Art Across Time and Place - Years 3–4

This Years 3–4 Visual Arts unit connects context investigation with practical making. Students study Hokusai’s The Great Wave and Brian Robinson’s Reef Turtle using identified museum records. They distinguish a recorded fact from an interpretation, compare matching criteria and recognise what one artwork cannot tell them about an entire culture.

Students then test original raised-card printing or collage, change one process choice at a time and develop an original artwork about a safe familiar or imagined place. They explain a deliberate choice, trial a useful refinement or justify retaining a choice. Assessment draws on a context comparison, process trials, the actual original work and an evidence conference, including a gallery-to-booklet transfer case.

The eight core lessons contain all required teaching and assessment. Lessons 9 and 10 are optional reinforcement: translating a completed idea into another familiar medium and preparing a caption with a small classroom display. Each of the ten planned lessons has its own separate editable PowerPoint presentation.

What's included

• 43-page Unit Plan PDF: clean contents page, 17 teacher-guide pages and 25 resource/answer pages.
• Ten separate editable lesson presentations, 12 slides each (120 lesson slides total).
• One editable unit quiz, 24 slides: ten questions with separate explanations, instructions, reflection and cover/closing slides.
• Two colour classroom displays.
• Eight case/source cards across two cut-out pages.
• Curator’s Choice cooperative game: rules, six-stop mat, eight challenge cards and teacher criteria (four pages).
• Ten low-ink learning-record pages; records 9–10 are optional.
• Four matching red model-answer pages immediately after records 1–4. Practical records 5–10 use teacher evidence criteria and allow different justified choices.
• Two assessment pages and a four-dimension, three-level rubric.
• 187-page protected Preview PDF: the 43-page Unit Plan followed by all 120 lesson slides and all 24 quiz slides.
• Separate clean Table of Contents JPEG. Listing-copy TXT files accompany the package.

Learning focus

Ask useful context questions about particular works. Separate recorded facts from supported interpretations. Compare maker, time, place, medium and presentation using matching criteria. Test a process choice and observe its effect. Create an original artwork, explain how choices communicate meaning and reflect on a specific refinement. Recognise source limits and responsibility.

Classroom use

Core route (about 60 minutes per lesson): 1 Context questions; 2 Hokusai in context; 3 Contemporary marine art; 4 Compare presentation; 5 Experiment with a process; 6 Create original meaning; 7 Refine and explain; 8 Time-and-place assessment. Each core lesson includes 30 minutes of purposeful practice or making. Optional 9: The same idea in another medium. Optional 10: Context captions and a mini display.

Use thick card, original paper shapes, art paper, glue sticks, washable non-toxic paint and a sponge, or paper collage with safe scissors as taught. No carving blades or hot tools are used. Teacher notes include preparation, drying, access alternatives and cleanup. Optional displays are classroom-only and use the maker’s permission.

Teacher benefits

The sequence links source study to safe practical trials and an original work. Separate lesson decks support pacing. The four matched answer pages assist factual and modelled comparisons, while teacher criteria preserve genuine artistic choice. Core assessment completes by Lesson 8.

Formats, page counts and answers

43 Unit Plan pages; ten editable lesson PPTX files with 12 slides each; editable quiz PPTX with 24 slides; 187 Preview pages; one contents JPEG; three listing-copy TXT files. There are 17 package files in total, not 17 pages. W01–W04 have adjacent red model-answer companions. W05–W10 are open practical records with teacher criteria. Assessment accepts different justified artistic responses.