Before Activity:
Talk about what a member is. Relate it to "members of a class" or "members of a family." Then introduce the idea that there are also members of our school, and we are some of those members. Have the students brainstorm some of the members of our school and list on the board. Pass out the scavenger hunt lists.
Read the scavenger hunt sheet to the students. The sheet should include the following directions: "Find these people in our school. Take a picture of them and write down their names. Then ask them this question: "What is your job?" Write their answer to your question on your paper. Teacher: Make a separate sheet for each group to use. One could include: Principal, Custodian, Librarian, Lunchroom Worker, and Secretary. The other could include other members of your school such as: P.E. Teacher, Volunteer, Student, Registrar, Assistant Principal, etc. You can choose the ones you feel are important in your school. To keep it simple for kids, make the entries look as follows:
1. Principal's name______________________________
What is your job?____________________________________________
During Activity:
Once all children are back to the classroom, list all of the information they found on the board. Have each group tell who they needed to find, what their names were, and what they said their jobs are in the school. Collect the digital cameras for use for the final projects.
Break the students up into small groups and pair with one adult or older student partner to work on their scavenger hunts. Give each group a digital camera. Be sure that there are no more than 2-3 children per group so that every child will have a turn taking a picture. Send the students out to the school with their papers, clipboards (optional), digital cameras, and pencils. Give them a time limit to stick to and have them return to the room afterward. (In some situations it might be more feasible to have one group at a time go out to take pictures while the rest of the class works on another project in the classroom. When all pictures have been taken the teacher can continue with the remaining steps of this lesson. Visits could be spread over more than one class period or day if necessary. If no partners or volunteers can be found to accompany the groups, an alternative is to invite the various members of the school community into the classroom to talk about their jobs and let the students take turns taking pictures. Another option is to take the camera with you when the class travels about the school to lunch or to P. E. and let one of the students take a picture when the various workers are encountered in the halls, cafeteria, etc.)
After Activity:
The following steps could be done in one day or on separate days, depending on your personal preference.
Using word processing software, have the groups of students work together to turn their scavenger hunt information into short paragraphs. Here is an example: This is Mrs. Smith. She is our custodian. She is here to help keep our school clean. She also makes sure that we have what we need to keep the school clean.
The teacher will print out the pictures for the final product. The students will make "People Posters" using the digital images and the print-outs of their writing. They will then be able to put the names with the faces in our school. Each group of students will complete one poster as a group. (The activity could be modified to allow each child to make a poster of his or her own.)
