HABITATS & ANIMAL ADAPTATIONS: GEORGIA REGIONS LANDSCAPE 3

GEORGIA REGIONS LANDSCAPE

HABITATS & ANIMAL ADAPTATIONS: GEORGIA REGIONS LANDSCAPE

Learning Description

In this lesson, students will complete a landscape painting demonstrating their understanding of Georgia’s habitats that incorporates the art techniques of the painter Vincent Van Gogh.

 

Learning Targets

GRADE BAND: 3
CONTENT FOCUS: VISUAL ARTS & SCIENCE
LESSON DOWNLOADS:

Download PDF of this Lesson

"I Can" Statements

“I Can…”

  • I can differentiate between plants, animals, and habitats found within Georgia’s geographic regions.
  • I can create a landscape artwork in the style of Vincent Van Gogh that shows components of Georgia’s habitats.

Essential Questions

  • What is the difference between the plants, animals, and habitats found within Georgia’s geographic regions?
  • How can I create a landscape artwork inspired by the artist, Vincent Van Gogh, to demonstrate my understanding of the different habitats in Georgia?

 

Georgia Standards

Curriculum Standards

S3L1. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about the similarities and differences between plants, animals, and habitats found within geographic regions (Blue Ridge Mountains, Piedmont, Coastal Plains, Valley and Ridge, and Appalachian Plateau) of Georgia.

a. Ask questions to differentiate between plants, animals, and habitats found within Georgia’s geographic regions.

b. Construct an explanation of how external features and adaptations (camouflage, hibernation, migration, mimicry) of animals allow them to survive in their habitat.

c. Use evidence to construct an explanation of why some organisms can thrive in one habitat and not in another.

Arts Standards

VA3.CR.1 Engage in the creative process to generate and visualize ideas by using subject matter and symbols to communicate meaning.c. Produce multiple prototypes in the planning stages for a work of art (e.g. sketches, 3D models).

VA3.CR.2 Create works of art based on selected themes.

b. Create works of art emphasizing multiple elements of art and/or principles of design.

VA3.CR.3 Understand and apply media, techniques, processes, and concepts of two-dimensional art.

a. Develop drawings and paintings with a variety of media (e.g. pencil, crayon, pastel, tempera, watercolor).

d. Develop and apply an understanding of color schemes to create works of art.

VA3.RE.1 Use a variety of approaches for art criticism and to critique personal works of art and the artwork of others to enhance visual literacy.

b. Use art terminology with emphasis on the elements of art and/or principles of design.

 

South Carolina Standards

Curriculum Standards

3-LS4-2. Use evidence to construct an explanation for how the variations in traits among individuals of the same species may provide advantages in surviving and producing offspring.

3-LS4-3. Construct an argument with evidence that in a particular habitat some organisms can thrive, struggle to survive, or fail to survive.

Arts Standards

Anchor Standard 1: I can use the elements and principles of art to create artwork.

Anchor Standard 2: I can use different materials, techniques, and processes to make art.

Anchor Standard 7: I can relate visual arts ideas to other arts disciplines, content areas, and careers.

 

Key Vocabulary

Content Vocabulary

  • Region - An area of land that is defined by certain characteristics that differentiate one region from another
  • Habitat - A specialized ecological niche or environment in which a particular species or community of organisms resides
  • Organism - A living thing, like an animal, plant, fungus, bacterium, or protist
  • Adaptation - How organisms change or adjust to new conditions
  • Camouflage - An adaptation by which an organism visually blends into its surroundings by virtue of its shapes, patterns, and coloring.
  • Hibernation - A state of deep inactivity and metabolic slowdown that some animals enter during cold or unfavorable environmental conditions, typically in winter
  • Migration - The seasonal movement of animals or people from one region to another, usually in search of better living conditions, food, or a more favorable climate
  • Traits - The specific features that make each living thing unique
  • Environment - All external conditions, influences, and factors that affect and interact with living organisms

Arts Vocabulary

  • Texture - How something feels or looks like it feels
  • Line - A mark connecting two points
  • Landscape - A type of visual art that depicts natural scenery such as mountains, forests, rivers, valleys, or oceans
  • Background - The area of a landscape that is farthest from the viewer
  • Middle ground - The area of a landscape between the background and the foreground
  • Foreground - The area of a landscape that is closest to the viewer

 

Materials

Black and white landscape illustration showing labeled areas:

 

Instructional Design

Opening/Activating Strategy

  • Teacher will show students a picture of Van Gogh’s painting, “Starry Night”.
  • Ask students to work collaboratively to engage in the See, Think, Wonder Artful Thinking Routine.
    • First, students will identify what they see in the image. Emphasize that they should make objective observations about the image (i.e. physical features, colors, textures, etc.).
    • Next, ask students to identify what they think about the image. Emphasize that students should be creating inferences using visual evidence from the image.
    • Finally, ask students what they wonder about the image.
  • Facilitate a class-wide discussion around students’ observations, inferences, and questions.
  • Ask students what types of animals and plants they think might live in the environment.

Work Session

  • Show students one of the videos about Van Gogh and his painting style and techniques. Discuss with students how he used short lines in his brush strokes.
  • Show students a diagram of a landscape with a foreground, middle ground, and background (see below).

Black and white landscape illustration showing labeled areas:

  • Ask students to identify where they see the background, middle ground, and foreground in “Starry Night”.
  • Tell students that they will be making landscape artwork in the style of Vincent Van Gogh to demonstrate their understanding of Georgia’s habitats.
  • Review the components of the Georgia regions (plants, trees, body of water, animals, etc.) by reading a nonfiction text about the regions of Georgia.
  • Students will then select one of the regions of Georgia (Appalachian Plateau, Valley and Ridge, Blue Ridge, Piedmont, and Coastal Plains) and create a sketch of the landscape for that region either on plain white paper or in their STEAM journals.
    • Students should be sure to include plants, trees, body of water, animals, etc. that they would see in that habitat.
  • Once they have drawn their initial plan, students will lightly sketch out their landscape on watercolor paper or mixed media paper.
  • Students will then add details and color using marks and lines in the style of Van Gogh with crayon or oil pastel.
  • Finally, students will paint over their landscape using watercolors. The crayons or oil pastels will “resist” the watercolor.

Closing Reflection

  • Students will share their paintings with the class, and the students in the class will try to determine which Georgia region is being depicted in the painting based on what is shown in the painting.
  • Students will also share which art techniques they used in their paintings.

Optional: Create a large outline of the state of Georgia to display on the wall. Display students’ artwork in the geographical region represented on the map.

 

Assessments

Formative

  • Teachers will assess students' learning through:
    • Questioning and observations of students' responses to artwork analysis and the regions of Georgia.
    • Students’ planning for their landscape artwork.

Summative

  • Students will ensure that they included each aspect of the checklist in their painting–Checklist:
    • Artwork includes the components of a landscape (foreground, middle ground, and background)
    • Artwork contains animals, trees, and plants that would be evident in their habitat
    • Artwork incorporates techniques used by Van Gogh

 

Differentiation 

Accelerated: 

  • Students can recreate their landscape using a different art medium (tempera paint, model magic on tag board, etc.)
  • Students can write an informational description of what they showed in their artwork and how they used Van Gogh’s techniques in their artwork.

Remedial:

  • Students can use an alternate medium such as collage or drawing.
  • Students can work with a partner and/or use a smaller sized paper.
  • Teachers can pre-label paper with parts of a landscape (foreground, middle ground, and background).

 

Credits

U.S. Department of Education- STEM + the Art of Integrated Learning

Ideas contributed by: SAIL Grant Teacher Leaders, Shannon Green

*This integrated lesson provides differentiated ideas and activities for educators that are aligned to a sampling of standards. Standards referenced at the time of publishing may differ based on each state’s adoption of new standards.

Revised and copyright:  June 2025 @ ArtsNOW

 

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HABITATS & ANIMAL ADAPTATIONS: EXPLORING HABITATS THROUGH MUSIC COMPOSITION 3

EXPLORING HABITATS THROUGH MUSIC COMPOSITION

HABITATS & ANIMAL ADAPTATIONS: EXPLORING HABITATS THROUGH MUSIC COMPOSITION

Learning Description

Through composition of original speech pieces, students will develop skills and understandings in science and music. Teamwork and creativity are necessary to create a chant that demonstrates understanding of plant and animal life in various habitats. Musical skills addressed in this lesson include improvising, composing, listening, speaking, and moving.

 

Learning Targets

GRADE BAND: 3
CONTENT FOCUS: MUSIC & SCIENCE
LESSON DOWNLOADS:

Download PDF of this Lesson

"I Can" Statements

“I Can…”

  • I can create and accurately perform an original speech composition in rondo form about my assigned habitat.
  • I can create and accurately perform a body percussion ostinato to accompany my speech composition.

Essential Questions

  • How can music composition help us understand and remember habitats?

 

Georgia Standards

Curriculum Standards

S3L1. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about the similarities and differences between plants, animals, and habitats found within geographic regions (Blue Ridge Mountains, Piedmont, Coastal Plains, Valley and Ridge, and Appalachian Plateau) of Georgia.
a. Ask questions to differentiate between plants, animals, and habitats found within Georgia’s geographic regions.
b. Construct an explanation of how external features and adaptations (camouflage, hibernation, migration, mimicry) of animals allow them to survive in their habitat.
c. Use evidence to construct an explanation of why some organisms can thrive in one habitat and not in another.

Arts Standards

ESGM3.CR.1 Improvise melodies, variations, and accompaniments.
ESGM3.CR.2 Compose and arrange music within specified guidelines.
ESGM3.PR.2 Perform a varied repertoire of music on instruments, alone and with others.
ESGM3.RE.1 Listen to, analyze, and describe music.
ESGM3.RE.2 Evaluate music and music performances.
ESGM3.CN.1 Connect music to the other fine arts and disciplines outside the arts.

 

South Carolina Standards

Curriculum Standards

3-LS4-2. Use evidence to construct an explanation for how the variations in traits among individuals of the same species may provide advantages in surviving and producing offspring.
3-LS4-3. Construct an argument with evidence that in a particular habitat some organisms can thrive, struggle to survive, or fail to survive.

Arts Standards

Anchor Standard 1: I can arrange and compose music.
Anchor Standard 2: I can improvise music.
Anchor Standard 4: I can play instruments alone and with others.
Anchor Standard 6: I can analyze music.
Anchor Standard 7: I can evaluate music.
Anchor Standard 9: I can relate music to other arts disciplines, other subjects, and career paths.

 

Key Vocabulary

Content Vocabulary

  • Habitat - The natural environment of an organism; place that is natural for the life and growth of an organism
  • Organism - A living thing, like an animal, plant, fungus, bacterium, or protist
  • Adaptation - How organisms change or adjust to new conditions
  • Environment - All external conditions, influences, and factors that affect and interact with living organisms

Arts Vocabulary

  • Rondo - A form of composition in which the first section recurs throughout the piece, alternating with different sections (e.g., A-B-A-B-A or A-B-A-C-A, etc.); this form is found especially in compositions of the Baroque and Classical eras
  • Ostinato - A repeated pattern (plural: ostinati)
  • Body percussion - Sounds produced by striking or scraping parts of the body; typically includes snapping, clapping, patting, and stomping
  • Musical phrase - Musical sentence or unit, commonly a passage of four or eight measures; a dependent division of music, much like a single line of poetry in that it does not have a sense of completion in itself; usually two or more phrases balance each other
  • Texture - The thickness or thinness of sound


Materials

  • Habitat cards (individual cards with one habitat on each)
  • Cutouts of shapes (or shapes can be written on the board)
  • Visual of A section text (to be displayed after chant is learned)
  • Sound source (computer and speakers)
  • Recording of musical composition in rondo form (this could be a song that is structured verse-chorus-verse-chorus)


Instructional Design

Opening/Activating Strategy

Classroom Tips: Arrange groups so that students can move away from each other during the creation process to enable careful listening and minimize distraction from other groups.

  • Play a musical composition in rondo form (such as verse-chorus-verse-chorus, etc.), challenging students to listen for repeated sections. (NOTE: Music with text may facilitate students’ discernment of repetition and contrast.)
  • Identify form heard in composition as rondo form.
  • Demonstrate different body percussion techniques, such as snapping, clapping, patting, and stomping. Have students follow your movements.
  • Challenge students to establish a simple two, four, or eight beat body percussion ostinato.

Work Session

  • Explain that students will now become composers of their own speech piece to illustrate rondo form.
  • While students perform the body percussion ostinato that they created, teach the following chant by rote (teacher speaks, students echo).

Habitats define life and growth within a place
Where animals and plants naturally live in their space.
Each is connected by the environment in which they live;

Contributing uniquely, they all have something to give.

 

  • To facilitate student success in learning the chant aurally, begin by speaking the entire chant, then speak the first phrase (first eight beats) and have students echo.
  • Continue speaking each phrase and having students echo. Then combine two phrases (16 beats) and have students echo.
  • Once students are comfortable with 8- and 16-beat phrases, speak the entire chant.
  • This becomes the A section of the class composition.
  • Analyze the structure of the chant (32 beats long with the last word on beat 31).
  • A visual such as follows may be helpful in guiding students’ analysis.

A rectangular box containing four identical rows of numbers. Each row lists numbers 1 through 8, spaced evenly across the width of the box, resembling patterns found in music composition.

  • To help students understand the chant’s length and structure, point to each number while speaking the chant.
  • Analyze the rhyme scheme of the chant, marking on the visual of the chant to facilitate understanding.
  • Divide students into small groups so that each of Georgia’s habitats will be represented by at least one group. Tell students that they will be writing their own chant about their assigned habitat.
    • Chants should include plants, trees, body of water, animals, etc.
    • Their chant must be the same length and use the same rhyme scheme as the A section.
  • Once students are satisfied with their composition, have them write it down (text only) on large paper.
    • Encourage students to write their composition in four lines to facilitate understanding of the four phrases.
  • Provide time for students to practice performing their chant.
  • Next, have students add body percussion to their chants.

Closing Reflection

  • Combine group compositions with the original chant to create a rondo form.
  • The original chant is the A section while student creations become the alternating sections. For example:

Original chant: A section

Blue Ridge Mountains chant: B section

Original chant: A section

Piedmont: C section

Original chant: A section

Coastal Plains: D section

Original chant: A section

Valley and Ridge: E section

Original chant: A section

Appalachian Plateau: F section

Original chant: A section

  • Allow time for students to comment on the compositional efforts of others, perhaps noticing distinctive rhythms and/or word choice.
  • Discuss the characteristics of each of the habitats performed.


Assessments

Formative

Teachers will assess students’ understanding of the content throughout the lesson by observing students’ participation in the activator, ability to repeat and learn the A section of the habitat chant, analysis of rhyme scheme, and collaboration with their groups to create their own habitat chant.

Summative

CHECKLIST

  • Students can create and accurately perform an original speech composition using the prescribed form and content (assigned habitat).
  • Students can create and accurately perform a body percussion ostinato to accompany the speech composition.
  • Students aurally and visually identify rondo form in musical compositions.


Differentiation

Accelerated: 

  • Have students record their creations using technology and evaluate their work.
  • Challenge students to create simple melodies to accompany their text.
  • Have students transfer their spoken text to body percussion (e.g., clap the rhythm of the words rather than speaking the words). Experiment with and discuss various textures. For example, have half the students maintain the ostinato while the other group performs their chant on body percussion; then have only the chant performed on body percussion. Discuss what happens to the texture of the sound as other parts are added or deleted.
  • After students have transferred their spoken text to body percussion, have two (or more) groups superimpose (perform simultaneously) their chants. Discuss the texture changes this compositional device creates.
  • To connect to dance, have students create movement compositions demonstrating plants and/or animals found in their habitats. Then have other students guess the habitat demonstrated through movement.
  • To connect to theater, have students create dialogues between plants and/or animals found in various habitats. Dialogues should not include the name of the habitat so that after performing their dialogues, other students can guess the habitat being discussed.

Remedial:

  • Scaffold the lesson by working collaboratively as a class to create a chant about a habitat. Then release students to create their own.
  • Reduce the number of lines students are required to create in their chant.
  • Provide sentence starters to help students structure their chants.

 

Credits

U.S. Department of Education- STEM + the Art of Integrated Learning

Ideas contributed by: Maribeth Yoder-White

*This integrated lesson provides differentiated ideas and activities for educators that are aligned to a sampling of standards. Standards referenced at the time of publishing may differ based on each state’s adoption of new standards.

Revised and copyright:  June 2025 @ ArtsNOW

 

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HABITATS & ANIMAL ADAPTATIONS: CAMOUFLAGE & MIMICRY IN THE CLASSROOM 3

CAMOUFLAGE & MIMICRY IN THE CLASSROOM

HABITATS & ANIMAL ADAPTATIONS: CAMOUFLAGE & MIMICRY IN THE CLASSROOM

Learning Description

Animals are very creative! They adapt to their environments to improve their chances of survival; two types of adaptation are camouflage and mimicry. In this lesson, students will use voice and body, as well as the observational and creative skills of costume and set designers, to use camouflage and mimicry in their own natural habitat–the classroom!

 

Learning Targets

GRADE BAND: 3
CONTENT FOCUS: THEATRE & SCIENCE
LESSON DOWNLOADS:

Download PDF of this Lesson

"I Can" Statements

“I Can…”

  • I can define camouflage and mimicry, and tell the difference between them.
  • I can identify color, shape and pattern in my own clothing and in my classroom environment.
  • I can make choices that create the effect of camouflage.
  • I can use my voice, body, and art materials to create the effect of mimicry of another organism (a classmate) in my classroom environment.

Essential Questions

  • What are camouflage and mimicry?
  • How are color, shape and pattern important elements of camouflage and mimicry?
  • How can we use acting and design skills to explore camouflage and mimicry in the classroom?

 

Georgia Standards

Curriculum Standards

S3L1. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about the similarities and differences between plants, animals, and habitats found within geographic regions (Blue Ridge Mountains, Piedmont, Coastal Plains, Valley and Ridge, and Appalachian Plateau) of Georgia.
a. Ask questions to differentiate between plants, animals, and habitats found within Georgia’s geographic regions.
b. Construct an explanation of how external features and adaptations (camouflage, hibernation, migration, mimicry) of animals allow them to survive in their habitat.
c. Use evidence to construct an explanation of why some organisms can thrive in one habitat and not in another.

Arts Standards

TA3.PR.1 Act by communicating and  sustaining roles in formal and informal environments.
TA3.PR.2 Execute artistic and technical elements of theatre.

 

South Carolina Standards

Curriculum Standards

3-LS4-2. Use evidence to construct an explanation for how the variations in traits among individuals of the same species may provide advantages in surviving and producing offspring.
3-LS4-3. Construct an argument with evidence that in a particular habitat some organisms can thrive, struggle to survive, or fail to survive.

Arts Standards

Anchor Standard 3: I can act in improvised scenes and written scripts.
Anchor Standard 8: I can relate theatre to other content areas, arts disciplines, and careers.

 

Key Vocabulary

Content Vocabulary

  • Adaptation - A change by which an organism becomes better suited to its environment
  • Mimicry - An adaptation by which an organism copies the physical or vocal characteristics of another
  • Camouflage - An adaptation by which an organism visually blends into its surroundings by virtue of its shapes, patterns, and coloring
  • Habitat - The natural home or environment of an animal, plant, or other organism

Arts Vocabulary

  • Voice – An actor’s tool, which we shape and change to portray the way a character speaks or sounds
  • Body – An actor’s tool, which we shape and change to portray the way a character looks, walks, or moves
  • Set design - The creation of the physical space in which the action of a performed event takes place
  • Costume design - The creation of clothing and accessories for a character in a performance
  • Levels - Position of the body (high, middle, and low)


Materials

  • Optional: Drum or percussion instrument
  • Optional: Sound clips of mimicry
  • Images of camouflage and mimicry in the natural world (from textbook, class resources, or the internet)
  • Multi-colored pieces of construction paper
  • Scissors
  • Glue
  • STEAM journals/blank paper
  • Writing utensils


Instructional Design

Opening/Activating Strategy

Animal and Habitat Statues:

  • Use a drum, percussion instrument, or clapping to establish that students will form statues in response to a single beat and then relax out of the statues in response to a double beat.
  • Remind students that statues do not move, but that they must allow themselves to breathe and blink.
  • Provide a series of prompts of animals specific to Georgia habitats. The teacher can project images on the board or simply say the name of the animal.
    • As the teacher says the animal, have students form a statue of that animal with their bodies.
    • Use observational language to comment on specific physical choices that students make to create their statues (e.g., “I see that Caitlyn has her chest low like a stalking leopard,” or “Donté’s arms are straight back like a grasshopper’s wings.”

Work Session

Camouflage:

  • Define and discuss camouflage. Show examples of camouflage from the natural world.
  • Introduce the concept of camouflage in the classroom.
    • Model by looking for colors and patterns that mirror your own clothes. Find a place in the classroom where you can approximate blending in. Prompt students to say, “Where’s Ms. _______?  We can’t see her!”
  • Discuss how in theatre, television, and film, costume and set designers make intentional choices about costumes and sets used in the production.
  • Explain that students are going to be like costume designers, making choices based on colors, shapes, and patterns in the given costumes and settings in the classroom.
  • Invite one or two volunteers to come to the front of the room. Have the class identify colors, shapes, and patterns both on the volunteers and around the classroom, and brainstorm ideas for the volunteers to camouflage themselves in the classroom.
  • Model being a predator, looking for prey (the volunteers), and passing them by because they blend into their surroundings.
    • Ask students to think of a predator. Ask students to stand at their desks and use their bodies to show how their chosen predator acts when they are hunting prey.
      • Ask students to change their facial expressions and body movements to act like the predator. Have students give their predator a sound.
      • Have students change their body level (high, middle, or low) depending on what type of predator they are. For example, a snake would move at a low level while a bear would move at a high level.
    • Have students partner up and work together to identify camouflage opportunities for each partner; when each is camouflaged, have the other act like a deceived predator.
    • Have volunteers share examples of the camouflage opportunities they found around the classroom by acting like the deceived predator and camouflaged prey.

Mimicry:

  • Define mimicry; share examples (visual and perhaps aural) from the natural world.
  • Remind students about the roles of designers; explain that they will use simple materials to create external adaptations to mimic other organisms (classmates).
  • Model with construction paper, scissors, and glue or tape. Select a student to mimic, and use the supplies to quickly create a ‘costume’ piece that mimics what that student is wearing.
  • Have the student who is being mimicked come up to the front of the class, strike a pose or make a movement, and make a sound as their character. Stand by the student with the costume piece, and mimic the sound. Have the class say, “Look, it’s two ______s!” (i.e., if standing next to and mimicking Tyler, the class says “Look, it’s two Tylers!”).
    • Discuss mimicry as a form of flattery or disguise, and impress upon the students that the activity should not be used in order to mock, tease, taunt, make fun of, or bully others.
  • Have students work with their partners to use materials to create a costume piece to mimic each other’s visual appearance – primarily clothing.
  • Once students have created their pieces, tell students that now the student being mimicked should strike a pose or create a movement and make a sound for the other student to mimic.
  • Invite volunteers to come to the front of the room to perform their mimicry. Have the class say, “Listen! Look! It’s two ______’s!”
  • Remind students that they worked together to understand mimicry, and have students thank each other for the honor of both mimicking and being mimicked.

Closing Reflection

  • Facilitate a discussion about the following: How did we use elements of costume and set design – color, shape, and pattern – to bring camouflage and mimicry to life in our classroom “habitat”? How did we use characterization (facial expressions, movements, sounds, etc.)?
  • Students will draw a picture of themselves demonstrating camouflage or mimicry in the classroom.
    • Students should identify the image as an example of either camouflage or mimicry.
    • Students should identify the areas and objects in the classroom that were used for camouflage or the classmate on whom the mimicry was based.


Assessments

Formative

  • Observe student comprehension of camouflage and mimicry as they use costume clothing, shape, and pattern in the lesson.
  • Observe how students use costume design, as well as their voices and bodies, to successfully create the effects of camouflage.

Summative

  • Evaluate the student drawings for evidence of comprehension of camouflage and effective use of design concepts in the lesson activity.
  • Evaluate student performances of camouflage to determine if they were able to use their bodies and voices to act like a predator who could not find a camouflaged prey.
  • Evaluate student performances of mimicry to determine if they could use costume design and voice to demonstrate mimicry.


Differentiation

Accelerated: 

Have students research a specific animal native to one of Georgia’s habitats. Students will identify a predator and prey relationship. Then students should complete the same activity in the lesson using the specific predator and prey relationship they defined.

Remedial:

  • Lead a slow visual tour of the classroom as a class, identifying specific colors, shapes, and patterns, and making connections with individuals to provide ideas to be used for camouflage.
  • Allow students to adjust objects in the classroom environment to facilitate the camouflage effect.
  • Rather than mimicking one another, have all the students mimic the teacher.


Credits

U.S. Department of Education- STEM + the Art of Integrated Learning

Ideas contributed by: SAIL Grant Teacher Leaders, Barry Stewart Mann

*This integrated lesson provides differentiated ideas and activities for educators that are aligned to a sampling of standards. Standards referenced at the time of publishing may differ based on each state’s adoption of new standards.

Revised and copyright:  June 2025 @ ArtsNOW

 

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HABITATS & ANIMAL ADAPTATIONS: ANIMAL ADAPTATIONS DANCE 3

ANIMAL ADAPTATIONS DANCE

HABITATS & ANIMAL ADAPTATIONS: ANIMAL ADAPTATIONS DANCE

Learning Description

In this lesson, students will demonstrate their understanding of the ways that animals adapt to survive in their environments through choreography and dance performances. Students will evaluate each other’s performances and identify how the dancers/choreographers used levels and locomotor/non-locomotor movements to communicate animal adaptation.

 

Learning Targets

GRADE BAND: 3
CONTENT FOCUS: DANCE & SCIENCE
LESSON DOWNLOADS:

Download PDF of this Lesson

"I Can" Statements

“I Can…”

  • I can create movements to demonstrate animal adaptations.
  • I can create choreography using different levels and locomotor and non-locomotor movements.
  • I can use dance to communicate meaning.

Essential Questions

  • How do choreographers use movement to communicate meaning?
  • How do animals adapt to survive in their environments?
  • What environmental factors might affect an animal’s survival?

 

Georgia Standards

Curriculum Standards

S3L1. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about the similarities and differences between plants, animals, and habitats found within geographic regions (Blue Ridge Mountains, Piedmont, Coastal Plains, Valley and Ridge, and Appalachian Plateau) of Georgia.

a. Ask questions to differentiate between plants, animals, and habitats found within Georgia’s geographic regions.

b. Construct an explanation of how external features and adaptations (camouflage, hibernation, migration, mimicry) of animals allow them to survive in their habitat.

c. Use evidence to construct an explanation of why some organisms can thrive in one habitat and not in another.

Arts Standards

ESD3.CR.1 Demonstrate an understanding of the choreographic process.

a. Collaborate with others to create and perform movement phrases.

b. Create a sequence of three or more movements utilizing body, space, time, and energy

ESD3.CR2 Demonstrate an understanding of dance as a form of communication.

ESD3.PR.1 Identify and demonstrate movement elements, skills, technique, and terminology in dance.

a. Apply and expand dance terminology to describe and create movement (e.g. levels, pathways, directions, speed, rhythm, energy, qualities, shapes).

b. Combine and execute a wide range of locomotor movements with appropriate energy and coordination (e.g. walk, run, hop, jump, gallop, skip).

 

South Carolina Standards

Curriculum Standards

3-LS4-2. Use evidence to construct an explanation for how the variations in traits among individuals of the same species may provide advantages in surviving and producing offspring.

3-LS4-3. Construct an argument with evidence that in a particular habitat some organisms can thrive, struggle to survive, or fail to survive.

Arts Standards

Anchor Standard 1: I can use movement exploration to discover and create artistic ideas and works.

Anchor Standard 2: I can choreograph a dance.

Anchor Standard 3: I can perform movements using the dance elements

 

Key Vocabulary

Content Vocabulary

  • Adaptation - A change by which an organism becomes better suited to its environment.
  • Mimicry - An adaptation by which an organism copies the physical or vocal characteristics of another.
  • Camouflage - An adaptation by which an organism visually blends into its surroundings by virtue of its shapes, patterns, and coloring.
  • Habitat - The natural home or environment of an animal, plant, or other organism.

Arts Vocabulary

  • Non-locomotor - This refers to a movement that does not travel through space
  • Locomotor - This refers to a movement that travels through space
  • Space - An element of movement involving direction, level, size, focus, and pathway
  • Level - One of the aspects of movement (there are three basic levels in dance: high, middle, and low)
  • Choreography - The art of composing dances and planning and arranging the movements, steps, and patterns of dancers
  • Shape - This refers to an interesting and interrelated arrangement of body parts of one dance; the visual makeup or molding of the body parts of a single dancer; the overall visible appearance of a group of dancers

 

Materials

 

Instructional Design

Opening/Activating Strategy

  • Begin the lesson by playing the “mirror game”. Demonstrate various levels (high, medium, and low) and locomotor and non-locomotor movements (see vocabulary).
    • Students must copy the movements that the teacher makes without speaking.
  • After the game, ask students what they were doing. Explain that this demonstrates mimicry; show pictures to demonstrate mimicry in nature.
    • Discuss the levels that you used and share with students that levels are one of the ways that dancers show the element of space in dance.
    • Discuss how some movements stayed in one place and some movements required students to move from one place to another. Movements in dance in which the dancer does not move to a new location are called non-locomotor movements; movements in which the dancer moves from one location to another are called locomotor movements.

Work Session

  • Review or teach the following vocabulary words with students: Adaptations, mimicry, migration, camouflage, and hibernation.
  • Present the following task to students. Students must create a choreography that demonstrates mimicry, migration, camouflage, and hibernation.
    • Students will come up with a unique movement for each of their words.
    • Their dance must start with a beginning frozen shape, have a middle in which they demonstrate each vocabulary word, and finish in a frozen end shape.
    • Students must demonstrate use of levels and locomotor/non-locomotor movements in their choreography.

Students will have twenty minutes to develop their choreography and rehearse.

Closing Reflection

  • Students will present their choreographies to the audience. Discuss appropriate audience participation and etiquette prior to performances.
  • The audience will guess which movement represented which content vocabulary words based on their body movements throughout the choreography. Encourage students to use the terms “levels” and “locomotor/non-locomotor movements” as they describe the dances.
  • In their STEAM journals, students should explain their process and how they used dance concepts to demonstrate animal adaptations.

 

Assessments

Formative

  • Teacher observation of students’ ability to mirror teacher’s movements in activator
  • Responses to discussion of ways that animals adapt to their environments
  • Demonstration of understanding of levels and locomotor/non-locomotor movements
  • Collaboration with group members to create movements to represent the different ways that animals adapt to their environments

Summative

CHECKLIST for students and teacher:

  • Do I have a beginning, middle, and end to my choreography?
  • Do I have a movement for each vocabulary word (that describes it)?
  • Did I use different levels in my choreography?
  • Did I use locomotor and non-locomotor movements in my choreography?
  • Did everyone participate in the process?

 

Differentiation

Accelerated: 

  • Students will research an animal native to one of the habitats being studied. Students will discover how that animal adapts to its environment and then will choreograph a dance that demonstrates this animal’s adaptation(s).

Remedial:

  • Students will be given a list of the vocabulary words and some movements that may correlate to their definition.
  • Scaffold the lesson by choreographing one vocabulary work together as a class before groups work on their own.
  • Reduce the number of vocabulary words that students will create movements for.

 

 

Credits

U.S. Department of Education- STEM + the Art of Integrated Learning

Ideas contributed by: SAIL Grant Teacher Leaders

*This integrated lesson provides differentiated ideas and activities for educators that are aligned to a sampling of standards. Standards referenced at the time of publishing may differ based on each state’s adoption of new standards.

Revised and copyright:  June 2025 @ ArtsNOW

 

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HABITATS & ANIMAL ADAPTATIONS: CREEPY CREATIVE CREATURE HABITATS 3

CREEPY CREATIVE CREATURE HABITATS

HABITATS & ANIMAL ADAPTATIONS: CREEPY CREATIVE CREATURE HABITATS

Learning Description

In this lesson, students will build on prior knowledge of animal adaptations by creating a habitat for an imaginary creature using found objects from nature.

 

Learning Targets

GRADE BAND: 3
CONTENT FOCUS: VISUAL ARTS & SCIENCE
LESSON DOWNLOADS:

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"I Can" Statements

“I Can…”

  • I can identify the inherited traits of my creature and explain how it adapted to survive and thrive in its habitat.
  • I can use found objects as my materials to make art.
  • I can use elements of art to construct an artwork.

Essential Questions

  • What traits do organisms inherit from their parents?
  • How have animals adapted to survive and thrive in their habitats?
  • What environmental factors might affect an animal’s survival?

 

Georgia Standards

Curriculum Standards

S3L1. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about the similarities and differences between plants, animals, and habitats found within geographic regions (Blue Ridge Mountains, Piedmont, Coastal Plains, Valley and Ridge, and Appalachian Plateau) of Georgia.
a. Ask questions to differentiate between plants, animals, and habitats found within Georgia’s geographic regions.
b. Construct an explanation of how external features and adaptations (camouflage, hibernation, migration, mimicry) of animals allow them to survive in their habitat.
c. Use evidence to construct an explanation of why some organisms can thrive in one habitat and not in another.

Arts Standards

VA3.CR.1 Engage in the creative process to generate and visualize ideas by using subject matter and symbols to communicate meaning.
VA3.CR.2 Create works of art based on selected themes.
VA3.CN.2 Integrate information from other disciplines to enhance the understanding and production of works of art.

 

South Carolina Standards

Curriculum Standards

3-LS4-2. Use evidence to construct an explanation for how the variations in traits among individuals of the same species may provide advantages in surviving and producing offspring.
3-LS4-3. Construct an argument with evidence that in a particular habitat some organisms can thrive, struggle to survive, or fail to survive.

Arts Standards

Anchor Standard 1: I can use the elements and principles of art to create artwork.
Anchor Standard 2: I can use different materials, techniques, and processes to make art.
Anchor Standard 7: I can relate visual arts ideas to other arts disciplines, content areas, and careers.

 

Key Vocabulary

Content Vocabulary

  • Habitat - A specialized ecological niche or environment in which a particular species or community of organisms resides
  • Organism - A living thing, like an animal, plant, fungus, bacterium, or protist
  • Adaptation - How organisms change or adjust to new conditions
  • Terrestrial - Related to land
  • Aquatic - Related to water
  • Offspring - The young of a living thing
  • Traits - The specific features that make each living thing unique
  • Environment - All external conditions, influences, and factors that affect and interact with living organisms

Arts Vocabulary

  • Assemblage - A three-dimensional art form that involves creating a piece of art by assembling and arranging a variety of objects and materials, often nontraditional or found items, into one piece
  • Texture - One of the elements of art; how something feels or looks like it feels
  • Line - One of the elements of art; the path of a moving point
  • Shape - One of the elements of art; a two-dimensional object
  • Form - One of the elements of art; a three-dimensional object
  • Color - One of the elements of art; color is reflected or absorbed light; color can be organized into different categories such as primary, secondary, and neutral


Materials

  • Liquid glue
  • Small and large paint brushes
  • Found objects from nature (can be collected on the nature walk) and/or various collage materials, such as yarn, paper, foil, cardboard, etc.
  • Cardstock or cardboard for the artwork
  • Rubric/checklist
  • Planning sheet
  • Examples of artwork by Andy Goldsworthy


Instructional Design

Opening/Activating Strategy

  • The teacher will share images of found art and nature art. Example artist is Andy Goldsworthy.
    • As a group, students will identify things that they recognize in the artwork and try to infer how the artist made the artwork.
    • Help students identify the Elements of Art such as lines, textures, shapes, and forms in the artwork.
    • Help students see how the artist used things from nature to create something new.
    • Explain to students that they are looking at examples of an “Assemblage”. An assemblage is a three-dimensional art form that involves creating a piece of art by assembling and arranging a variety of objects and materials, often nontraditional or found items, into one piece.

Work Session

Teacher note: Prior to this lesson, students should have completed their creatures using the planning sheet for their habitat.

  • In small groups, students will share their creature’s physical traits and will explain how these allow the creature to adapt within an environment.
    • Students should brainstorm ideas for habitats of their “creatures”.
  • Explain to students that they will be going on a nature walk to collect materials to make their creatures and their habitats.
  • Have students create a planning sketch of their creature in its habitat in their STEAM journals or on blank paper.
  • Take students on a nature walk to collect items for their habitat assemblage artwork (alternative: use collage materials).
  • After the nature walk, students will review their planning sheet to help with their habitat assemblages. They will use the rubric/checklist as a guide.
  • Show students techniques with applying liquid glue using a paint brush or sponge and assembling their found items together.
  • Allow students time to create their creatures and habitats using their materials.
  • Finally, students should write an informational paragraph to display with their artwork. Their paragraphs should include:
    • How they made their creature and habitat art
    • How their creature would thrive in their habitat art
    • At least two science content terms and explanation of how they showed them in their artwork
    • At least two art terms and explanation of how they showed them in their artwork

Once completed, students will take a “gallery walk” to see the habitat assemblages.

Closing Reflection

  • In small groups, students will share their assemblages. They will explain how they depicted their creature’s needs, such as water, shelter, and food, in their habitat. Further, they will share why their creature would thrive in this habitat.
  • Have a whole-class discussion asking the following question:
    • Where did you see evidence of the elements of art during your gallery walk (line, shape, form, color, and texture)? Relate this to science content. For example, “Genesis used small pebbles in a curved line to show a stream in her habitat”.

Finally, have students reflect on how their creatures and habitats changed from the planning phase to the creation phase of the project.


Assessments

Formative

The teacher will assess students’ understanding through: students’ planning sheets and conferring with students as they work on the project. For example, the teacher will provide feedback on the understanding shown on the planning sheet prior to students moving to the next step (creating habitats, for example).

Summative

The rubric/checklist will be used by the student and teacher to assess each portion of the project.


Differentiation

Accelerated: 

  • Students can create a three-dimensional sculpture of their creatures and habitats instead of a two-dimensional assemblage.
  • Students can create a soundscape for their habitat using body percussion, found sound, or technology.

Remedial:

Allow students to use differentiated planning sheet - page 2.

 

Credits

U.S. Department of Education- STEM + the Art of Integrated Learning

Ideas contributed by: Angela Stringer

*This integrated lesson provides differentiated ideas and activities for educators that are aligned to a sampling of standards. Standards referenced at the time of publishing may differ based on each state’s adoption of new standards.

Revised and copyright:  June 2025 @ ArtsNOW

 

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