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ARTSEL.ORG
  • Home
  • Resources
    • Image Bank
    • Posters
    • Actor's Toolbox Music
    • ArtSEL Onboarding
    • '24 Summer Institute Web Quest
  • Lessons
    • All Grade Lessons >
      • Bowl of Light
      • Belonging Collage
      • Color Field Portrait
      • Doodles
      • Emotion Creature
      • Emotion Statue Game
      • Getting to Know Your Nervous System
      • Glimmer of Summer Masks
      • If I Were a Flower
      • Metaphor Images
      • Mixed
      • Texture of the Wild
      • Origami Reflection Project
      • Reading Art to Name Emotions
      • Spirit of the Land
      • What Do You See?
    • TK-2 Lessons >
      • Drawing Feelings
      • Drawn Together
      • Unique Me Masks
      • Drawing to Discover
    • 3-5 Lessons >
      • Abstracted Memory
      • Visualizing Music
      • Symbolic Portraits
      • The Animal Inside Masks
      • Sculpt a System
    • 6-12 Lessons >
      • Fantastic Expression Masks
      • Ecosystem Tunnel Books
    • Theater >
      • Animal Inside Masks
      • Fantastic Expression Masks
      • Mask Performance
      • Shadow Play
      • Unique Me Masks
  • Presentations
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      • 8.12-8.13.25 Summer Institute
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      • 4.2.25 Global Education Workshop
      • 2.27.25 Instructional Coaching NIC Deep Dive
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      • 6.17.24 Cultivating Wellness and Belonging
      • 8.14-8.15 Summer Institute
    • 2023-24 >
      • 6.17.24 Cultivating Wellness and Belonging
      • 4.5.24 NAEA Visual Art Exercises for SEL
      • 4.4.24 NAEA with Jon Juravich
      • 3.21.24 Balllinger Cal Poly Humboldt
      • 3.9.24 CES 2024
      • 3.9.24 VTS
      • 3.9.24 Diverse Perspectives, Visual Art and Poetry
      • 2.26.24 Mir DeSilva Presentation
      • 2.26.24 HCOE Arts PD "Thinking"
      • 2.9.24 STEAM Long Beach
      • 1.27.24 Winter Training
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      • 12.6.23 TEAS Cal Poly Humboldt
      • 11.9..23 CPH-Making Thinking Visible
      • 11.7.23 Cal Poly Humboldt Art + SEL
      • Studio Thinking Book Club
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      • 8.15-16.23 Summer Institute
    • 2022-23 >
      • 5.24.23 CCS Emotion Statue Game
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      • 4.14.23 NAEA Children's Literature & SEL
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Sculpt a System

Enter the world of papercraft through paper sculptures of an ecosystem you explore with your class! Through scientific observation, data collection, and nature journaling, students will explore interconnected systems in a local environment. They will translate their understanding of these systems into a paper sculpture, using elements of art to illustrate interconnectivity within an ecosystem. Students are encouraged to express their experiences through representational and abstract depictions rendered in paper. The lesson culminates in a collaborative assemblage of the pieces that brings students' work together and gives them a moment to revisit their journey into the field!​
Image of a paper sculpture of a wetland ecosystem with a blue heron, reed, bushes, and water.
Lesson plan
Image of Lesson Plan Document
Lesson Plan
Slide Deck
Image of slide deck cover slide, including the logo for Arts Integration Projects which has a circle in the middle with seven surrounding circles showing various disciplines of the arts, and and image of the paper sculpture.
Slide deck

Resources

Image of envisioning guide document, large square with small text.
Envisioning Guide
Image of field journal: Title says
Field Journal
Photo of papercraft techniques handout: shows 8 small sculptures showing various techniques, including hinge, tabs, counter-fold, jut-out, bending planes, parallel-folds, and slits.
Papercraft Techniques
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  • Home
  • Resources
    • Image Bank
    • Posters
    • Actor's Toolbox Music
    • ArtSEL Onboarding
    • '24 Summer Institute Web Quest
  • Lessons
    • All Grade Lessons >
      • Bowl of Light
      • Belonging Collage
      • Color Field Portrait
      • Doodles
      • Emotion Creature
      • Emotion Statue Game
      • Getting to Know Your Nervous System
      • Glimmer of Summer Masks
      • If I Were a Flower
      • Metaphor Images
      • Mixed
      • Texture of the Wild
      • Origami Reflection Project
      • Reading Art to Name Emotions
      • Spirit of the Land
      • What Do You See?
    • TK-2 Lessons >
      • Drawing Feelings
      • Drawn Together
      • Unique Me Masks
      • Drawing to Discover
    • 3-5 Lessons >
      • Abstracted Memory
      • Visualizing Music
      • Symbolic Portraits
      • The Animal Inside Masks
      • Sculpt a System
    • 6-12 Lessons >
      • Fantastic Expression Masks
      • Ecosystem Tunnel Books
    • Theater >
      • Animal Inside Masks
      • Fantastic Expression Masks
      • Mask Performance
      • Shadow Play
      • Unique Me Masks
  • Presentations
    • 2025-2026 >
      • 8.12-8.13.25 Summer Institute
    • 2024-25 >
      • 6.17.25 Cultivating Wellness and Belonging
      • 5.3.25 Spring Institute
      • 4.17.25 Ballinger Cal Poly Humboldt
      • 4.2.25 Global Education Workshop
      • 2.27.25 Instructional Coaching NIC Deep Dive
      • 1.16.25 GATE Academy
      • 11.1.24 Culturally Responsive Teaching & The Brain
      • 6.17.24 Cultivating Wellness and Belonging
      • 8.14-8.15 Summer Institute
    • 2023-24 >
      • 6.17.24 Cultivating Wellness and Belonging
      • 4.5.24 NAEA Visual Art Exercises for SEL
      • 4.4.24 NAEA with Jon Juravich
      • 3.21.24 Balllinger Cal Poly Humboldt
      • 3.9.24 CES 2024
      • 3.9.24 VTS
      • 3.9.24 Diverse Perspectives, Visual Art and Poetry
      • 2.26.24 Mir DeSilva Presentation
      • 2.26.24 HCOE Arts PD "Thinking"
      • 2.9.24 STEAM Long Beach
      • 1.27.24 Winter Training
      • 1.9.24 RAN Presentation
      • 12.6.23 TEAS Cal Poly Humboldt
      • 11.9..23 CPH-Making Thinking Visible
      • 11.7.23 Cal Poly Humboldt Art + SEL
      • Studio Thinking Book Club
      • 9.30.23 Fall Training
      • 8.15-16.23 Summer Institute
    • 2022-23 >
      • 5.24.23 CCS Emotion Statue Game
      • Carriage Drive Elementary Visual Art Exercises for SEL
      • 5.6.23 Symbolic Portraits
      • 4.20.23 Cal Poly Humboldt Ballinger
      • 4.14.23 NAEA Children's Literature & SEL
      • 4.13.23 NAEA Visual Art Exercises for SEL
      • 3.25.23 CES23 Intro to Art + SEL
      • 2.6.23 CPH-Making Thinking Visible
      • 1.28.23 Training
      • 12.1.22 Cal Poly Humboldt
      • 9.17.22 Fall Training
      • 9.6.22 AIE PLC
      • 8.31.22 Big Lagoon School
      • 2022 Summer Institute
      • 5.14.22 ArtSEL Kick-Off
      • 5.12.22 SCCOE- Doodling
  • Contact
  • The ArtSEL Archives