B'nai Israel Community Day School

"First Day/Week" Photo Book

What You Need:

• Camera (digital is especially handy)
• Card stock paper
• Glue Stick
• Tape
• Markers

 What You Do:

1. Schedule some "run-through” time to practice the first day of school routine, and get your camera
ready. If you’re talking about a “new” school, your child may not realize that there will be many
aspects of her day that will actually be familiar!

2. For your first run-through, start with getting up in the morning. Invite your child to “act out” waking
up and take a picture. Have her put on a nice outfit, the kind she’d wear to school, and once she's
dressed to impress, take a picture again. Do the same for eating breakfast and then for putting on
a backpack or grabbing a book bag etc.

3. The next step, going to school, can be frightening. Have your child practice and “act it out,” whether
that means walking to, or hopping in your car. Photograph that, as well.

4. Finally, take some pictures of the afternoon transition. Your own family’s rituals probably vary, but
in general, try for 1-3 photographs that help your child know just what to expect and be reassured
that again, it’s all really very familiar. You can take a picture of her coming home, or eating her
after school snack or simply playing outside.

5. To assemble the book, print your pictures and invite your child to help you lay them out in order on
a table.
 
6. Now cut your card stock paper in half, to make a stack of pages 5-1/2”x8-1/2”. On the first one,
place a picture of your child, and write a title. On each succeeding page, place a photograph and one or two words, such as
“waking up,” or “my school” (you can have your child write the word). Use a
glue stick to attach all of the pictures.
 
7. You can make a traditional book by stacking the pages or you can even make an accordion style book.