Teaching Sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

20 minutes	Part A: What living things live in your yard?
30 minutes	Part B: Draw the living things in your yard
10 minutes	Reflection

Part A: What Living Things Live in your Yard?

Step 1.

Begin this lesson by inviting students to suggest what living things (apart from other people!) they have in their yard at school:

What living things have you seen? Think about the plants and animals you might have seen. You could also think about how the living things in the yard look after it has rained or at different times of the day, or if the sun shines through the trees or certain leaves in a particular way.
What living things have you heard? Think about what birds or insects you might have heard, or if you have heard the wind blowing through the trees.
What are your favourite living things in the yard at your school?

Record student suggestions on the board.

Step 2. Now explain to students that they will be observing and drawing some of the nature at their school.

If heading outside is not possible due to weather conditions, consider bringing the nature indoors. Collect fallen leaves, bark, branches and seeds to bring inside for students to observe and draw.

Take students outside to an area where there are trees and grass and invite them to sit down on the ground and close their eyes. Students should spend one or two minutes just listening to the nature around them. Still with their eyes closed, invite students to feel the ground around them with their hands. After a minute or two you can then invite students to open their eyes and start observing the nature around them with their eyes.

Once complete, invite students to share their observations with the class:

What did they hear?
What did they feel?
What did they see?
Did anyone smell anything? What did you smell?
Which of the things they observed were living things? How can you tell?

Step 3.

Now explain to students that they need to focus on one living thing they just observed with their eyes and look closely at this thing. The living thing they are focusing on can be something small and up close, such as a snail or gum nut – or large and in the distance, such as a tree. Soon they will be drawing this thing with pencils, but first, they are going to study this thing with scientific eyes and think about what it is. Consider the following:

What is this living thing?
If it is an animal, what type of animal is it and what is it doing?
If it is a plant, what type of plant is it and how can you tell?
What do you already know about this kind of living thing? How do you know this?

Differentiation:

Foundation – What does this living thing needs to survive? What do plants need to survive? What do animals need? Can any of these be found close to this living thing?
Year 1 – What external features does this living thing have? Why does it have these features?
Year 2 – What stage of the lifecycle is this thing at? How can you tell?

You could either work as a class or in groups to answer these questions. If working in groups, invite groups to share their thoughts with the class in a class discussion.

Part B. Drawing the Living Things in your Yard

Step 1.

Explain to students that they now need to look at their living thing with artistic eyes. This means that students need to start thinking about how they will draw this thing. Invite students to consider the following:

What shape is this thing? Is it made of many different shapes, or is it just one shape?
What patterns does it have?

Invite students to imagine that their finger is a pencil and that the air is the paper. Students should ‘trace’ the living thing they are drawing with their finger in the air, using this to help them define the shapes and patterns of the thing they will draw.

After several minutes, you can distribute paper to the students. Again, using their fingers, invite students to draw their living thing on the paper, imagining that the shapes they just drew in the air are being transferred to the paper.

Once complete, you can give students a lead or graphite pencil and invite them to begin actually drawing on the paper. Explain to students that what they are doing is observational drawing, which means drawing just what they see as they see it. And at this stage, they should just be aiming to draw an outline.

Once students are happy with their outline they can colour in what they have drawn, remembering to select the colours that they see on the thing they are drawing, and to consider how the sunlight is affecting what they are drawing (i.e. where are the shadows?).

Students may also want to experiment with different colouring techniques, such as hatching, shading or pointillism (see samples below):

For more information about drawing techniques, download the Drawing Techniques handout.

Step 2.

Once students have completed their drawing, they need to write the name of their living thing next to their drawing and add any interesting observations about this living thing.

Differentiation:

Students should also -

Foundation – Add some key words that describe what this living thing needs to survive
Year 1 – Label some of the features of this living thing (e.g. Plant – leaves, branches, bark, seeds/nuts, flowers, etc. Animal – head, legs, wings, antennae, shell, etc.)
Year 2 – Describe the stage of the lifecycle this living thing is at, for example “This is an egg/ juvenile/adult or seed/seedling/mature plant. I know this because…”

Step 3.

Finally, invite students to team up into pairs or small groups in order to share their work with other students. Students can offer feedback on artworks, remembering to be kind, helpful and specific:

Tips for providing feedback
Be kind - It can be hard to share your ideas with others, so remain kind and supportive.
Be specific - Be clear about what you think and why. Rather than saying, ‘I like the colours, ’ say something like ‘, I like the ways those colours help create a mood that supports your message.
Be helpful - Try not to say what is strong or weak, but also make suggestions about how things could be improved.

You could repeat this activity at different times of the year to see how the living things in your yard differ at different times of the year and in different seasons. You could also consider compiling this information into a class book or end of year gallery display to share with other students and teachers at your school.

Reflection

Engage students in a class discussion around their experiences observing and drawing their living things. Consider the following points in your discussion:

What was the best part about drawing your living thing?
What didn’t you enjoy about doing drawing your living thing?
What would you do differently next time?
What questions do you have about the living thing that you drew? What would you like to know about this living thing?
How can we look after the living things in our yard?

Take it further

Consider creating and decorating habitat boxes for the animals in your yard, including bug houses and possum or bird boxes, for example:

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 - Drawing Nature

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