for this class are to get everyone reading by the end of the year. One of the best ways to encourage reading with young children is by having them create their own books with their drawings, writing, and pictures. I made two classroom books with the student’s pictures and drawings. My students love to sit in the classroom library and “read” their stories. In addition, I take pictures of my students and classroom objects and create educational activities for the children to work on during literacy centers. Currently I borrow my friend’s camera to make these educational projects for my students. Our class is in need of a digital camera so they are given the opportunity to enhance their literacy skills through photography. In addition, there are numerous other things that we can do with a camera. Some of the different things that a camera will enable us to do would be ongoing observations of our environment, documentation of our class projects and work, and it would be of great use in class experiments and activities. Your support of this project will open the technology doors for underprivileged children. With a camera, my students will be fully engaged in the learning experience while actively participating in class. I can guarantee that both my students and I would be so grateful to receive this updated piece of technology. The educational benefits my students will receive from the projects created with the camera will help them excel in their literacy skills.