Tracing My World

A portrait can show an idea of a person

Big idea: I can show who I am. Essential question: How do artists show themselves?

The aim is a child’s own representation of identity, not an adult formula for a proportioned face. A large head, an unexpected color, a symbol, or an imagined activity can carry meaning. Ask the child about a choice before interpreting it. The portrait may show a familiar appearance, an imagined self, or both.

Children will identify a self-portrait; make purposeful choices about marks, color, and personal details; develop a picture across sessions; and communicate one choice through speech, home language, gesture, pointing, AAC, or dictation. Studio routines support the work but are recorded separately from artistic learning.

The source spans PreK through Grade 2. Use the same inquiry with different support: for younger artists, offer large paper, short demonstrations, and a single meaningful detail; for older artists, invite several connected details and a reason for a revision. No drawing prerequisite is required. A digital version is optional and does not determine success.

Prepare the studio

Provide drawing paper, practice sheets, crayons and colored pencils in a broad range of skin tones and other colors, washable markers, pencils, name-tag card, glue sticks, mounting paper, and caption slips. Optional supports include thick grips, stable paper mats, larger paper, stamps, and original picture cards. Keep purchased drawing guides in their licensed classroom context; do not copy them into a public download.

Prepare table caddies with picture labels, flat storage for portraits, a visual schedule, a picture of a ready-to-leave table, and a rotating materials-helper chart. Every child can take a turn; the role is not a reward. Preselect a few reference pages rather than presenting every artist in every meeting.

The source’s reference choices include John Steptoe’s Stevie, portraits by Amy Sherald and Derrick Adams, Faith Ringgold’s Tar Beach, Christian Robinson’s illustrations for Last Stop on Market Street, and Vashti Harrison’s illustrations for Hair Love. Use lawful classroom copies and identify the maker of each image. Invite looking at expression, color, and details without requiring children to copy an artist’s style. In particular, an artist’s expressive skin color should not become evidence that every portrait must match literal skin color.

If offering digital drawing, test the school-approved app on the actual devices, including saving and reopening an image. The original source names Tayasui Sketches School; this draft does not assume a particular current tool or menu. Provide a paper alternative throughout. Keep recordings and children’s work within approved school storage. Classroom display, family sharing, and publication on an open website are separate decisions.

Material care and safety

Use age-appropriate, school-approved media. Demonstrate carrying pencils safely and caddies with two hands. Do not wash crayons or colored pencils; wipe tables and return dry tools to their labeled homes. Adults handle staples and wall installation. Keep caps and other small parts under supervision. Follow device cleaning instructions, keep liquids away, and have an adult manage charging cables. This dry-media route needs flat storage, not drying time; wet-media additions require separate drying arrangements.

A steady 45-minute rhythm

Each session uses 0–7 minutes for arrival and a short invitation, 7–15 for looking and demonstration, 15–37 for studio work, 37–43 for cleanup, and 43–45 for one closing response. That is 7 + 8 + 22 + 6 + 2 = 45 minutes. Break a longer talk into brief look–try exchanges inside its allotted time. Do not take cleanup minutes to complete a picture.

Build a picture vocabulary wall gradually: artist, studio, self-portrait; portrait, skin tone, feeling; detail; symbol, background; digital, pair; share, listen; exhibition, caption. Home-language equivalents and a child’s own example are useful beside the word.

Session 1 · Welcome to the studio: Who am I?

Purpose: Begin belonging to an artist community and practice using shared materials.

1. 0–7 · Arrive: Offer four picture prompts about favorite activities, places, colors, or animals. Children can move to a prompt, point from their seat, or tell a partner. Keep disclosure optional: “Choose something you would like us to know.”
2. 7–15 · Look and model: Look at the cover of Stevie. “What do you notice? What makes you say that?” Name John Steptoe as the artist. Show the material caddy, the pause signal, and how a tool returns to its home. Introduce artist, studio, and self-portrait with images.
3. 15–37 · Make and rehearse: Children decorate a name tag and make a practice picture about themselves. Model choosing one tool, putting its cap back, and returning it before choosing another. Rotate materials helpers and give them a brief supported practice distributing and collecting caddies. Confer: “Tell me about a mark or detail you chose.”
4. 37–43 · Reset: Use the visual cleanup card: pause, cap markers, sort tools, return caddies, and put useful paper scraps away. Adults check tool counts.
5. 43–45 · Close: Invite one gesture or word completing “An artist can…” and show where the work will wait.

Check and respond: Can a child connect a mark to an idea about themselves? Do not equate lettering ability with artistic success; offer a prewritten name tag. If a child says only adults are artists, point to a decision they just made. Returning students get a two-minute picture tour during the next studio block and a fresh practice sheet.

Session 2 · Faces have feelings and colors

Purpose: Explore how color and marks can communicate a person and a feeling.

1. 0–7 · Arrive: “Use one color or mark to show a feeling today.” Children may choose an imagined feeling instead of reporting their own.
2. 7–15 · Look and model: Compare one selected portrait by Amy Sherald with one by Derrick Adams. “What do you notice about color? What gives you an idea about this person?” Demonstrate several color swatches on spare paper. Offer matching, blending, or expressive choices without assigning a color to anyone.
3. 15–37 · Explore: Children test colors and make a small face from their own idea. “Which color or combination will you choose? What would you like it to show?” Support children who prefer to point to a swatch. A partner can hold paper steady without choosing the child’s marks.
4. 37–43 · Reset: Return the full range of colors to the labeled caddy. Adult or designated supervised sharpener use only; collect shavings. No washing of dry drawing tools.
5. 43–45 · Close: Show or name one deliberate color choice.

Check and respond: Record the child’s choice and explanation, including nonverbal responses. There is no single “skin” color, and literal matching is not compulsory. Avoid sorting classmates by skin shade. If color selection becomes frustrating, reduce the immediate choice to several swatches while leaving the full range available. A returning child makes two quick swatches before joining the portrait session.

Session 3 · Me, from the inside

Purpose: Begin a self-portrait from a personally meaningful idea.

1. 0–7 · Arrive: Look at a selected page from Tar Beach. “If your picture could show you doing something amazing, what might you do?” Accept a gesture, a drawn mark, or a spoken idea.
2. 7–15 · Demonstrate: Model one possible starting shape, then a different starting point. Say, “This is my idea of me. Your idea will look different.” Show how one detail might tell about an interest. Offer a simple optional picture prompt at the help station rather than requiring a drawing formula.
3. 15–37 · Begin: Children start the portrait using a face, body, hand shape, or chosen representation of themselves, adding one identity detail. Confer: “Where are you in this picture? What would you like someone to notice?” Offer larger tools, supported paper, or an adult scribing the child’s description without correcting their image.
4. 37–43 · Reset: Label the back for classroom storage, return tools, and place portraits flat in individual folders or the flat rack.
5. 43–45 · Close: Point to one detail that belongs to this artist’s idea.

Check and respond: Look for intentional representation, not proportion or a checklist of facial features. “I can’t draw” can be answered with “Show one part or one thing that matters to you.” An optional support should widen access, not replace the child’s choices. An absent child starts with one self-representation and one detail during the next studio block.

Session 4 · Adding my world

Purpose: Develop the portrait with details, symbols, and a surrounding place.

1. 0–7 · Arrive: Sketch or point to one thing you enjoy. Offer familiar and imagined places without requiring information about a child’s home.
2. 7–15 · Look and model: Read a selected spread from Last Stop on Market Street or Hair Love. Name the illustrator. “What in the picture helps us understand this person’s world?” Model adding a ball, plant, book, or invented symbol around a portrait. Explain that a symbol stands for an idea and a background is the area around or behind the subject.
3. 15–37 · Develop: Return portraits. Children choose details from their own ideas or a picture bank. Pause before adding a detail: “What will this tell us?” Invite trying a possibility on scrap paper. Stamps or chosen precut shapes can support participation while keeping the child responsible for meaning and placement.
4. 37–43 · Reset: Return drawing tools and support materials, wipe tables, and store pictures flat.
5. 43–45 · Close: Show a partner one addition and explain or indicate what it means.

Check and respond: Ask about one connection between a detail and the artist. More filled space is not automatically more meaningful. If a child cannot choose, offer two possible prompts and space to reject both. Returning children use their stored portrait and a picture catch-up card showing “add one thing that matters.”

Session 5 · Bringing it to life

Purpose: Review and develop color choices; optionally explore a companion image in another medium.

1. 0–7 · Arrive: Revisit the portrait. “What would you like to keep? What would you like to add or change?” A child can point rather than speak.
2. 7–15 · Demonstrate: Show testing a color before adding it and using light or firm pressure deliberately. If devices are ready, demonstrate the actual tested drawing and save steps. Connect the media: “You still choose shapes, marks, and colors. The tool changes.” Model two-hand carrying and the return location before distributing devices.
3. 15–37 · Develop: Children finish or revise the paper portrait. Those ready may make a digital companion. Allow a second paper image instead. A pair of related images is a diptych; a single completed portrait also meets the unit’s core goal. Invite a partner to ask, “Tell me one choice you made,” without taking over the drawing.
4. 37–43 · Reset: Adults verify saves, then children return numbered devices with support. Count devices and styluses. Return dry tools and store artwork.
5. 43–45 · Close: Name or point to a choice that stayed the same or changed.

Check and respond: A finished image need not be colored inside every outline. Check whether the child can indicate an intentional development. Twenty-two studio minutes do not guarantee two finished portraits; keep the digital image optional or schedule a separately identified extension. An absent child prioritizes their paper portrait when returning.

Session 6 · Artist talk

Purpose: Communicate an artistic choice and listen to another artist.

1. 0–7 · Arrive: Look at the classroom display of work in progress. “Find a detail that makes you curious.” Do not guess someone’s identity or feelings as fact.
2. 7–15 · Model: Use your own sample: “This is me. I chose ___ because ___.” Model a listener’s response: “I notice ___. Would you tell me about ___?” Demonstrate asking rather than judging or correcting.
3. 15–37 · Share and reflect: Partners take turns with a visual talking cue. The teacher circulates with prepared caption slips and records each child’s words or agreed description. Home language, AAC, pointing, and yes/no choices count. Read or communicate the recorded caption back so the child can correct it. Offer a quiet one-to-one share. If useful, children make a small chosen revision after explaining their work.
4. 37–43 · Reset: Return artwork by the edges, put prompt cards back, and clip captions to the correct work. Secure any private recordings in approved storage.
5. 43–45 · Close: Invite one listening action the group practiced.

Check and respond: Look for a link between a choice and a meaning, not fluent English or a long statement. Do not promise to transcribe a full class in one block; capture brief notes across conferences and finish remaining captions in the next session. A child absent today may share privately during Session 7 without repeating a public performance.

Session 7 · Our studio family

Purpose: Curate and share the work so every artist has a meaningful place.

1. 0–7 · Arrive: Match artwork to captions and choose supported roles: artwork arranger, caption checker, invitation maker, or materials helper.
2. 7–15 · Model: Show spacing between pictures and positioning a readable caption beside its work. “How can our visitors find each artist’s idea?” Explain exhibition and caption. Confirm the child’s choice about the version and words to display.
3. 15–37 · Curate and view: Children arrange on tables or accessible low panels; adults complete stapling or high mounting. Include a single portrait, paired images, or meaningful work in progress. Use a small-group gallery walk and let each child introduce one detail by their preferred communication route. Family viewing can happen separately from this class period.
4. 37–43 · Reset: Return mounting supplies, collect scraps, cap glue, and restore the studio. Adults check that the installation is secure and routes remain clear.
5. 43–45 · Close: “What is one thing our pictures tell us about our studio community?”

Check and respond: Each child’s meaning should be represented, not merely a uniform-looking display. An absent child’s work may be held for their caption and participation later. Keep names and identifying information out of any publicly shared documentation unless the relevant permission has been established; a classroom exhibition does not itself authorize online posting.

Assess choices, meaning, and reflection

Use the portrait, brief conference notes, and the child’s agreed caption together. Evidence may be spoken, gestured, drawn, or supported through AAC. Compare the child’s choices across the process rather than ranking resemblance to an adult model.

• Identity: The artist connects the image or a detail to an idea about themselves.
• Color: The artist intentionally chooses a color, combination, or expressive use and can indicate it.
• Development: The artist adds, tests, keeps, or revises a mark or detail for a reason, with appropriate support.
• Reflection: The artist communicates who or what the image represents and one choice.

Record what is evident and the next useful prompt. A child who points to a meaningful symbol has evidence of reflection; speaking in a complete sentence is not a prerequisite. Record cleanup, safe tool handling, and sharing routines separately. The optional digital companion and the size of a child’s spoken vocabulary do not increase the art score.

Companion supports

Useful original classroom supports are a picture schedule, a “one detail that matters” prompt, a simple re-entry card, and a caption slip with space for a child’s preferred communication. None is presented here as an existing downloadable resource. The complete teaching sequence is on this page.

Source and adaptation

Based on Kacy George, Tracing My World — Lesson Sequence, PreK–2 Unit 1, source modified July 15, 2026. The seven-session sequence and 45-minute clock come from that source. Teacher wording, explicit session checks, safety corrections, flexible color choices, and re-entry instructions have been developed for this web adaptation. The original’s school-specific data, staff references, and purchased materials are not reproduced. No classroom outcome is claimed.

Teaching references

• Whitney Museum: Amy Sherald — look at expressive choices in portraiture. Select and preview a suitable image for your class.
• Guggenheim: Faith Ringgold’s Tar Beach — a reference for a person, a place, and imagination. Preview the selected material; use a lawful classroom copy of the picture book for reading.

Book references: John Steptoe, Stevie; Faith Ringgold, Tar Beach; Matt de la Peña, illustrated by Christian Robinson, Last Stop on Market Street; Matthew A. Cherry, illustrated by Vashti Harrison, Hair Love. Links and book titles are teaching references, not licenses to reproduce their illustrations.