Polk Central Elementary School art teacher Michael Darpino and fifth grade science teacher Andrea Walter collaborated during April and May to teach their fifth grade students about biomes in the United States and beyond.
Students learned about the main features of biomes and identified the abiotic (non-living) and biotic (living) factors. Students learned how food webs and other habitat needs in any functioning ecosystem, and about the essential, interconnected roles of producers, consumers and decomposers. Then, students researched a specific biome.
Darpino taught them how to represent this information using collage, and students designed and constructed a poster during art class. Finally, students presented their posters to their classmates, spreading enthusiasm and appreciation for all the ecosystems of the world.
