What's in Your Brain? (Portraits), 3rd Grade

As I have mentioned before, part of my job is to incorporate art into the core subjects. Sometimes this is quite difficult, but other times it works out wonderfully. This lesson was one of those wonderful times. The third graders have been learning about biographies and autobiographies in their Language Arts class. This project was a visual autobiography of my students.
A long time ago, I saw this lesson idea somewhere. Only I am unsure where; I may have seen it on a website, or maybe at an art show, but I really and truly can not remember. Anyway, if this is your lesson, let me know, I would love to give you credit for it.
To begin this project, I taught my students the basic proportions of the human face. After the portrait was drawn, my students used oil pastels to color. I encouraged my students to choose colors that matched their skin and hair. Once everything was colored, they cut the portrait out. After this, the students cut a straight line at the top of the head to make it look as though the top of the head was coming off. Everything was then glued to construction paper. The top of the head should be glued off to the side. Lastly, my students drew things about themselves spilling out of their heads. They could draw things they like to do, their favorite foods, or vacations. Anything was fine as long as it was about them.
These turned out AMAZING! The other grades are jealous, and have asked to make "Exploding Heads" too.

Timing was my only issue with this project. We just barely finished in our 75 minute time slot. For those of you who have the luxury of seeing your students every week, will want to dedicate several days to this project.