Extra Time Activity/Sub Lesson

Sometimes (actually, pretty often!) I have one of those projects where half of the class is completely done, while the rest of the students still need another full class period to finish. It's times like that I need extra time activities that engage the students, that keep them busy, and are beneficial to their artistic skills and/or art knowledge.

This week, I had half of my 4th grade class finish something early that involved symmetry (more about it in a few days, once everyone's done!), so I pulled out some "draw the other half" worksheets I had created last month for emergency sub lessons. These are wonderful for sub lessons, because they're self explanatory, and they're great for early finishers because practicing your drawing skills and exercising the right side of the brain are things you can't get too much of.

The ones in the pictures below are photographs of half of a tiger face. I like these, because shading is required to get all of the values in the photograph. Some "draw the other half" worksheets provide a grid to help with placement of objects on the page, but I prefer with no grid. It gives a nicer finished product, if nothing else, but I think learning to use your fingers to measure distances, or just sighting on trial and error, are valuable skills.

The kids in the pictures below are in 4th grade.