Kinder Self-Portraits

Kinder: Self-Portraits

I read the story Marvelous Me by Lisa Bullard to kindergarten students. This is about a boy named Alex who believes he is a superhero and he is marvelous. He can do many marvelous things like using his imagination to pretend to be a pirate and becoming a roaring dragon while he cleans his room. He knows all 9 planets and loves strawberry ice cream. We talked about the ways we knew that Alex, the main character of the story, loved all those things. We heard the words and could see the illustrations. This formed a clear picture in our head of the personality of Alex. 

Students then drew a self-portrait of themselves. They also drew in one or 2 things into their picture to show the viewer some more things about them. They could draw a special toy, their favorite food, favorite sports ball, etc. We did do a step-by-step of basic body proportions (head, upper and lower body, and limbs). We also learned to draw a line to separate wall from floor. I had some students paint the background in 2 colors. I had some do this with a texture background using paint stamps. Both ways were interesting. 

There is indeed something truly Marvelous about kindergarten self-portraits. I think it's the bold drawings that are so brave and the sincerity of each picture.