The Littlest Owl

There is a ban on holidays in our district, which I'm sure most teachers are familiar with as more and more Board of Educations have been leaning this way for some time now.  So that means no Jack O'Lanterns, no witches, no ghouls, no goblins! I miss making Haunted Houses with my kids (for a while I got away with calling them Abandoned Mansions but alas, they are onto me so those projects are no more). 

So how can you create something that alludes to the October atmosphere without being related to Halloween?  Owls!

The book, "The Littlest Owl" by Caroline Pitcher and Tina Mcnaughton is perfect for kinders and first graders.

We started with white oil crayon on black paper for our outlines.  Momma Owl is of course, the biggest.  We talked about how since she is standing behind her babies you only draw the top half of her.  If you don't see it, you don't draw it! The babies were all drawn using the same shapes - although we did make baby number four a little smaller since he was the runt of the nestlings.  Some of the kids got a little over-enthusiastic about making the adorable owlets and added a few extra babies.  I told them it was okay, that maybe the owls had cousins over.  The owls have nests underneath and are drawn to look like you are inside their hole in the tree with them.  You can even see the sky outside the hole. We also talked about expression - aiming the pupils in different directions to make the owls look like they were looking at each other or even the artist making them! 

Here are some of the final works: