Art Integrated LessonPlans: The Ocean

By: Jordan Weinsheimer, Erika Smith,Brittney Bradley, and Hilary Rota

The purpose of this unit is to introduce students to life in the ocean and how animals inhabit the ocean. We will focus specifically on the animals that inhabit the ocean and the environments in the ocean that they inhabit. We will have students compare and contrast different ocean representations they have been exposed to, whether through personal experience, media, or book. We will then progress to community and ecological influences on the ocean and how humans interact with the ocean. We want students to use different modalities to expand their knowledge and learning of the ocean through the use of videos, popular culture, websites, and books. We want our students to understand the ocean, its life forms, and how human interaction with the ocean influences the natural habitat.

Unit Rationale

What types of animals inhabit the ocean and what elements are necessary for their survival?

What are the characteristics of geographical elements and living things in the ocean?

How does human interaction help or hinder the ocean and the natural environment of the ocean’s living things?

Guiding Questions

Lesson Rationale: The purpose of this lesson is for students to understand the elements of a story and how they work together to create a story, just as the small tiles work together to form a mosaic. Reading The Rainbow Fish will introduce students to the process of identifying the elements of a story. The students will then be shown how a mosaic is formed from the compiling of small tiles into a large picture. To tie the lesson all together, we will explain how each color of scale represents an element of the story. The story is not complete without all the elements of the story, just as a mosaic, like our rainbow fish, is not complete without all the different colored tiles blending together to make a subject.

Objective: Students will be able to identify the setting, characters, plot, problem, and solution of the

story. Students will be able to demonstrate their understanding of elements through the use of

mosaic techniques.

Standards: PA “Other Domain” Standard

1.6.1.A: Listen actively and respond to others in small and large group situations with appropriate questions and ideas.1.6.1.B: Use appropriate volume and clarity in individual or group situations; Deliver brief oral presentations on a topic supported by visual aids

PA Arts and Humanities Standard 9.1.3.H: Handle materials, equipment and tools safely at work and performance spaces.

National Art Standard: 1.1.A:  know the differences between materials, techniques, and processes 1.1.B:  describe how different materials, techniques, and processes cause different response

Lesson 1 – Rainbow Fish

Materials: website, tissue paper cut in small squares, glue/water mixture, paint brushes, paper plates, markers, Rainbow Fish YouTube Video, large pieces of paper

http://www.mosaicmercantile.com/gallery/index.html http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52WHpsJCrwM

Rainbow Fish:Mosaic Fish

Lesson Rationale: The purpose of this lesson is for students to understand the life of a whale.  Through reading the book Whales, by Gail Gibbons, students will be introduced to the life of a whale and how they inhabit the ocean through an informational text.  The book provides students with diagrams, images, and text for students to decode.  This text will show students how a whale lives in the ocean and what elements are necessary in its environment for it to survive.  Students will then take the knowledge they have gained about whales and create a sock model of a whale.  They can create any type of whale of their choosing and will base the features they give their whale on the descriptions in Whales.  Once students have completed their sock whale, they will then write a narrative paragraph about their whale and its life in the ocean.

Objective: Students will be able to demonstrate their understanding of whales by creating their own sock whale model and writing a narrative paragraph about how their particular whale survives in the ocean.

Standards: National Art: 2. Content Standard: Using knowledge of *structures and functions

C. Use visual structures and functions of art to communicate ideas PA Art: 9.1.3 H. Handle materials, equipment and tools safely at work and

performance spaces. PA Content: 1.4.3.B.Write informational pieces using illustrations when relevant (e.g.,

descriptions, letters, reports, instructions)

Lesson 2 – Whales

Materials: Sock, rice, markers, rubber bands, tie dye, googly eyes, scissors, string, eyelashes for teeth, pencil, & paper

http://www.daniellesplace.com/html/under_the_sea.html

Whales Project:Sock Whale

Lesson Rationale: The purpose of this lesson is to help students be able to identify how living things transport themselves throughout the ocean and what elements of the ocean are necessary for their survival. Students will do this while using a variety of modes including books, poetry, drawing, and painting.

Objective: Students will be able to exhibit understanding of how living things transport themselves and survive in the ocean through the writing of a poem and creating an illustration using the crayon resist technique.

Standards: National Art: 3. Content Standard: Choosing and evaluating a range of

subject matter, symbols, and ideas b. select and use subject matter, symbols, and ideas to communicate

meaning PA Art: 9.1.3 Grade 3 F. Identify works of others through a performance

or exhibition PA Content: 1.4.3.A. Write poems and stories. Include detailed

descriptions of people, places, and things.

Lesson 3 – Commotion in the Ocean

Materials: Commotion in the Ocean, watercolor paper, crayons, water colors, paint brushes, pencils, & paper

Commotion in the Ocean Project: Crayon Resist Sea Turtles

Lesson Rationale: This lesson allows students to really consider the characteristics of the ocean as a natural habitat. Students will be read the informational book Exploring the Deep, Dark Sea, by Gail Gibbons. This non-fiction book looks in depth at the ocean’s environment. Students will then be split into small groups and each group will be able to choose a part of the book to recreate. Students will use Gibbon’s informational book as a reference throughout their recreation and then will present their clay recreation and what they learned about that particular scene to their classmates. The clay models will then be compiled into one large model of the ocean. This will have students working together collaboratively and also have them becoming experts on scenes of the ocean.

Objective: Students will be able to exhibit an understanding of the ocean habitat by recreating a scene from Gail Gibbons Exploring the Deep, Dark Sea from clay and presenting their recreations to the class.

Standards: 1. National Art: Content Standard: Understanding and applying media, techniques,

and processes C. Use different media, techniques, and processes to communicate ideas,

experiences, and stories PA Art: 9.4.3. GRADE 3 C. Recognize that the environment of the observer

influences individual aesthetic responses to works in the arts PA Content: 4.5.3D. Identify organisms that are dependent on one another in a

given ecosystem. • Define habitat and explain how a change in habitat affects an organism.

Lesson 4 – “Exploring the Deep, Dark Sea”

Materials: clay, Exploring the Deep, Dark Sea, & blue background

http://homeschooljourney.wordpress.com/2008/04/29/make-an-ocean-box/

Exploring the Deep, Dark Sea Project:Clay Model

Lesson Rationale: This lesson will allow students to investigate the impact of oil spills and teach children what happens when there is an oil spill. First teachers will show a video news clip to show the effects of oil and that it is a current environmental issue. Then, teachers will add water to bowls for each of the students and add paint to the water. Add oil in another cup and paint. Ask the students to put watercolor paper into a cake tin. Next the children should add two or three drops of water paint to watercolor paper and then add two or three drops of oil paint onto the paper. Ask the students to rock the tin back and forth. The water paint and the oil paint will not mix but will create a design on the paper. Afterwards, we will ask students to investigate how the oil paint stick to objects. Students will be given feathers to dip in their cup of oil paint to see how it sticks. Lastly they will reflect on how oil can hurt the environment by writing in their journals.

Objective: Students will be able to understand what happens when there is an oil spill and the impact it can have on the environment through the use of watercolor and oil paint and reflection in their journals.

Standards: National Art:1. Content Standard: Understanding and applying media, techniques, and

processes B. Describe how different materials, techniques, and processes cause different responses

PA Art: 9.3.3 A Recognize critical processes used in the examination of works in the arts and humanities.

PA Content: 4.5.4.C. Describe how human activities affect the environment.

Lesson 5- Oil Spills

Materials: Water, bowls, paint, oil, construction paper, watercolor paper, cake tin

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LIwoK25icA

Oil Spills Project: Oil Spill Model

Lesson Rationale: Through this lesson students will learn how they can help protect the ocean from waste. First, students will watch a video on what kinds of wastes can be found in the ocean, the effects it can have and some ideas on how to help. Then we will again explain to students that bottle caps are one of the top wastes found in the ocean and that everyone can recycle those bottle caps to help reduce waste. This will be a group activity where large groups of about 10 students will work together to create a bottle cap mosaic. Each group will be provided with a large, rectangular piece of wood and will be asked to collect bottle caps over a couple of weeks. Then students will draw a scene on their piece of wood. Finally students will place the colored bottle caps top side down on top of their scene so that they recreate their scene with the bottle caps. Students will then super glue those caps down, finishing the cap mosaic.

Objective: Students will demonstrate understanding of the kinds of waste that are harmful to the ocean and how they can prevent this through the creation of a bottle cap mosaic made from recycled bottle caps.

Standards: National Art: 2. Content Standard: Using knowledge of *structures and functions

C. use visual structures and functions of art to communicate ideas PA Art: 9.4.3.D: Recognize that choices made by artists regarding subject matter and

themes communicate ideas through works in the arts and humanities PA Content: 4.5.4.D. Identify those items that can be recycled and those that can not.

Describe how everyday activities may affect the environment.

Lesson 6- Preventing Waste

Materials: Recycled bottle caps, super glue or hot glue gun, 2 large pieces of ply wood

http://eyesaflame.blogspot.com/2009/04/plastic-bottle-cap-madness-and-bit.html

Preventing Waste Project:Bottle Cap Mosaic