 Adirondack
Curriculum
Project - www.adkcurriculum.org 
NYS Content Area Standard
The
Arts 1. Create, perform, participate in the arts; b) know and use a
variety of sources for developing and conveying ideas, images, themes,
symbols, and events in their creation of art
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Title: Connecting Earth with Plants &
Animals of the Adirondacks
Grade Level: 8th Grade
Author: Pam Winchester, Ogdensburg Free Academy
Email: pwinchest@ogdensburg.neric.org
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Adirondack Curriculum Content Area
_X__ Natural History
___ Human History
_X__ Culture & the Arts
___ Government & Civics
___ Economy
___ Health, Recreation & Life Skills |
Investigative Question or Issue: How might the web of
life found in various Adirondacks habitats be revealed in our artwork?
Challenge:
Context of this Challenge: In
addition to appropriate art materials for producing pottery, students
in this project will need access to resources for researching
information about different habitats found in the Adirondacks and the
relationships among the various organisms within the food chain of
those habitats.
The Challenge:
Working
in small teams organized with the assistance of your teacher, design
and build a clay pot/bowl that illustrates one of
the food chains in a specific Adirondack habitat you have chosen. As
you prepare to engage in this challenge, do the following:
- Choose an Adirondack habitat that is of interest to your team.
Ideally each team should choose a habitat that is different from the
others in the class
- Research the various plants, animals, land forms, and water resources
that are part of the food chain typical for your chosen habitat. Create
sketches of what you find as you research. Be prepared to discuss your
understanding of the food chain in your habitat with your teacher.
- Sketch out ideas for how you might represent the various elements of
the food chain
- When you are finished with your research, fill out the Habitat
Worksheet provided by our teacher
When you are ready to build your clay pot, be sure to consider the
following requirements:
- Each student in the group is responsible for contributing to the
"food chain" pottery by making either a producer, a herbivore, a
carnivore or a
decomposer in the form of a clay slab.
- The group as a whole is responsible for creating a clay border and
base
that shows the unique characteristics of your chosen habitat.
- Your group has the option of making additional clay slabs that
illustrate additional aspects of the habitat like animal shelters,
additional plants for food, of additional animals like a predator,
water
or man (I find the more slab shapes, the more successful the pot).
Follow the production process outlined below to construct this project:
- Each student should sketch the two slab
shapes he/she will be
making in detail and in porportion to the other plants and animals in
the biome. (Colors and textures are a must on this sketch)
- Each student should roll out, carve, and assemble
their two
clay slab pieces into a plastic lines container (like a flower pot or
plastic bowl form). (A day of "curing" is necessary for each slab
before assembling it in the form. This is a good time to make the base)
- Each group should complete the base (coil is an easy method
here)
- Each group adds larger slabs to the bolw covering the
smaller ones, smoothing the inside and attaching the base, body and
border well.
- Each group completes the border and signs their names
and
the name of their biome in the pot.
- When pot is leather hard, group trims and smooths
unnecessary areas and adds textures and details that got lost in the
pot's formation. |
Quality Standards:
-
Group fills out the worksheet which describes their chosen
biome.
- Each student sketches the two slab shapes he/she will be
making in detail and in porportion to the other plants and animals in
the biome. (Colors and textures are a must on this sketch).
- Each student rolls out, carves and assembles their
two
clay slab pieces into a plastic lines container (like a flower pot or
plastic bowl form). (A day of "curing" is necessary for each slab
before assembling it in the form. This is a good time to make the base.)
- Each group completes the base (coil is an easy method here).
- Each group adds larger slabs to the bolw covering the
smaller ones, smoothing the inside and attaching the base, body and
border well.
- Each group completes the border and signs their names and
the name of their biome in the pot.
- When pot is leather hard, group trims and smooths
unnecessary areas and adds textures and details that got lost in the
pot's formation.
- The finished product accurately depicts important elements of a food
chain in the selected Adirondack habitat
(See additional notes on Adirondack Biomes - important resource:
Adirondack Council (518-873-2240) poster "The Adirondack Park - A Park
of People and Natural Wonder", illustrated by Ann Lacy, 1994.
Examples
of Student Work
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Adapted for the Adirondack
Curriculum Project from
the work of Education By Design TM and Leading EDGE, LLC
©ACP 2002
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Arts
Forever Wild