One of our most favorite books to read this time of year is the story
The Little Old Lady Who Wasn't Afraid of Anything by Linda Williams.
If you are familiar with the story, you know that at the end there is a scary scarecrow!
We decided to do a directed draw of a scarecrow with the kids using the SmartBoard. The kids sat on the rug with lapboards and pencils and drew a scarecrow step-by-step while watching the teacher. We emphasized the use of shapes in our drawings.
After the students "sketched" with their pencils they outlined the lines they wanted to "keep" with a black Sharpie. The lines they didn't want were erased after tracing.
The next day, the students used oil pastels to color in their drawings. Before they started coloring, we talked about the soft consistency of the pastels and how they had a tendency to smear if the kids were not careful.
Once the drawings were colored in, the students did a crayon-resist wash using watered down tempera paint.
We think they came out great!