Teaching Sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

20 minutes	Part A: The different parts of our environment
30 minutes	Part B: Describing the parts of our environment through art
10 minutes	Reflection

Part A: The Different Parts of our Environment

Step 1.

Begin by writing the word ‘environment’ on the board. Invite students to suggest what they think this word means and write their ideas around the word ‘environment’.

As part of this activity, suggest to students that there are parts of our environment that together make up the whole environment. Invite students to suggest what some of these parts might be and to think about how they might be connected, for example:

Some parts of our environment:

living things are a part of our environment
water is a part of our environment
rocks and soil are a part of our environment
air is a part of our environment.

How these parts might be connected:

animals need water to drink
animals need soil to grow some of the food that they eat
animals need plants, rocks and soil for shelter and for breeding sites
plants need water to drink
plants need soil to grow
all living things need air to breathe
water has air in it
rocks and soil help to filter and clean water as the water runs down creeks and rivers and goes underground
plants breathe in carbon dioxide and breathe out oxygen, helping to keep our clean and healthy for all other living things.

Step 2.

Now share the Parts of our environment flashcards with students. As you display each image, invite them to suggest what parts of our environment each image represents and to think about how the parts represented in each picture might be connected.

Be sure that the flashcard image of people in nature is the last flashcard you share with students.

Part B: Describing the Parts of our Environment Through Art

Step 1.

Once complete, explain to students that all the images from the flashcards come from countries other than Australia and so look quite different to the environment we might see when we look outside.

Explain to students that their next task is to create images that display parts of our environment from the place that they live. For example, they can create an image of living things such as trees and animals, that they might find in their backyard. Or they might want to create images of places that they regularly visit in nature that show different parts of our environment.

Differentiation:

Foundation and Year 1 – Students should create an image that shows how one or more living things in their areas interact with other parts of the environment in their area (TIP: allow students to head outside to observe some of these interactions).
Year 2 – Students should create an image that shows different stages of life for a living thing that can be found in their area. For example, a bird sitting next to its nest that is made of twigs, or a plant with flowers in preparation for dispersing its seeds into the soil.

To extend this activity, students could create one image of each scene/part of our environment using pencils/paints/crayons and then one using natural materials found in the yard, such as mud, sand, coloured leaves or pebbles and can display these two images side by side.

Step 2.

Before they create their artworks, invite students to spend some time planning the features of their artwork, for example:

What colours might work best for the subject of their artwork? How could they use colour to tell the 'story' of their artwork? For example, you might want to use lots of greens if you are showing a bug interacting with plants. Of if you are showing a bird in a nest, you might need lots of browns for the nest and then choose the colours of the bird.
What medium will they use? What medium might work best for the subject of their artwork? For example, if you are showing an animal in water, then maybe watercolour pencils might work well because you can get a good water effect with watercolours. Or if you are showing a bird hiding in tall grass, then maybe crayons would work well because they would allow you to make long strokes fairly quickly.

Step 3.

Give students time to create their artworks.

Step 4.

Invite students to share their work with the class, and to consider the choices they made when creating their work, for example:

Why they chose their medium?
Why they chose their subject?
Was there a message behind their work, and if so, what was it?
What is their favourite part of this artwork?
What they would do differently next time?

Reflection

Remind students of the earlier discussion around people in nature. Now invite students to consider:

Why we need to look after our environment?
Some ways we can all look after our environment.

Break the class into pairs or small groups and invite them to spend several minutes discussing their ideas, before opening the discussion up to the whole class.

Suggestions for why we need to look after our environment could include:

People need a healthy environment for fresh air, clean water and food.
Animals and plants need a healthy environment to survive.
People, plants and animals in the future will need a healthy environment so we need to look after what we have right now.

Suggestions of ways we can look after our environment could include:

Saving water and not allowing pollution to get into water, including into creeks, rivers, lakes and the sea.
Using less stuff, including paper and plastic.
Reusing and recycling things where we can, and making sure the stuff we can't reuse or recycle goes into the bin and not into our environment.
Looking after native plants and animals by looking after nature.
Walking and riding our bikes on short trips instead of using cars.

Take it further

Consider creating a class artwork that communicates how people need all parts of our environment to be healthy.

Teacher Reflection

Take this opportunity to reflect on your own teaching

What did you learn about your teaching today?
What worked well?
What didn’t work so well?
What would you share?
Where to next?
How are you going to get there?

Creative Sustainability - Connecting the Parts of Our Environment

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