What the Frame Includes

We are learning to choose what goes inside the frame — how close, from what angle and what to leave out — and to describe how each choice changes what an audience thinks and feels.

Before you startAbout 60 minutes · what success looks like · notes for the helper

About 60 minutes. It's fine to stop after the Quick Check and come back another day: the lesson opens where you left it, at the Quick Check.

You'll know you've got it when

I can show one object as a wide shot, a mid shot and a close-up, drawn or photographed, and say what each one tells the audience
I can show the object from a high angle and a low angle and explain how each makes it look, for example big, small, friendly or scary
I can say what I left out of a frame and what a viewer who saw only that picture might think

For the helperhow to sit beside this lesson, and what this step is for

This step: Spark

Start with the question at the top and chat about it. There is no wrong answer here: it gets your learner thinking about what they already know.

Getting ready: A sheet of paper or cardboard with a window cut in the middle (about 12 cm wide and 8 cm tall), a toy or other everyday object, a pencil and some scrap paper. A phone or tablet camera is an optional extra; nothing in the lesson needs one. About 60 minutes in all, which is more than one comfortable sitting at this age; many families stop after the check and come back to the task the next day.
What understanding sounds like: Listen for your child giving a reason with the choice: 'I went down low so the wombat looks huge' says more than naming the shot. Listen too for 'I left out...' said as a decision, not an apology.
A likely mix-up, and something that helps: A common belief is that a photograph just shows what was there. You might ask, 'What did you leave out of this frame, and why?' and 'If this were the only picture someone ever saw, what would they think happened?' Leaving something out is a choice every maker makes, so it is not the same as lying.
If it comes easily: To take it further, one way is to look at a few pictures in a book or magazine and work out the shot size and angle for each, then guess what might be just outside the frame.
If it's a struggle: If it's a struggle, one way is to start with a single choice. You might hold the paper frame close to your child's eye and then at arm's length, and ask what changed in what they can see, before adding angles on another day. Wide, mid, close-up, high and low are the words that carry this lesson; acting each one out with the paper frame while saying it, in your home language too if that helps, can make them easier to hold. If your child does not want to draw, pointing the frame and telling you what they see is enough for today.

Step 1 of 6 · Spark

Lesson 1 of 4 · Frame, Sound, Word

Two pictures of one moment

For the helper

Start with the question at the top and chat about it. There is no wrong answer here: it gets your learner thinking about what they already know.

Picture the school oval at lunchtime. A boy kicks a goal. Photo A is taken from down low, close up: his arms are in the air, three cheering kids fill the frame and there is nothing behind them but sky. It looks like a grand final. Photo B is taken from the far side of the oval, from up high: the boy is a tiny dot, the other kids are scattered about, and most of the picture is empty grass. Same goal. Same second. Before you read on, tell your helper: which photo is the real one? And what would someone think if Photo A was the only picture of that lunchtime they ever saw?

One goal, two pictures. Each one tells a different story about the same second.