Question of the day:

Project your question of the day on the screen.  Have it up and running when the students walk in so they can do it first thing in the morning before class begins.  Students can respond by placing their name card or clothespin in a can under the big screen.  I use coffee cans with a happy face on the “yes” can and a sad face on the “no” can. 

Show & Tell:

If you do show and tell make a new rule that all items need to fit under the document camera, and then let students show their items on the big screen.  Everybody’s sure to pay attention when they can all see everything, no more “I can’t see!”

Making Words:

Using magnetic letters has never been more fun that it is under the document camera!  Use your letters to spell words; place some letters (you have secretly already pre-selected which letters) under the camera and let the kids come up and try to spell a sight word from their list. 

Environmental Print:

Place a piece of environmental print under the document camera (see link to Hubbard's Cupboard in resources) and ask the students to help you find where to place it on the word wall.  You can also place it in an envelope and slowly pull it out revealing only a little at a time and see if they can guess what it is. 

Rainbow Writing:

Place a sheet of white paper under the document camera and write a large letter on it using a black marker.  As you write the letter talk the children through it; “Where should I start writing my letter?  At the top or bottom of the paper? O.K., I’m starting at the top and now I’m going straight down and sliding to the right.  What letter is it?”   Next, have one student at a time come up and trace the letter with crayons using correct letter formation, talk each student through the letter just like you did before.  Each student chooses a different color to give it a “rainbow effect”.  Post these around the room for educational decorations.

What's Missing?

This is a very fun memory game.  Place several objects under the document camera (you can use the Lakeshore ABC manipulatives mentioned earlier) and then use the Freeze feature on your document camera and take one item away.  Now unfreeze the camera and have the students guess which object is missing- my kids LOVE this game and they have become pros.  This activity helps students learn to pay attention and notice details, which is a valuable skill when noticing letters, shapes of letters, and their similarities and differences

Science:

Place real life objects like leaves, worms, cactus under the document camera to prompt scientific inquiry.  We showed the students how to plant their seeds using the document camera.  We put the dirt in the cup, poked a hole in the dirt, put the seed in the hole, covered the hole, and watered it.  Then the students planted their seeds independently. We checked the progress of our seeds each day under the document camera so the whole class could see. 

We are currently have caterpillars in the classroom for our science unit.   First, we showed our real caterpillars under the document camera so everybody could see them clearly.  We discussed their different features and answered all questions the students had.  Every time we placed the caterpillars under the camera they started moving around a lot, maybe because of the heat from the bulb, the kids were fascinated.  Then, I showed a clip of the life cycle of a butterfly using United Streaming to the class to establish prior knowledge; the clip showed a time lapse of a caterpillar morphing into a butterfly- the kids were spellbound!