Teaching Sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

20 minutes	Part A: Why should we help our environment?
30 minutes	Part B: How might we help our environment?
10 minutes	Reflection

Part A: Why Should We Help Our Environment?

Step 1.

Begin this lesson by inviting students to come together in a discussion circle to share what they know in response to the following question:

What is our environment?

Suggested answer - the natural world, including plants and animals.

If needed, remind students of some the points raised throughout this unit, including:

the parts of our environment
living things
the connections between all parts of our environment, including how the seasons affect our environment
some of the ways people need our environment.

Step 2.

Once complete, invite students to think about the following question:

Why might it be important to look after all the parts of our environment?

Through your discussion lead students to the conclusion that all living things – including people - need the environment to be healthy in order to survive, and that means looking after all parts of our environment. Remind students of the point raised in previous lessons about how different parts of the environment are connected or intertwined. So, if one part is not taken care of, others may also be at risk.

Step 3.

Now invite students to suggest answers to the following question:

How can we look after the different parts of our environment?

You can then use the Parts of our environment flashcards to stimulate discussion and illicit ideas from students on this topic. Make a record of student suggestions and use the prompts on the flashcards to guide students.

Part B: How Might We Help Our Environment?

Step 1.

Now explain to students that they will be thinking about some of the actions that they can personally take and sharing this with their class and with the school community through an art project called ‘Helping Hands’.

Differentiation

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

Step 2.

As they draw, invite students to think about what actions they would like to take to help our environment. These could be actions they could take personally, actions they could take at school as a class, or actions they could take at home. Once they have finished their drawing, students need to write their action on a separate piece of paper that can be displayed next to their helping hand.

For example further inspiration on how student can make help the environment check out the following activities - water saving, recycling and taking care of our oceans.

Each student will then need to write the action they will be taking to help our environment either on their drawing or on a piece of paper next to it, and will work as a class to organise a display of hands called 'Helping Hands'.

Step 3. Work with students to create a display of your 'Helping hands' to share with other students, teachers and parents at your school.

Reflection

Once complete, invite students to participate in a class discussion around the following questions:

Why is our environment important to me?
What is one thing I’d like everyone to know about our environment?

Take it further

Repeat this activity at a later date, students instead focusing on sharing what they have done to help our environment. You could even use feet in your artworks this time, titling the artworks ‘Steps to a healthier environment’.

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 - Helping Hands

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