Giant Self-Portraits

1st Grade students practiced drawing BIG. They compared and contrasted portraits and self-portraits, while learning to distinguish each. Students then observed their own facial features to create a self-portrait using oil pastels. Carefully, they simplified their features into basic shapes to create an image of themselves. We discussed skin tone and choosing colors that best represent us, this was a wonderful opportunity to introduce the book "The Colors of Us" by Karen Katz. After reading the book students we able to recognize that we are all just varying shades of brown.