As you take pictures of your children and school events throughout the year, use them in Language Arts!

For instance, your class went on a Field Trip to a farm. You saw various animals, went to the farmhouse, ate lunch, and made a scarecrow. Here are a few activities for you to try:

1. Let the children put the pictures in sequential order. Depending upon the age group, choose a different amount of photos for them to use.

2. Make Xerox copies of the snapshots and have the children make their own book about their trip. This will be useful for sequencing, writing, spelling, grammar, vocabulary development...all depending upon the age group.

3. Choose a photo and ask who, what, where, when, why, and how questions about it.

4. Choose a picture and ask what happened before and after.

5. Let the children categorize the snapshots into groups (for instance, animals, farmhouse, lunch, and scarecrow).

6. Choose a photo and have students write the adjectives, nouns, and verbs (for instance, black-and-white cow mooing).

7. Choose a picture and ask for letters and/or sounds. For instance, with a picture of a pig, ask what letter it starts with and what sound that letter makes. A bonus is to ask what sound the animal makes.

8. If you are feeling exra-industrious, make as many copies of the photos as you will need to make the following games - Bingo, Dominoes, Concentration...you get the idea.

9. Use snapshots as story starters. Let children write an original story or poem about the trip.

10. Older students can do research on farms in different areas and fill in a Venn Diagram with the information they found.

Parents, you can use these same activities with photos you take. If your children are old enough, you may even allow them to make their own scrapbook. Instead of writing captions, try typing them using different fonts on the computer. Use craft scissors with different edges. Your children will be reviewing sequencing, spelling, grammar, vocabulary, writing or typing, becoming computer-literate...all while remembering a pleasant time.

For children learning English as a second language, simple pictures with their corresponding words can be matched. For instance, a picture of a pig is matched with the word p-i-g. This will develop vocabulary, spelling, and reading.

I hope you have found these tips useful. Have fun and remember that Reading is FUNdamental!!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Freda J. Glatt, MS, retired from teaching after a 34-year career in Early-Childhood and Elementary Education. Her focus, now, is to reach out and help others reinforce reading comprehension and develop a love for reading. Visit her site at http://www.sandralreading.com. Reading is FUNdamental!