Art Integration Lesson Plan Template

Art Integration Lesson Plan Template

LTC 4240: Art for Children

Lesson Title & Big Idea*: Plant Life Cycles, Relationships

Grade Level*: 3
Lesson Overview/Summary*: (This is like an abstract of the structure and procedures section)
Class Periods Required:
Class reads The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle and discusses what they know about plant life cycles and (please circle)
how seeds travel, and then have a lesson on them. Students then do a project where they create
their own plant and seed, keeping in mind how the seed would travel in relation to its
1
2
3
environment. They write a short story about their seed, then present those to their table/small
group, and end with writing a few things they learned from their classmates and in the lesson.
Key Concepts for each area (1-2 each): What you want the
Essential Questions (1-2)*:
students to know.*
What is the basic life cycle of a plant, and what is one way
1. Visual Art: How to represent and include details in an
seeds travel to start that life cycle?
What challenges did the seed in The Tiny Seed have to go
illustration
through before it became a plant?
2. Literacy: How to critically discuss a book
How to write a story that includes key information
3. Science: The life cycle of plants
How seeds travel
Lesson Objectives/Goals: (Excellent resource at http://www.teachervision.fen.com/curriculum-planning/new-teacher/48345.html?for_printing=1&detoured=1): What
you want the students to do. *
1. Visual Art: The students will be able to design a plant and seed of their own imagination.
2. Literacy: The students will be able to write a story where they show the relationship between their plant and seed and its
environment, giving at least two examples of challenges the seed faces while traveling.
3. Science: The students will be able to explain the growth cycle of a planthow it starts as a seed, grows into a plant, and
then disperses its own seeds to travel and land somewhere.
Grade Level Expectations (GLEs) (3-4)
Instructional Strategies (Teachers approach to helping students
(http://dese.mo.gov/divimprove/curriculum/GLE/)
achieve learning)
1. Visual Art (May use NAEA National standards):
Teacher reads the book aloud to the class, and starts the
Standard VA 1: Create an original artwork using line, shape,
discussion about it. The teacher also leads the lesson on
and color.
plant life cycles, so teacher can help students learn all that
2. Literacy:
information. Teacher can also respond to students questions
Reading Standards for Literature
and comments during the discussion to support their ideas
Key Ideas and Details: 1. Ask and answer questions to
and say if they are correct. During the time students work on
demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the the project, teacher can walk around and observe to make
text as the basis for the answers.
sure students stay on task and are understanding the

Art Integration Lesson Plan Template

Speaking and Listening Standards
Comprehension and Collaboration: 3. Ask and answer
questions about information from a speaker, offering
appropriate elaboration and detail.
3. Science:
Strand 3: Characteristics and Interactions of Living Organisms
Describe and sequence the stages in the life cycle (for a plant)
of seed germination, growth and development, reproduction,
and death.
Content Areas Integrated*:
1. Visual Art (Inspiration Artist: Eric Carle)
2. Literacy
3. Science

assignment. Teacher can also listen in while students share

with their group, to see what the stories are like.

Lesson Structure & Procedure(s) Sequence of events of the lesson

elements. (The before, during, and after the lesson, e.g.
Engagement/Opening, Procedures, Guided Practice, Conclusion ,please be
very specific, walk me through step by step of the What of what is
happening with a rationale as to WHY you are doing this):

1. Ask class what they know about plants and how they grow.
Get a few different answers from students, but do not say if
its right or not, just get an idea of what the class thinks.
2. Read class the book The Tiny Seed, by Eric Carle
3. Discuss with class how the tiny seed was able to survive
and growwhere did it come from? What qualities of the
seed made it able to survive in its environment? How did it
get there? What did it grow into? Etc. This will help students
learn how to critically think about the book, and the teacher
can make sure students paid attention to the book.
4. Go through the life cycle of a plant with class. Show how it
starts as a seed (like in the book), and how it travels and
lands where it then grows into a plant, and disperses more
seeds. This will teach the students the basic life cycle of
seeds growing into plants, and the plants then disperse more
seeds. More depth can be given on the plant life cycle in
further lessons, but this project can be done in the beginning
and give the students a good foundation of how plants grow.
5. Have students think of different plants and ways that
seeds travelfor example, through air, through water,

Art Integration Lesson Plan Template

Opening (Gaining Attention, what will you show, or demonstrate)*:

Teacher will open with a class discussion to see what they
know about plant life cycles, and then read The Tiny Seed, by
Eric Carle, and have a discussion about what happened in the

through animals, etc. This will help students start to think for
themselves about ways seeds travel and why it happens that
way (relationship between plant and environment), and will
give idea for creating their own plant.
6. Introduce the Create Your Own Plant project to students
7. Explain how they will draw a plant and seed of their
imagination, making sure they can explain why their plant
lives where it lives (what qualities does it have to survive in
that environment?), and how its seeds travel to fit in that
environment. An example of the project can be shown.
8. Have students write a short story about their seed and
plant, in the style of The Tiny Seed. Where did their seed
travel and how did it survive? Why did it survive where it
eventually landed? How did the seed travel? This helps
students connect their plant to the book and the lesson on
plant life cycles, as they can create and see the life cycle of
the plant they created and how their decisions of the
relationships between the plant and environment can affect
how the plant grows and the seed travels.
9. Have the students read their story aloud to their
table/small groups. Then have those groups discuss how their
classmates seed survived, similar to how the class discussed
The Tiny Seed.
10. Students fill out a sheet and give examples of different
ways seeds can travel and how plants grow, and give specific
ways that their classmates used in their stories. This is to
make sure students understand why seeds travel, and that
there are different way seeds can travel to eventually grow
into a plant.
Closure (Reflecting Anticipatory Set, how will student share what they
learned):

Students will share the story they wrote in small groups and
they can discuss each others stories. After, they will write

Art Integration Lesson Plan Template

book and how the seed was able to survive.

down a few things they learned in the class, and examples

that their group used in their stories.
Formative Assessment strategy: (how will you assess while the Summative Assessment strategy*:
learning is happening?)
Students will fill out a sheet at the end saying one or two
Teacher will observe students working on making their plants sentences on what they learned about the plant life cycle
and writing their stories, as well as observe the discussions the from the lesson, giving specific ways that seeds can travel
groups
have
together.
If
students
seem
to
be and how plants grow, using examples from the class
misunderstanding a concept, the teacher can help them fix discussion or their peers stories. The actual project is also
that misunderstanding.
used as a summative assessment. Students will be assessed
based on how well they incorporate knowledge of the plant
life cycle into their story, as well as how well they explained
the relationship between their plant and its environment, and
how well they depicted that in their illustration.
What student prior knowledge will this lesson require/draw upon? (what do they need to already know)
Students may have a little knowledge about plant life cycles, but it is not necessary for the lesson. They will need to know a
little bit about environments so that they can choose one for their plant, and some knowledge on how seeds travel is also
requiredpossibly have students find examples of seeds to bring in to class beforehand.
Technology Instructional and/or assistive technology incorporated into the lesson to enhance instruction and student learning
No technology is required, but students can type up their stories if that is preferred or if they need to for any reason. Teachers
can use a projector or Smart Board to show pictures and examples of the plant life cycle before the children work on the
project.
How will this lesson allow for/encourage students to solve problems in divergent ways?
Students will need to solve the problem of a seed travelling through different situations and surviving to grow into a plant, and
so they will need to use their imagination to come up with different solutions for their seed. They also have the freedom to
think of their own dangerous situations, and so they can be creative with that as well as solving the problem and surviving to
grow into a plant.
How will you engage students in routinely reflecting on their learning? (How will the students know they have learned something?)
The students will know they learned something when they fill out a sheet at the end and have to recall the information about
life cycles, as well as the stories their group told them. They will also reflect on what we discussed as a class as they work on
their project and create a plant and seed, as they will need to use what we discussed in order to figure out how the seed will
travel and how it fits in the environment.
Differentiated/Accommodations/Modifications/Increase in Rigor To help meet the needs of all learners, learning differences,
cultural and language differences, etc.

Students can be allowed to type their stories if needed, and can also do their illustration of the plant and seed digitally if

Art Integration Lesson Plan Template

necessary. If students are unable to read their story aloud to the group, someone else can read it for them or they could
digitally record themselves reading and play that. If a student would need more time, more time can be given, or the length of
the assignment can be adjusted (a shorter story, for example) so they can finish in the same amount of time as the rest of the
class. If students finish quickly, they can add on to their story and make it longer (possibly give more challenges for the seed
to overcome), or they can create a second seed, or put their current seed in a different environment and see what changes.
Lesson Resources/References (please be very specific by providing links, authors, titles, etc.):
The Tiny Seed, by Eric Carle
Missouri Learning Standards: http://dese.mo.gov/college-career-readiness/curriculum/missouri-learning-standards
* Include this information during the Padlet/prezi/ppt presentation.
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