Discover Your World - Grade 2

STAGE I DESIRED RESULTS

UNIT TRANSFER GOAL:
This unit is designed to foster students' curiosity, and encourage their investigation into the
world around them. Students will be able to independently use their learning to more critically
examine nature. Students will also be able to combine observation skills with their imagination
and artistic expression.

ENDURING UNDERSTANDINGS
Artists draw inspiration from the world around them.
Artists often combine observation of nature with artistic expression.
Nature is both complex and diverse.

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS:
Where do artists get their inspiration from?
What can I learn from the world around me?
What can I discover about nature when I look closer?

STANDARDS ADDRESSED:
MASSACHUSETTS VISUAL ARTS FRAMEWORKS
PreK-12 Standard 1: Methods, Materials, and Techniques. Students will demonstrate
knowledge of the methods, materials, and techniques unique to the visual arts.
PreK-12 Standard 3: Observation, Abstraction, Invention, and Expression. Students will
demonstrate their powers of observation, abstraction, invention, and expression in a variety of
media, materials, and techniques.

MASSACHUSETTS LIFE SCIENCE (BIOLOGY) FRAMEWORKS
PreK-2 Standard 2: Differentiate between living and nonliving things. Group both living and
nonliving things according to the characteristics that they share.
PreK-2 Standard 3: Recognize that plants and animals have life cycles, and that life cycles
vary for different living things.
PreK-2 Standard 8: Identify the ways in which an organism's habitat provides for its basic
needs (plants require air, water, nutrients, and light; animals require food, water, air, and
shelter).

ACQUISITION/UNIT OBJECTIVES:

Illustrations by Eric Carle
Lesson 1: Students will know that the world is home to a diverse collection of animals and
environments, and animals and their habitats are interconnected.
Lesson 2: Students will closely analyze symmetry in insects, and understand that design in
nature is not random.
Lesson 3: Students will observe the natural life cycle of a sunflower, and learn how to create a
drawing from observation, rather than imagination.

STAGE II ASSESSMENT EVIDENCE

PERFORMANCE TASKS/PRODUCTS AS EVIDENCE:
Lesson 1: Students will demonstrate knowledge of different habitats and their accompanying
animals. Students will watch a video of Eric Carle creating one of his illustrations, then imitate
his artistic process to create collages of an animal and its home in Eric Carle's style.
Lesson 2: Students will create an insect design that synthesizes their personal artistic
expression with their understanding of symmetry with their knowledge of insect anatomy.
Lesson 3: Students will create an observational drawing that reflect their observation of
sunflowers in their various stages of growth and decay.

STAGE III LEARNING PLAN

SCOPE AND SEQUENCE OF LESSONS:

Lesson 1: Habitat Collages - In this lesson, students will discover the illustrations of Eric Carle. They
will imitate his artistic process, and use their knowledge of various environments and their
accompanying animals to create a collage of an animal in its natural habitat.

Lesson 2: Insect Symmetry - In this lesson, students will discover the presence of symmetry in
nature, and examine its various manifestations. They will then synthesize their understanding of
symmetry with their creative expression to design a symmetrical insect.

Lesson 3: In this lesson, students will discover the natural life cycle of a sunflower, and observe and
record how the flower changes throughout this process.