Activity Introduction

Bee on Blossom Hero FrameQuick summary: Bees pollinate at least a third of everything we eat and play a vital role in sustaining our ecosystems, therefore they need to be valued and protected. In this lesson, art and mathematics are combined to make a visual wall display using the grid enlargement method. The finished art work celebrates the beauty of bees while highlighting the symbiotic relationship they have with other living things. Students add more elements to the display to demonstrate the threats to the survival of bees, and some of the approaches we can take to support bees to continue their important work in our ecosystem.

This activity has been developed in partnership with  ACT_FOR_BEES_Inline_Ident_CMYK

Essential questions:

  • What do bees look like?
  • What is the purpose of art?
  • How can art raise awareness about important issues?
  • How are bees connected to the ecosystem?

21st century skills:

Beauty of bees lesson 21st century skills

Australian Curriculum Mapping

Content descriptions:

Year 5 Visual Arts 

  • Develop and apply techniques and processes when making their artworks (ACAVAM115)

Year 5 Mathematics

  • Apply the enlargement transformation to familiar two dimensional shapes and explore the properties of the resulting image compared with the original (ACMMG115)

Year 6 Visual Arts 

  • Develop and apply techniques and processes when making their artworks (ACAVAM115)

Year 6 Mathematics

  • Investigate combinations of translations, reflections and rotations, with and without the use of digital technologies (ACMMG142)

General capabilities: Ethical Understanding, Personal and Social Capability, Literacy, Numeracy

Cross-curriculum priority: Sustainability OI.2, OI.3, OI.4, OI.5, OI.6, OI.7

Relevant parts of Year 5 Visual Arts achievement standards: Use visual conventions and visual arts practices to express a personal view in their artworks. They demonstrate different techniques and processes in planning and making artworks. They describe how the display of artworks enhances meaning for an audience.

Relevant parts of Year 5 Mathematics achievement standards: Students describe transformations of two-dimensional shapes. 

Relevant parts of Year 6 Visual Arts achievement standards: They use visual conventions and visual arts practices to express a personal view in their artworks. They demonstrate different techniques and processes in planning and making artworks. They describe how the display of artworks enhances meaning for an audience.

Relevant parts of Year 6 Mathematics achievement standards: Students describe combinations of transformations. 

Topic: Sustainability

Unit of work: Love Food? Love Bees!

Time required: 90 mins.

Level of teacher scaffolding: High – arrange art resource/equipment. Add to wall display throughout the unit.

Resources required: Student Worksheet – one copy per student OR computers/tablets to access the online worksheet. Bee Art images and projector. Bee gridline maths activity print out and one piece of blank A4 paper for each student. Rulers, grey lead pencils, art supplies (coloured pencils, textas, paints, etc), glue or thumbtacks. Hive of Reflection print-out, Grid Enlargement Practice activity.  

Digital technology opportunities: Digital sharing capabilities.

Keywords: bee, sustainability, collaboration, art, food, consumption, biodiversity.

Cool Australia’s curriculum team continually reviews and refines our resources to be in line with changes to the Australian Curriculum.

Worksheets

Teacher Worksheet

Bee on white flower hero frameTeacher Preparation

Overarching learning goal: Students will be able to use the grid technique to enlarge an image. They will be able to plan and complete a collaborative wall display. They will gain insights into the way that they approach challenges, and consider different approaches that they can take to challenges they face in their learning.

Teacher content information: Bees first appeared on Earth at least 80 million years ago. The ancestors of modern bee species lived alongside the dinosaurs - a time when giant pines, cedars, tree ferns and cycads were the main plants and the air swarmed with primitive insects including oversized dragonflies and giant butterflies. During this time, the first flowering plants (angiosperms) appeared and a more effective way of pollination was needed, other than simply relying on the wind. The challenge was how to increase the chances of pollination and reproduction to ensure the success of future generations. The solution was to attract insects

...
 
- or - to view worksheets

Student Worksheet

Thought starter: "The power of art can open our minds" - Edmund Capon

Reflection

Rate how you found each task: 1 = really easy, 2 = easy, 3 = not easy but not difficult, 4 = difficult, 5 = really difficult. B

Using the grid method to enlarge the section of the picture you were designated:

Decorating your section of the picture:

Working with your classmates to ensure that the wall display was finished:

Working with your classmates to decide on what the display should look like:

Working with your classmates to make sure the materials you used were available for everyone:

 

Make some suggestions for ways that you think this task could be completed differently (better) next time:

...
 
- or - to view worksheets

Leave your Feedback

We appreciate your feedback. Let us know what you like or don't like about this activity:

Sorry. You must be logged in to view this form.