To help the students get a firm grasp on form, value and contrast, Mr. Doublet and I set up some still life stations and allowed the students to work with charcoal and graphite.
We were really pleased with the work that the students came up with. I only wish we had more time to spend with them on working with the carcoal so they could independently create more forms and values on their figures based on the Works Progress Administration / People at Work lesson plan which can be found below from Google Docs
Middle School Art Online & Creative Writing 