From Photos to Stories!

Photographs are a great way to grab student interest and curiosity. There is something magnetic in looking at a photograph that brings out creativity. There are tons of ways to spark student interest with photos.

Use Photos of Yourself and Your Students

Using photographs of yourself, you family, or your students is an amazing way to capture your students' attention. Kids love to see themselves in their world. It is thrilling for a child to see their image within instructional materials. By using their photo, you make them famous AND you guarantee that they will pay attention to the activity.

Kids also have a fascination about their teacher's life outside of school. By sharing photos of yourself and your family, you are giving your students a small piece of yourself. That is a powerful thing.

You can snap pictures of your children whenever you think about it and use these pictures for instruction. Bring you camera or phone to lunch or recess and snap some pics. Real life pictures will grab their attention, spark excitement, and bring on the creativity.

Use Photos From a Magazine

As you get your hair done, wait in the doctor's office, or before you go to sleep; flip through magazines and find some great photographs that may get your kids excited!

Find Photographs Online

You can find tons of interesting photographs online. I created a Pinterest Board just for Creative Picture Writing Prompts. Pinterest is a great place to find educational ideas by the millions!

From Photos To Stories

I have a freebie to share with you!

I wanted to create a set of easy resources that would let me create a reusable anchor chart. In this freebie, I've included two sets of labels that you can use to create an anchor chart with your students. Simply, choose the size that works best for you!

Print and cut out the labels. Use with a pocket chart or affix to a large piece of chart paper. Laminate the chart paper and you have a reusable anchor chart. Students can use post-it notes to identify the story elements from a story that you read OR they can use the post-it notes to create a new story.

I included a silly photo of my cat in this pack. She's wearing a lobster suit and it has so many possibilities for creative writing. There is also a graphic organizer with the photo included. You can use this organizer to help students create their own story.

Get your FREE set of "From Photos to Stories" here.

I am in the process of creating more Photo Writing prompts, so stay tuned!