lesson accelerators

I really liked the idea of creating an "About Me" poster with Microsoft Publisher for the kids at school. Usually I instruct my students to write about themselves on a template shaped liked a face. We also talk about their interest and goals in the class. Also we discuss which subject we like the least and the best and why. However their is a problem with this activity. The lesson instructs the students to have digital pictures of themselves saved on a cd or memory cards. The student is then suppose to bring those photos to school. The collection of photos should include their interest such as photos of cars, doll collections or dinosaurs as well as a photo of themselves. However, I work at a low income school in an urban area. My students do not own digital cameras. I would adapt this lesson to fit the needs of my students by allowing each parent to check out cameras from the school to take pictures of their child and his/her interests. Then I would upload those pictures into a folder. All this should be done the first week of class. Also during that first week the student would continue to fill out the about me template. After all the posters have been created I would attach their writing (or drawing if student can not yet write) samples on their posters. This activity could be presented in a staff development meeting by showing teachers how you can incorporate technology into an ordinary "About Me" assignment.
Another lesson that I thought was really neat was entitled "Family Connections." I liked this lesson because it is a way to digitally create a family tree. Every year teachers have their students' to create a family tree or bring something that related to your cultural history. This way the students can gain experience from powerpoint to create a digital family tree. This assignment example was very well organized. For each person of the family their was a picture on a button. When this button was clicked it brought up different information about that person, such as their name, date of birth and a historical event that happened the year or the date that person was born. This lesson is perfect for my class. My students will create this activity in the computer lab for a major social studies project grade. This also could be used for a staff development to show how to incorporate technology into social studies. I am happily getting away from traditional paper and pencil assignments!