For the last two weeks, my 3rd-5th grade classes worked on oil pastel birds.  My inspiration for this project came from an acrylic painting class I took from Alison O’Donoghue.  Alison’s technique involves many layers of acrylic paint on a wood panel and hours of work, which doesn’t work for this age group.  However, I thought my students would love her whimsical birds, so I adapted her style to an oil pastel project on black paper.  We drew with chalk pastel, keeping composition in mind as we drew birds stacked on each other.  I encouraged students to create their own birds, giving them personality, having them engage with one another on the page.  We then filled in the background, leaving a line of black paper showing around each bird.  This was really a fun project, and the results are fantastic!