Goal:  Students will create their own coin using a self-portrait.

Objectives: 
Create images and forms from observation, memory, and imagination: Explore the qualities of color, line, shape, texture, and form in artworks

• Use the elements of art and principles of design to organize personally meaningful compositions: Select and use principles of design to create compositions that clarify ideas and feelings for the viewer

Launch:
Have students look carefully at the penny.  Whose face is on the penny?  Note that it is a profile of Abraham Lincoln.  What are other characteristics of the penny?  Does anyone know what artist created the portrait of Lincoln that appears on the penny?

Explore:

• Have students create a coin featuring their self-portrait.  Students can decide whether to do a profile or another pose.  What is their coin worth?  What is it made of?
• Materials used can piggyback on other current lessons.  (Collage, drawing, painting, etc.)  The coin should be large enough so that the details can be seen.  For example, students can draw the coin in a large piece of paper.

Summary:

• Students can share their coins with everyone else, describing the choices they made in their design and execution.
• Display the coin self-portraits.

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