Learning how to draw from observation and practicing contour line drawing has been the first project in the 6th grade elective art class- Art Explorations. Students in these photographs are at various stages of the process. During the first couple of classes students warmed up by drawing from their imagination, then from observing objects (at that time stuffed animals), and then moved on to picking their subject. They chose between their backpack and their shoe, put it on the table, and started to draw! Students were challenged to draw exactly what they oserved and not what they imagined they were looking at. Many students are now at the stage of putting their backpack or shoe in a setting- from their imagination. They are using watercolor techniques to finish these paintings.