Brewer, Year One
Johnson/ Hill/ Rowe – Addie Newcomer
Learning Objective/Exit Outcomes:
- Students can distinguish between habitats, identify animals, and place animals in their correct habitat.
- Students can give verbal and pictorial definitions of vocabulary words that define each habitat.
- Students will use visual art to show their understanding of core subject information.
Integration Area/Subject:
Science/Visual Art
State Standards:
S1L1. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about the basic needs of plants and animals.
- Develop models to identify the parts of a plant—root, stem, leaf, and flower.
- Ask questions to compare and contrast the basic needs of plants (air, water, light, and nutrients) and animals (air, water, food, and shelter).
- Design a solution to ensure that a plant or animal has all of its needs met.
VA1.RE.1 Discuss personal works of art and the artwork of others to enhance visual literacy.
- Use a variety of strategies for art criticism.
- Explain how selected elements of art are used in works of art to convey meaning.
VA1.CN.2 Integrate information from other disciplines to enhance the understanding and production of works of art.
- Explore universal concepts (e.g. self, family, community, world) inspired by other subject areas.
VA1.CN.3 Develop life skills through the study and production of art (e.g. collaboration, creativity, critical thinking, communication).
Materials/Playing Space:
- Large pieces of paper, poster board, or chart paper
- Color markers/pens
Description:
On each piece of paper, write a statement or a question you would like students to discuss. These could be anything, but it works best if they can prompt multiple answers/thoughts, rather than something that has a single correct answer. For example, instead of asking “What habitat stays very wet?”, you could say:
- What do you know about the Rainforest?
- What are some adjectives/words that describe a Rainforest?
- What kinds of important things do Rainforests provide for the animals living there?
Using Poster Dialogue to teach and review animal habitats, give students paper animals that go with specific habitats you have already hung around the room. Instruct students to decide where their animal belongs and attach it to the correct answer. After the time is up, discuss as a classroom where the animals are “living,” and have students help make adjustments where needed. In round two, have students illustrate the descriptive words for each habitat. For instance, if they are asked to illustrate how a rainforest is “wet,” the student might choose to make raindrop-shaped marks in blue marker. At the end, have the class review each poster by discussing the animals that live there and the environment their drawings have created.
Notes:
To make this an arts integrated lesson, have students also use visual art vocabulary to describe the things they drew for the habitats. Including why they chose the colors, shapes, lines they chose and how those decisions clearly express the habitat to anyone viewing the art they created.