Gold Rush Elementary School self-portraits

Featured here are self-portraits made by students in Kristen Hyde’s second grade class at Gold Rush Elementary School in Parker, Colorado. As an illustration of the process, the post also includes examples of drawings and notes students made in preparation for shooting their photographs. This project is described in detail in the post that follows this one. 

Running is fun.

I love running. I do it a lot. In running you can do races. And you can do it in sports. I fun fast. I usually win the races. It’s fun because you do it a lot if you play sports or even if you don’t play sports, you still run a lot!!! When you run you kind of lose your breath a little. Running is an exercise. And it is good exercise. Did you know that I have been running since I was 2 or 3 years old? Running is one of my favorite things to do.

“Running is Fun” portrait planning:

 

 

Loving Art

I am so good at art. It is so fun!!! Is is very, very fun!!! I love the color blue. I love all the colors except black and brown. I love when a rainbow comes because it has all the colors in it. I draw flowers. I love art!!!

“Loving Art” portrait planning:

 

My Eyes

My eyes help me see things. They help me see the beautiful butterflies and the flowers. They help me see where I’m going. Also I can see my family. If I didn’t have my eyes I wouldn’t be able to see those things.

 

“My Eyes” portrait planning:

 

 

My Thinking Brain

I think everywhere. I think outside. I think in the car. My brain helps me think. Thinking is what I do all the time. Thinking is what helps me.

“My Thinking Brain” portrait planning:

 

Doing a Magic Trick

I woke up one morning and went to school.  I did a magic trick at school at choice time. I packed up and I went home. When I came home I did a magic trick at home.

 

The Walking Man

I walk to school. I walk home and I walk to Amazing Jakes. I walk with my bike and I walk at the school with my friends.

 

Jumping Bean

I love to jump rope. Did you know I can jump with my eyes closed? I love to jump and I hope you will love it too!!!

 

Reading Maniac.

I am an expert at reading. I read mostly all the time. I love to read in the library. My favorite books are Betsy, Tacy, Frindle and No Talking. My favorite author is Andrew Clements. I read before bed, for fun, and for homework. I feel fabulous about being an expert at reading!

Playing outside

I am playing outside in the Park and I’m going to slide. I’m going to slide down on it. This slide is awesome because it’s long and big. That’s why I chose to sit on the slide to show my face. My focus was my face.

 

Praying

In my picture I’m praying. I pray in a unique way. I am not Jewish or Irish. I am Christian. I only believe in one god. I read the Holy Bible. I read all his words. I love to pray!

 

Helping people

I like to help people. I like to be nice to people. I like to be really really nice to people. I like to help people. I like to be nice to people.

 

My Hair

My hair is blond hair. I like my hair because it is smooth. My hair is special because it gets compliments a lot. It reminds me of Hannah Montana.

Running

I am an active kid. I like to run a lot. I wish I could run all across the world! I am about to run across the school!

 

Twirl Around

I love the Twirl Around. Do you know what’s fun? The Twirl Around! It is on my playground at school It goes around and around. It is awesome. I love it! I would go on it 1,000,000 times. I love the Twirl Around!

The Reading Man

I am reading Tony Hawk. I read Tony Hawk books all the time. I like to read books.

Rock Star Reader

I love to read. I am a second grader and I am reading chapter books. I am a rock star reader! It is awesome to read. It is so fun. I love to read.

Having Fun

I like to have fun. Skateboarding is fun. Basketball and pig swimming is fun. That’s why I chose having fun.

Gold Rush Elementary Self-Portraits project description, Katie Hyde

Last fall I spent a school day working with Kristen Hyde and her second-graders at Gold Rush Elementary School in Parker, Colorado. Our self-portrait photography project connected to another class  project in which Kristen’s students were writing their own ‘expert’ stories. This is a writing workshop project that Kristen often uses at the beginning of the year. The project introduces students to the format of writing workshop and does so by drawing on a topic kids are familiar with. Students can focus on their strengths while getting to know each other. Kristen tells her students that once they’ve written their expert stories, there will be 25 resident experts in the room that they can go to if they have a question about a certain topic someone else has written about.

The week before I came Kristen read aloud Aliki’s Painted Words/Spoken Memories. This is the story of a young girl, Marianthe, who paints scenes from her life to share her thoughts and feelings with new friends and classmates when her family arrives in a new country. This story introduced Kristen’s students to the idea of using both words and pictures to tell about oneself.

On the day of my visit, Kristen began the day with Monday morning’s usual activity—community circle. Her students gathered on the carpet and took turns telling each other something about how they were feeling, and telling me something unique about themselves, as a way of introducing themselves to me. Students mentioned feeling happy because they’d spent the weekend playing with a friend. They talked about how they loved to read or play football. When one student hesitated over the question of what made him special, his classmates encouraged and reminded him about his special magic tricks.

Reading photographs—
Our first activity involved teaching the second-graders how to read photographs.