A photo essay is a text written to accompany a series of photographs. The photographs are central to the meaning of the essay, and together, the text and photographs bring the reader on a "journey of thought".  You can find photo essays in books, newspapers and magazines, both in print and online.  

In the fifth grade, we immersed ourselves in the reading of photo essays.  We read a wide range of photo essays together to develop an idea of how they sound, how they look, and how they make us feel. We began to understand that a photo essay can give the reader a new perspective on a familiar topic. 

It was time to begin writing our own photo essays.  We started the process by walking through our neighborhood to gather ideas. The students then chose a single topic as their inspiration for their photo essay. Once we all had our seed ideas, students worked with our art teacher, Susan Brown, to understand composition and to learn how photography has shaped the way people understand their world.  In class, we studied the various structures of photo essays and began the writing process.  Lastly, we worked with Steve Jaffe, our technology teacher, to digitally publish our photo essays.

We hope you enjoy them!  

Children from Nechy’s class wrote newsletters and brochures upon returning from Philadelphia.  Click on the link below to see their group projects.