Estimated time: 45 min.
Goal: Students will identify different landforms in the area, explain the difference between worm’s eye and bird’s eye perspectives, and practice applying perspective in a series of thumbnail sketches.
Introduce unit by asking students to close their eyes and imagine that they are birds migrating north for summer (crane or geese)- what does their community look like? The roofs of houses? Rivers? Hills etc. Have students imagine they are worms crawling along on the ground. What does the world look like to a worm? Explain that the way that an individual views the world is called POINT-OF-VIEW or PERSPECTIVE, and that they will be using different points-of-view to create a series of three paintings, also called a TRIPTYCH.
(Optional)- Show the video Above Iliamna video by Jason Ching OR the photographs captured from the movie (in Grade 3-Landforms Slideshow in Materials section) that depict Bird's Eye and Worm's Eye views of salmon fishing. This is a great resource for showing different perspectives of subsistence activities.
View the series of paintings by Ryder Erickson (found in the Grade 3-Landforms Slideshow in the Materials section) displaying examples of artwork inspired by nature of the region (or, teacher may use their own photographs of landforms around their community). Have students make predictions about the point-of-view (worm’s or bird’s eye perspective- Students may invent other types of perspective too! i.e. human's eye, dog's eye, etc.!)
Hand out the Bird’s Eye/Worm’s Eye Perspective Workbook- have students complete page 1 and practice drawing thumbnail sketches (Part I).
As a class, look at Google Maps or Google Earth to view the region surrounding your community. Discuss the word LANDFORM (a natural feature on the earth’s surface). Have students brainstorm different landforms that they see on the map (i.e. rivers, lakes, oceans, bays, hills, beach, islands) Assign one student to write down these ideas on a piece of butcher paper (save for Day 2).
View the SILKAT Grade 3 video. Stop video to discuss the different landforms that students encounter, having them add them to the list created on butcher paper.
Next, have students brainstorm different activities that happen in these areas (i.e. ice fishing, hunting, berry picking, egg collecting, seining, sledding, swimming). Students may already start to point out special places and know their names on the map.
If possible, show students the book ZOOM, by Istvan Banyai.
Explain to students that they will be creating their own ZOOM project, zooming from a worm’s eye perspective to a bird’s eye perspective to tell a story about a place that is special to them.
Perspective/Point-of-View
Triptych
Landform
Zoom
See Materials section, Day 1