My dear friend Sarah posted this neat lesson to artsonia where she did contour line portraits with her 2nd graders and I thought... hey I could do contour line with my 5th graders. So we started a fun portrait project that is fun. (Warning: My kiddos are still working on theirs so I am using my finished one as a an example. You will be subjected to looking at this more pics of me than you want!) The students started by learning about contour line drawing and doing some practice. Then I gave them a photograph of themselves and "let them get to it." They did a great job of drawing "one non stop line that shows the outside edges and main details while just glancing at the paper." Next they took their photograph and looked for light and dark areas; which they drew out with pencils. ( I did my first example with colored pencil but found that markers work much better) They selected at least 3 colors to finish their images. They are turning out pretty fun! I have to remind them that their hair and clothes are a part of them but they are liking it. When they are done, I am going to show them how they can do these same effects using photo editing software. (pixlr.com, befunky.com, picasa) I will post some of the finished ones when they are done. ... actually just check out our artsonia site... p.s. This pic is from my little bro's wedding this summer. I don't usually get this dressed up. I have to share the original because it is one of my favorites... simply because of who is sharing the picture with me. My daughter Haylee... the cutest little flower girl!