3rd Grade: Animal Unfairness? Let’s Raise Awareness!
3rd Grade:
Animal Unfairness? Let’s Raise Awareness!
For the last 8 weeks, my amazing 3rd-graders have been learning about the effects that littering has on animals and the environment. On the first day of class, my students entered the classroom to find a giant plastic bin full of water and plastic. We discussed what this might look like, I got quite a variety of answers… empty yogurt containers, plastic, and even trash in the sea! Then we viewed a slide show with footage of trash in the ocean and two images of whales. The two images were side by side: a dead whale and a plastic whale, both (washed) ashore on the beach. I asked the students to discuss what they saw and eventually told them that one of the whales was made using plastic by an artist concerned about animals in the environment. Then we learned about plastic art and some amazing artist like Pascale Marthine Tayo and Micaella Pedros.
Eventually, it was time for our own plastic art-making! Each student thought of an animal to create, using recyclable items and paper, and how it could be affected by littering.
After a few classes of working on our sculptures, the class moved onto the next lesson.
The students used their Chromebooks to research images and geometric animals to practice drawing the animal they made for their sculpture! Several students decided to change the animal they used originally and the drawing portion of this lesson was quite challenging for some but very exciting for others.
Once drawings were nearly complete, we used them to make collages. As a class, we discussed what awareness was and how each student had been practicing environmental awareness by making art using plastic.
