Our First Tech Club!

Last night was the first time the KE Tech Club met. What a great experience. There are 28 eager 4th and 5th graders who want to be a part of the club. We have divided them into two groups because 28 is just too many to handle. So, last night the first 14 met. We had invited them to bring their own digital cameras if they had one and their flash drives.

Phyllis shared what it takes to make a good picture - she talked about composition, rule of three and angle. Then we turned them loose in pairs and invited them to roam the rooms and take pics. They had so much fun!!

Of course there were techie problems - one of the digital cameras would not connect to the computer and didn't have a memory card or instructions. We had to apologize and let this sweet little girl know that there was nothing we could do - and she and her partner took another turn with one of our cameras.

After a bit of time we called them back to the computer lab and taught them how to download their pics to the computers in iPhoto. I showed them how to crop, get rid of red eye, adjust the lighting and play around with some of the effects. They got really involved in that and suddenly the hour and a half was gone and it was time to show them how to save their pics to their flashdrives and get ready to go home.

Today I had lunch with 4 girls from my class and one of them was sharing what we did in Tech Club. She was so excited one of the other girls (not in the club) asked if she could join. I tried to keep her interested and understand that she could join next year!

We have 6 sessions with each group this year - and hope to start much earlier next year. We don't even have all the equipment yet -we are still hassling over the video camera. But, I played with the new camera tonight. I have a lot to learn!!