Art Integration Unit Plan Template 1

Art Integration Unit Plan Template

LTC 4240: Art for Children

Unit Title & Big Idea: Preserving the Rainforest and its Animals Grade Level: 3rd
Unit Overview/Summary:

In this unit, students will be learning about animals that live in the rainforest and why it is important that we preserve
our rainforests in the world. After, reading the book The Great Kapok Tree. Students will be making puppets of rainforest
animals and then writing why we need to save this animal.


Class Periods Required: 1
Key Concepts (3-4)

Importance of saving the rainforest and its inhabitants
Writing a public service announcements to explain a point
Creating hand puppets as a way to get a point across
Essential Questions (3-4)

What animals live in the rainforest?
Why do certain animals need their habitat preserved?
How can you express to people why preservation of the rainforest is important?



Unit Objectives: (Excellent resource at http://www.teachervision.fen.com/curriculum-planning/new-teacher/48345.html?for_printing=1&detoured=1)

Students will identify animals that live in the rainforest from the book The Great Kapok Tree.
Students will understand why these animals need the rainforest to survive.
Students will create hand puppets of animals that live in the rainforest using paper bags as a medium to express their public service announcement
Students will write a Public Service Announcement from their animals point of view on why people should not destroy their habitat.


Grade Level Expectations (GLEs) (3-4) (http://dese.mo.gov/divimprove/curriculum/GLE/)

NGSS:
3-LS4-4. Make a claim about the merit of a solution to a problem caused when
the environment changes and the types of plants and animals that live
there may change.


Visual Art Standard GLE: 1.3.A.3 Create an original artwork using line, shape and color
Core Academic Standards (Common Core State Standards) (3-4)
(http://www.corestandards.org/)

RL.3.1 Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text,
referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers
W.3.1 Write opinion pieces on topics or texts, supporting a point of view
with reasons.


Art Integration Unit Plan Template 2


Content Areas Integrated:

1. Visual Art
2. Reading
3. Writing
4. Science

Identify & define common vocabulary/concepts that connect the art form
with the other identified subject area(s):

Habitat- the environment in which an animal or plant normally lives or
grows
Organism- any living biological entity, such as an animal, plant, fungus, or
bacterium
Environment- the air, water, minerals, organisms, and all other external
factors surrounding and affecting a given organism at any time.
Hand puppet- a type of puppet that is controlled by the hand or hands that
occupies the interior of the puppet.
Public service announcements- messages made with the objective of raising
awareness, changing public attitudes and behavior towards a social issue.
Shared reading- an instructional approach in which the teacher explicitly
models the strategies and skills of proficient readers.



Lesson Titles in Sequence/Order

1. Reading The Great Kapok Tree and discussion

2. Rainforest Animal Puppets

3. Save Our Environment PSA writing activity
Brief Lesson Descriptions (2-3 sentences each)
1. The teacher will do a shared reading of the book The Great Kapok
Tree. During the book the teacher will ask students to make
predictions and ask if they know what certain words mean. After
the teacher is finished reading the book, the students will fill out a
chart as a class. This chart will have two columns. One column will
have the name of each animal mentioned in the book, and the other
column will have the reasons why the rainforest is essential to the
survival of that animal.
2. Students will have the option to pick which rainforest animal they
want to make a paper bag hand puppet out of. To make the puppet
they will use colored paper bags and construction paper. I will show
them an example that I made for reference.
3. Students will write a persuasive paragraph, in the point of view of
their animal, explaining why people should not cut down the trees
of the rainforest. Students may refer back to the book or do further
Art Integration Unit Plan Template 3

research on their own. Students can name their animal and give
them fictional hobbies, but their reason for why people shouldnt
destroy the rainforest should be based off accurate information
from the book or their research.
What student prior knowledge will this unit require/draw upon?

Students should know what the rainforest is
Students should know how to write persuasively
Students should know how to perform basic art skills such as cutting and gluing.
Students should know basic features of certain animals (birds have beaks, tigers have paws)


What activities will you use to engage students in imagining, exploring, and/or experimenting in this unit?

I will engage the student in the reading by having them fill out a worksheet after the teacher is done reading. This is the chart that organizes all of the
animals mentioned in the book and their reasons for not wanting the men to destroy the rainforest. For the writing lesson, the students will imagine how
their animal must feel living in a rainforest that is being destroyed and their reasons for being upset. For the art section, students will be engaged in making
hand puppets of one of the animals mentioned in the story. This puppet will be used when the students give their public service announcements.


How will this unit permit/encourage students to solve problems in divergent ways?

Two students who might be making a leopard puppet could make them look completely different, while still both being leopards. Also, students might think
of different ways that the rainforest effects these animals or how the animals affect the rainforest. They could interpret the story has something different
than their peers.

How will you engage students in routinely reflecting on their learning/learning processes?

Students will have the book The Great Kapok Tree at their disposal to read whenever they want.
Students will reflect on the reading of the story by volunteering to fill in the answers on the chart.

How will this unit engage students in assessing their own work and the work of peers?

Students will peer edit their writing pieces. After the reading, students will assess their answers on the guided reading worksheet during the class discussion.
They will be able to see if their answers match up to those that the class came up with.

Art Integration Unit Plan Template 4


What opportunities/activities will students be given to revise and improve their understandings and their work?

Students will go through the revising and editing process for their persuasive writing piece. The teacher may help in this process, as well as peer editing.
For the puppet, students may collaborate with peers for this project. Students can tell each other what they need to improve on their puppet or what they
are doing well.


What opportunities/activities will you provide for students to share their learning/understanding/work in this unit?

At the end of the unit, students will use their hand puppet to share with the class what they wrote in their persuasive paragraphs. Basically, they are
persuading the class to not destroy the rainforest through the point of view of their animal.


How will you adapt the various aspects of this lesson to differently-abled students?

I will provide multiple copies of the books in both tangible forms and audio forms.
Peer editing allows higher achieving students to help the lower achieving students perfect their writing piece.
Peers may help students who may have trouble with cutting and gluing.
I will have an example puppet that can be used to help guide students when creating their own hand puppet animal.


References
Silverstein, L. B. & Layne, S. (n.d.). Defining arts integration. Retrieved from
http://www.americansforthearts.org/networks/arts_education/publications/special_publications/Defining%20Arts%20Integration.pdf

Cherry, L. (1990). The great kapok tree: a tale of the Amazon rain forest. San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
Art Integration Unit Plan Template 5

Test Report: DIY Paper Bag Animal Puppets. (2013, February 22). 86 Lemons. Retrieved May 4, 2014, from
http://86lemons.com/paper-bag-animal-puppets/
10 Things You Can Do To Save The Rainforest. (n.d.). . Retrieved May 4, 2014, from
http://www.rainforestfoundation.org/10-things-you-can-do-save-rainforest