The Land of Pebbles

1. Invite students to compare a variety of ecosystems, as well as the animals and people that live in them. What aspects of those environments are important to their survival? Now challenge students to imagine an environment unlike any on earth. What would this place be like? Document student contributions to the discussion on a classroom white board using Crayola Dry Erase Markers.
2. Ask children to cover their work space with recycled newspaper. They may work individually, in pairs, or small groups. Using a sheet of paper from a Crayola Giant Marker and Watercolor Pad, students draw an environment, including landscape, plants, and creatures with Crayola Crayons and/or Erasable Colored Pencils. For a pebbled effect, press and twist the end of the crayon (opposite the point) on paper.
3. In larger areas, use Crayola Washable Markers to fill in color. A wet Crayola Paint Brush can be used to blend the marker for a watercolor effect. Dry on a flat surface.
4. Use markers to add details.
5. Students write a short story about the environments created, and the creatures that will inhabit them.
6. Post student drawings and writing on a classroom bulletin board for easy view by classmates. Provide time in the school day for classmates to review and discuss each others' proposals.

LA: Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher led) with diverse partners on grade level topics and texts, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.

LA: Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences.

LA: Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.

LA: Report on a topic or text, tell a story, or recount an experience with appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details, speaking clearly at an understandable pace.

MATH: Represent and interpret data.

SCI: Use data about the characteristics of organisms and habitats to design an artificial habitat in which the organisms can survive.

SCI: Design and construct a model to describe the interactions of systems within an ecosystem in terms of the flow of energy, cycling of matter, and the conditions for a healthy ecosystem.

VA: Intentionally take advantage of the qualities and characteristics of art media, techniques, and processes to enhance communication of experiences and ideas.

VA: Integrate visual, spatial, and temporal concepts with content to communicate intended meaning in artworks.

VA: Use subjects, themes, and symbols that demonstrate knowledge of contexts, values, and aesthetics that communicate intended meaning in artworks.

Encourage students to create separate drawings for each type of environment (arid, rainforest, woodlands). Incorporate into each sketch the animals who will inhabit the scene. If humans are present, illustrate them in appropriate clothing for the climate.

Students create the environment in their drawing. In place of creating a 2-D animal in the picture, students use Crayola Model Magic to sculpt 3-D animals that can exist in the environment. Paint these 3-D models using Crayola Tempera Paint. When displaying the drawing, place 3-D animal models appropriately to complete the desired visual.

Students imagine that they are charged with creating an environment where endangered and extinct Earth animals have gone to live in a healthy habitat. What will that habitat look like? What elements are present (plants, trees, etc.)? What is the climate like? What type of shelter, if any, is present for the animals? Why are these animals able to live here, but no longer on Earth?