Sunday, March 15, 2009

Chalk Pastel Lizards for Fifth Grade

Leapin' Lizards!
One way or another, I try to fit in a lesson involving my least favorite species of all...lizards. Hate finding them in my backyard, but I admit, they're way too fun to draw.

For this lesson, I demonstrate my strategy for drawing lizards on the white board. This is the key to the success of the piece. You don't have to draw well, but it helps to draw things in order.

Step 1: With a black oil pastel, draw a circle for the eye.
Step 2: In front of the eye, draw a line curving up and over the eye and down along the neck and back. Don't stop there!Bring the all the way down curving around below the body to form a tail.
Step 3: Go back to the start of this line (up by the head) and draw a line down and around to form the belly. The belly should stop at the tail.
Step 4: Put in the legs. Go right over the belly line.
Step 5: Add branch, decorations and leaves.

Now, bring out the chalk pastels and let the kids go wild. The more colors the better. Of course, the final step is to take the black oil pastel and go over all the original black lines again. This is the key for really making the piece stand out.




7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Are these done on white or black paper? What size?

Patty Palmer said...

Hi Char,
I use the regular 12" x 18" size, but you could cut it down. Also, black paper always yields more intense results than white.
Good luck!

Katie @ Loves of Life said...

patty, I love these ;)

I miss my 5th graders from last year. At this new school, I teach k-4...and no 5th. In 5th, I find they are SO creative, and just plain fun!

Patty Palmer said...

Thanks, Katie! I love these too. So vibrant. I agree about the 5th graders. They're my favorite class to introduce new projects too.

Unknown said...

Do you have the younger students do the black outlining on their projects, or do you do this for them?
I love your site! Thanks for all of your wonderful work & ideas!
Renee

Patty Palmer said...

Hi Rene,
No, I don't touch the student's art unless I'm demonstrating something specific for them...like, look at this color or try this, etc.
Even the smallest kids can trace, so this is a fairly easy way to finish up a project and make it shine.

Holly Vandersommers said...

I did this lesson with my third graders. They loved it. The only thing we did differently is outline everthing with black glue instead of pastel. My students loved it.

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