Elementary Studio Lesson
PICTURES
into Books
Linda Adams and Linda Lehman
Books about great artists
and their styles of art?
Been done. Books featuring
photography of places and
things familiar to the photographer?
Also been done. Photos digitally and
artistically altered? We see them
every day. Books geared to teach
and reinforce
skills needed
by kindergartners and first
graders? The
schools are
full of them!
What if all of these concepts
were combined to create a series
of six books and the authors and
illustrators were fourth graders?
Computer technology teacher Linda
Adams joined forces
with art teacher
Linda Lehman to
implement a project that
integrated computer tech-
nology skills with art history,
photography, and layout/design.
Approximately 160 fourth graders
became pho-
tographers
and created
books on the
following
concepts:
position
words, numbers, colors, alphabet,
shapes, and patterns.
The books were professionally
bound and placed in the school
library. Upon their completion,
selected student authors and illustrators read their respective books
to the kindergarten and first grade
classes. The completion of
the books coincided with
the school visit of author/
illustrator Keith Baker. Some
of Baker’s books, such as Big
Fat Hen, also targeted simple
concepts such as numbers and
counting. The entire
Fourth graders became author-
illustrators in this project
integrating technology, art
history, photography, and design.
project boosted the confidence of
students, young and old, in their
ability to use their own skills and
resources to become successful
author/illustrators.
In the Beginning
Since teaching photography was
one of the project’s objectives, the
school applied for a Martha Holden
Jennings grant to cover the cost of
film developing for 35mm disposable cameras to be shared by the
students. Double prints were needed
so that both students and the school
would have a copy of each student’s
six photos.
Teachers Adams and Lehman
attended a workshop to learn to
use the Photoshop Elements
software program purchased
with the grant funding. A variety of effects were developed
that simulated the styles of
famous artists. A landscape
photo could be digitally
transformed into an Impressionistic painting reminiscent of Monet, while
another fractured effect
could be applied to a photo
to create a Picasso-like
Cubist painting.
