Digital Shape Safari

Technology/Equipment/Supplies Needed: Classroom set of digital cameras, computer lab with Excel, color printer, scissors, tape/glue, laminator, stapler or other book binding method
Topic: 3D shapes
Grade Level/Teacher/School: First grade and Sixth grade
Lesson Length: Three 30 minute sessions

Task/Objectives:
Students will take pictures of various 3D shapes.
Students will use Excel to import, label, and print pictures.

Process (strategies & activities):
Day 1
First grader will partner with sixth grade book buddies. Each pair will have a digital camera. The pairs will go around the school grounds taking pictures of 3D shapes such as cone, cylendar, sphere, triangular prism, and pyramid. They will have 30 minutes to take pictures. They should try to get at least 4 picures of each shape.
Day 2
Partners will download pictures of 3D shapes onto the computer they are working on. They will import their pictures into Excel and create a poster sized page for each shape. This is accomplished by filling 4 Excel pages and setting margins to 0. The pages can be glued or taped together to create the poster sized paper. Partners should also create a cover for their book that includes a title, authors, and photographers.
Day 3
Partners print posters out, cut the margins, and either glue or tape margins together to create big book page. Each page should be laminated for durability before putting big book together. Staple or bind book with spiral binders if available.
Differentiating Instruction Adaptations:
Students who need remediation can look for plane figures instead of 3D figures. Another option is for them to find one picture for each shape and combine all pictures on one poster with labels identifying the shapes.
Students who need enrichment can explain what attributes each shap has (eg. six faces, can not roll, can stack). Another option is for students to take a picture of an object with many shapes and have them make the picture into a diagram of what the shapes are on that object.