Observing connections: Changing landscapes

By Lisa Mitchell

The students will learn about the changing environment through study and observation. They will reflect on these changes in the environment and create their own landscape and habitat. This is the second lesson in “Observing connections,” a series of three in which students are creating art based on their observations.

Page contents

1. Learning outcomes
2. Teacher planning
   1. Time required for lesson
   2. Materials/resources
   3. Technology resources
3. Pre-activities
4. Activities
   1. Lesson 1—Drawing the Future
   2. Lesson 2—Creating a Habitat
   3. Post Activity:

Assessment

Supplemental information

1. Comments

Links

• National Wildlife Federation learn more about changes to the environment
• National Wildlife Federation for Kids kids' magazines about the environment

Related pages

• Chestnut Ridge Camp and Retreat Center: Offers a selection of informative, interactive and experientially-based programs in outdoor and environmental education.
• Intrigue of the Past: Teach your students about North Carolina's fascinating past. This edition contains lesson plans about the fundamental concepts, processes, and issues of archaeology, as well as essays for the teacher with detailed information about four periods in North Carolina's ancient history.
• Historic Oak View County Park: This nineteenth century farmstead has been made into a county park and is devoted to interpreting the area's agricultural and rural heritage for the citizens of Wake County.

Learn more

• Learn more about arts, crafts, environmental science, and science.

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Learning outcomes

The students will learn about the changing environment through study and observation. They will reflect on these changes in the environment and create their own landscape and habitat.

Teacher planning

Time required for lesson

3 hours

Materials/resources

• Common Ground: The Water, Earth and Air We Share by Molly Bang 1997, The Blue Sky Press, ISBN 0-590-10056-4
• Where Once There Was a Wood by Denise Fleming 1996, Henry Holt and Company, ISBN 0-8050-6482-6
• sketch books or drawing paper for observation
• white drawing paper twelve inches square
• extra scraps of white and colored paper for adding foreground elements
• scissors
• glue sticks
• pencils
• erasers
• markers, crayons, or colored pencils
• modeling clay, air dry clay, or firing clay and glaze

Technology resources

• computer with internet access
• digital camera
• printer

Pre-activities

Take a walk with students on or off school grounds. Have students take their sketchbooks to record observations. Try and find places where human life has changed the environment. Have students imagine what the environment looked like previously and what it could look like in the future. Take digital pictures of the environment.

Back in the classroom, students will share their observations of their community and relate aspects of the community in a class discussion. The teacher should list or map students’ observations.

Students should become more aware of their environment through observations and could create a Schoolyard Habitat through the National Wildlife Federation Program. With student participation create a compare and contrast list of urban and rural areas.

Activities

Lesson 1—Drawing the Future

1. Read the story Common Ground, The Water, Earth and Air We Share by Molly Bang. Discuss the changes in the environment.
2. Look at paintings from different periods and discuss similarities and differences. (See attached pictures in the two presentations.) The Robert Adams photographs show how human activity has transformed the American landscapes. The Art From Yesterday to Today presentation compares and contrasts artwork showing different landscapes by various artists. How have landscapes changed?
3. Look at photographs of the community from previous years. How has the town changed? Have students share old photographs if possible and compare them with current photographs or those taken on the walk.
4. Take an image from the observation walk (in their sketch books) and enlarge it on drawing paper making one change that could occur in the future. Review “space” with students to show horizon, small and large, and value to show what a landscape needs. Demonstrate to students how to draw different kinds of buildings (a review of perspective would be helpful). They need to focus on the background of their landscape.
5. Give each student a twelve-inch square piece of white drawing paper. Demonstrate and instruct them to fold their square on the diagonal corner to corner twice to create an ‘X’ through the square. Demonstrate and instruct students to turn their paper like a diamond. The top two sections will be the background image from their observation and imagination (not too futuristic).
6. When students have their drawings finished, let them color their pictures with the materials available. Of the bottom two sections on the diamond, one needs to be left white and one can be colored for the ground.
7. Have students write their names on the backs of their drawings and save for the next class.

Lesson 2—Creating a Habitat

1. Read the story Where Once There Was a Wood by Denise Fleming. Compare this to the last story. Discuss how environmental changes affect animal wildlife. Create a list of what kinds of wildlife live in the environment you observed in the previous lesson. Review “foreground” and “background” with students. What is in the background behind the animals in the habitat illustrations?
2. Look at animal shapes in books, posters and resources if possible to review the body shapes of those animals observed on the walk in the previous lesson.
3. Demonstrate how to create a small animal out of modeling clay that would live in the environment. I purchase different natural colors of modeling clay for students to use, but other kinds of clay can be used. Modeling clay is great for instant satisfaction since it does not have to be fired in the kiln.
4. Review or introduce the concept of three dimensional art since they will be creating a three dimensional animal and making their landscape three-dimensional. Demonstrate and instruct students to cut on the fold between the white section and ground section of their diamond. Students should cut from the edge of the diamond to the intersection in the middle. Students overlap the ground section on top of the white section and glue it with a glue stick. This should create an open three-sided pyramid. Students need to complete their coloring before doing this step if they did not finish in the last class. This will be the background for their animals.
5. Students can now create an animal for their landscape and add various aspects of their habitats with the extra paper. For instance, to add a bush in the habitat, the student could color and cut out a bush out of scrap paper (recycling) and then fold the bottom of the bush to create a tab. Put some glue on the tab and glue it into the habitat ground, creating some foreground.
6. When students complete their habitat landscape, they put their clay animal into the picture (now three dimensional) for display.

Post Activity:

Create a city collage in the style of Romare Bearden (a North Carolina Artist from the Art From Yesterday to Today presentation) using the geometric shapes of a city.

Assessment

Use the rubrics:

• Student Landscape
• Class Landscape

One-on-one student/teacher assessment worksheet for reflection. Class check list for record keeping. Appropriate reflection questions:

• Did the student include a horizon line in his or her landscape?
• Did the student add a futuristic aspect to his or her landscape? (something that is not in the current environment)
• Did the student create an appropriate animal for the habitat?

Supplemental information

The lesson could also incorporate books and resources on nature and wildlife or pictures of animals as a resource (4th grade science text).

Comments

This lesson plan was created in a LEARN NC workshop held in Chapel Hill. This workshop was funded by the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics for the purpose of giving teachers the time, energy and resources to create lesson plans. Using the Ackland Museum in Chapel Hill was an inspiration for helping us to incorporate the elements of arts education into our series of lessons.

Assessment:

1. The description of what happened when students did the activity (activities) includes the length of time spent on the activity. Information about what happened when students did the activity includes approximate time spent on each section (e.g. one class period) as well as logistical information. The format may be a timeline, a narrative, or anything else that communicates what students did. I worked with both 4th and 5th grade students on this unit. Students did the lessons across a span of four months. I see them for art once a week for forty minutes, and lessons in the unit took two–three or more lessons each. We did not do the lessons back to back, since there were other activities (art contests, holiday ornaments, etc) that had to be completed as well. Students started each new lesson with the computer museum visits (PowerPoint), which were amazing for them. I really enjoyed using the AverKey with my lessons so the classes could view something off the computer. That always amazes some of them that they can see the computer on the TV. The PowerPoint presentation led into discussions of the art and then the connections of poetry, the environment, clay history, etc were brought into the lesson. Usually in that first lesson the art project might begin or start the planning of their product. The second lesson was a review and working with the art materials on their project. In the third lesson we would share and discuss the projects (critique) some students led discussions comparing their work to the work from the museums. The clay lesson (face jugs) took longer to complete. Drying time, glazing and firing gave us time to work on other things.
2. Description of student outcomes (may include samples of student work). Report of outcomes includes what students learned, what students found difficult but eventually mastered, and what students never mastered. Outcomes may be supported by a limited number of examples of student work distinguishing between high performance and low performance. My favorite lesson was the animal habitats for lesson 2. We have enjoyed our new school, but this let them realize what had changed about the environment. It was great discussion and I enjoyed the brightly colored collage habitats. We had them out for people to see at the school dedication. The face jugs had very different results. Clay is a different medium to work with and some students find it more frustrating than others. I am biased and think that all their work is creative, but the clay always brings something out in the students (and it’s the messiest). Their poems were descriptive of the images they created for the first lesson. The clay jugs are quite comical.
3. Description of student opinions Description includes report of students’ feelings and concerns about the activities, both positive and negative; may also include anecdotal evidence. Students enjoy clay the most. I think because it does so much. The clay gets them excited and everyone I show the clay site to (where you build and fire a pot) is excited. It is a great tool for teaching and learning. The kiln is a very large piece of equipment, but the website really brings it alive. The older students (5th grade) enjoyed the Molly Bang book, Common Ground and discussed what is happening to the environment. Their pictures were quite good and they had a variety of environments portrayed. I think students would learn more from this lesson if a classroom teacher collaborated with the art teacher. It is impossible to put in as much time letting them explore the environment and journal writing, as I would have liked.
4. Teacher reflection on strengths and effective components of action components as well as future improvements. Reflective assessment of how the teacher perceives the outcomes of the activity includes what students did or did not learn, what worked well and what needs improvement, what was too difficult or too easy for students, or anything else that would be taken into consideration in improving the activity for the next time it’s used. In the future I think students would learn more from this lesson if a classroom teacher collaborated with the art teacher. It is impossible to put in as much time letting them explore the environment and journal writing, as I would have liked. In the spring I hope to take the students out some more as it warms up. We are still adjusting to our new environment and in a few months I believe they will be able to see more established habitats. Parts of this unit could be used on lower or upper grade levels. The clay face jugs are a little difficult for 4th grade, but with patience they are fine. 5th grade seems to be the appropriate age for this activity.