Students will be able to independently use their learning to…

• See how art often helps to define cultural beliefs and is often place based.  

• Understand that art tells a story.

• See how shapes are important to and represented in art.

• See how stories help us understand different cultures and ourselves.

UNIT UNDERSTANDINGS:

Students will understand that…

VISUAL ARTS

• Personal identity and a sense of belonging within a community are often demonstrated through visual art and design that is specific to that person or community.

• Time in history, as well as where art was created has in influence on the art itself.

• Visual art is a language and a way to communicate many things.

• Experiencing visual art is a way for people to connect with each other.
  

 

MATH

• Geometry is universal across all cultures and helps us make sense of the world around us.
  

 

LANGUAGE ARTS

• Writing has a purpose.

• Making connections between the things we know and the things we learn help us to understand.

• Having an open mind helps us learn new things.

• Language and stories (both written and oral) can entertain us and make us happy.

• Having an open mind and exploring new texts and stories helps us make connections and learn more about ourselves and other cultures.

• Understanding the different ways language works will help us use it appropriately and purposefully.

 

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS:

Students will keep considering…

VISUAL ARTS

• How does art connect us, our communities, and our cultures?

MATH

• How does geometry help us make sense of the world?

LANGUAGE ARTS

• How does oral story telling connect us to places and people?

• How can an open mind lead us to deeper understandings about ourselves and other cultures?

• Why does writing have a purpose? 

> Click here to learn more about Essential Questions

CURRICULAR COMPETENCIES

Students will be skilled at…

VISUAL ART

Exploring and Creating

• Intentionally select, apply, combine, and arrange artistic elements, processes, materials, and technique in art making.
• Create artistic works as an individual using ideas inspired by imagination, inquiry, experimentation, and purposeful play.
• Explore relationships between identity, place, culture, society, and belonging through the arts.
• Demonstrate an understanding and appreciation of personal, social, cultural, historical, and environmental contexts in relation to the arts.

Reasoning and Reflecting

• Research, describe, interpret and evaluate how visual artists use processes, materials, technologies, tools, techniques, and environments in the arts.
• Examine relationships between the arts and the wider world.

Communicating and Documenting

• Take creative risks to express feelings, ideas, and experiences
• Experience, document, perform, and share creative works in a variety of ways
• Interpret and communicate ideas using symbols and elements to express meaning through the arts

MATH

Understanding and Solving 

• Engage in problem-solving experiences that are connected to place, story, and cultural practices relevant to the local community

Communicating and Representing

• Engage in problem-solving experiences that are connected to place, story, and cultural practices relevant to the local community
• Communicate in a variety of ways to explain, clarify, and justify mathematical ideas
• Develop mathematical understanding through concrete, pictorial, and symbolic representations

Connecting and Reflecting

• Visualize and describe the mathematical concepts.
• Explore, apply, and connect concepts to each other, to other disciplines, and to the real world.
• Apply cultural perspectives of First Peoples to the concepts of locating, measuring, and numbering.

LANGUAGE ARTS

Comprehend and Connect 

• Recognize and appreciate how different forms, structures, and features of texts reflect different purposes, audiences, and messages.
• Recognize how language constructs personal, social, and cultural identity.
• Construct meaningful personal connections between self, text, and world.
• Recognize and appreciate the role of story, narrative, and oral tradition in expressing First Peoples’ perspectives, values, beliefs, and points of view

Create and Communicate 

• Use writing and design processes to plan, develop, and create engaging and meaningful literary and informational texts for a variety of purposes and audiences.
• Assess and refine texts to improve their clarity, effectiveness, and impact according to purpose, audience, and message.
• Use an increasing repertoire of conventions of English spelling, grammar, and punctuation.

 

CONTENT

Students will know that…

VISUAL ART

• Purposeful application of elements and principles to create meaning in visual art, including but not limited to:

1. Elements of design: line, shape, space, texture, colour, form, tone; principles of design: pattern, repetition, balance, contrast, emphasis, 

2. Image development strategies

3. Traditional and contemporary Aboriginal arts and arts-making processes

MATH

• Triangles and pyramids (Grade 6)
• Regular and irregular polygons (Grade 4)
• Line symmetry (Grade 4)
  
  

LANGUAGE ARTS

 

Story/Text 

• Form, function, and genre of texts
• Features of written text

Strategies and Processes 

• Oral language strategies
• Metacognitive strategies
• Writing processes

Language Features, Structures, and Conventions

• Features of oral language
• Effective paragraphing
• Language varieties
• Sentence structure and grammar
• Conventions

CORE COMPETENCIES

Which Core Competencies will be integrated into the unit?

Communication: connect and engage with others; acquire, present and interpret information; explain/recount and reflect on experiences and accomplishments
Critical and Creative Thinking: Novelty and value; generating ideas; developing ideas; analyze and critique; develop and design
Personal and Social: Relationships and cultural contexts; personal values and choices; personal strengths and abilities; self determination; self regulation; valuing diversity

 

The unit will make connections with:

Learning is holistic, reflexive, reflective, experiential, and relational (focused on connectedness, on reciprocal relationships, and a sense of place). 

Learning recognizes the role of indigenous knowledge. 

Learning is embedded in memory, history, and story. 

Learning involves patience and time. 

Learning requires exploration of one’s identity. 

Learning involves recognizing that some knowledge is sacred and only shared with permission and/or in certain situations.