Alphabet Photo Book

Phonemic awareness is essential to early reading skills. Learning the letters and their sounds provides the building blocks for beginning reading. Alphabet books are one way to introduce children to the letters and their sounds. Younger students love alphabet books, especially ones with wonderful pictures. Wouldn't pictures from their environment make a photo alphabet book even more special?

In this project, students use iPhoto to create a class alphabet book. The teacher first reads several alphabet books to the class. The students brainstorm objects that start with each letter of the alphabet. Each student is assigned a letter and then uses a digital camera to take photos of objects to include in their book. Alternatively, students can bring in photos from home and use a scanner to convert them to a digital format. They then import the photos into an iPhoto album and create an alphabet photo book. Each student contributes one page that combines one or more photos of an object with text identifying the objects and the initial phoneme. They print the books to take home. They also write a story about one of the objects pictured in the book in their writer’s notebook.

Note: Depending on the grade and skill level of the students, assistance may be
needed with some of the activities.

After completing this project, students will be able to:

• Identify an object matching to an alphabet letter and its sound.
• Find letters and objects in the alphabet photo book.
• Use the alphabet photo book as a resource for their writing.
• Work cooperatively with their classmates.

After completing this project, students will be able to:

• Use a digital camera to take photos.
• Use a scanner with assistance to convert a print photo to digital format.
• Use iPhoto to import and organize the photos.
• With assistance, create and print an iPhoto book with text.

• PDFs of the photo book and scanned copies of their writer’s notebook entry can be used in students’ electronic portfolios.
• The book can be used for individual assessment for identifying letter names and sounds.

Books

• Nancy L. Carlson, ABC I Like Me! , 1997
• Chris L. Demarest, Firefighters A to Z , 2000
• Betsy Bowen, Antler, Bear, Canoe: A Northwoods Alphabet Year , 1991
• Alan Baker, Black and White Rabbit’s ABC , 1994
• Jerry Pallotta, The Desert Alphabet Book , 1994
• Jerry Pallotta, The Dinosaur Alphabet Book , 1991
• Jacqueline Rogers, Kindergarten ABC , 2002
• Rosemary Wells, Get Set for Kindergarten: Letters and Sounds , 2001
• Brian Wildsmith, Brian Wildsmith’s ABC , 1996

Tools
Macintosh computer, digital cameras, scanner (optional), printer, iPhoto, AppleWorks

Creating a QuickTime Movie From an iPhoto Book

• All students will need to work on the same computer to import their photos into iPhoto and create a book.
• When taking digital photos, the student needs to have the wrist strap on and hold the camera carefully.
• Holding their breath when taking the picture may help the students to take clearer photos.