Two-Sided Seasonal Triarama

1. Invite students to discuss their observations and experiences with outdoor landscape changes from one season to another in temperate climates. How do trees and other plants differ in color and shape? Make a chart documenting student contributions to the discussion using a classroom white board and Crayola Dry Erase Markers.
2. Organize students into small groups. Invite groups to use Internet resources to collect electronic copies of paintings, photographs, and/or videos that record vegetation differences among seasons. Once a group is satisfied with the collection, members select the photograph, painting and/or video that supports their observations of these seasonal changes. All groups should be prepared to share their choices with classmates. Discussion to follow regarding any new learning.
3. Invite students to create an original triarama depicting their knowledge of seasonal changes. Students begin by measuring with a ruler, and then use Crayola® Scissors to cut a large piece of construction paper into a square. Fold the square diagonally in both directions, from corner to corner, and crease, creating an X in the center. Cut along a fold line from one corner to the center, making two trianglar flaps.
4. One triangular flap will be designed to look like the "ground". The other flap will be left blank. The two upper triangles (the connected ones) will be the background scenes for the seasonal landscape. Students use Crayola Erasable Colored Pencils, Color Sticks or Crayons to design scenes. Encourage children to think ahead about how the folded triangle will meet the other side to make sure the ground scene matches the side. Choose colors, shapes, and details that characterize the season. Include images such as grass, paths, roads, and streams.
5. Turn the triarama over and create a different season on the back, including the ground triangle.
6. Fold the legs one over the other and loosely tape the scene. To change scenes, remove the tape, reverse the fold so the matching ground triangle is on top, and lightly tape.
7. Provide students with the opportunity to share their completed triaramas with small groups of classmates, discussing the scenes created and their learning about each season.

LA: Read and comprehend informational texts, including history/social studies, science, and technical texts, at the high end of the grade level text complexity band independently and proficiently.

LA: Read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poetry, in the grade level text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.

LA: Determine the main ideas and supporting details of a text read aloud or information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally.

LA: Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning word and phrases based on grade level reading and content, choosing flexibly from a range of strategies.

LA: Recall information from experiences or gather information from print and digital sources; take brief notes on sources and sort evidence into provided categories.

LA: Speak in complete sentences when appropriate to task and situation in order to provide requested detail or clarification.

MATH: Solve problems involving measurement and conversion of measurements from a larger unit to a smaller unit.

SCI: Obtain and combine information to describe climates in different regions of the world.

SS: Describe and speculate about physical system changes, such as seasons, climate and weather, and the water cycle.

VA: Use different media, techniques, and processes to communicate ideas, experiences, and stories.

VA: Use visual structures of are to communicate ideas.

VA: Select and use subject matter, symbols, and ideas to communicate meaning.

Possible classroom resources include: The Seasons of Arnold's Apple Tree by Gail Gibbons; Tree For All Seasons by Robin Bernard; Four Seasons Make a Year by Anne Rockwell; Silly Lilly and the Four Seasons by Agnes Rosenstiehl

Ask students to collect photographs and other examples of seasons from magazines and bring these examples to class. Have students individually organize photographs into seasonal representations. In small groups, students will combine all their fall photos together, then their winter photos, spring, and summer. Using each set of seasonal photos, student groups will generate a list of terms that apply to a given season, using the photographs as inspiration.

Using lists of terms generated about each season, student groups compose an original poem focused on a single season. Each group will be charged with writing a poem for each of the seasons. Illustrate each poem and display in the classroom.

Challenge student groups to write stories about the changing seasons from the perspective of a plant or animal living in their native habitat. For example, it might be time for a bear to prepare for hibernating. What might the bear be thinking about or gathering for hibernation? Students should be prepared to share their original story with classmates.

Using Crayola Model Magic, students create 3-D models of an animal in each of the 4 seasons and set the models inside their triaramas.