ARRRG

If you haven't noticed, I am super duper behind on posting.  Better late than never, right!  These are the self portraits created by my 2nd graders. The pirate themed self portraits have been on my list of to-dos for a while now. 

                

Although, in the beginning, some of my students weren't so thrilled about being a pirate. It didn't take long for them to warm up to the idea. And for goodness sake, who isn't halving fun when everyone, including the teacher, is squinting and talking about their "booty"

                 

These were done on 9 by 12 dark gray construction paper.  We drew out the pirate image in pencil and then traced with sharpie.  Once the sharpie was complete, we used Crayola Art Stix to fill in the color.  

                  

Getting the younger groups to push their colors can be hard, but I've found something that motivates them to press their colors.  I ask them to use their art muscles and find examples of those who are already pressing hard.  Then, I make a big deal about how big their art muscles are.  If I compliment the girls, the boys can hardly take it, and they start pressing their colors more.

                     

This was our last lesson for the school year for 2nd grade.  I was really proud of them for hanging in there to the very end.  This is a smaller group of kids, therefore easier to manage.  Some of my larger groups, 3rd and 4th in particular, started giving up around spring break, so I had to simplify my last couple of projects to keep them engaged.

                   

This was a great project to do and will definatly do this one again. 

Especially since portraits can be rather hard, the imperfections  add to the character of the piece.