Teaching sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

10 minutes

Tune In: Understanding Earth Hour

10 minutes

Find Out: Threatened species

30 minutes

Take Action: Face painting designs

5 minutes

Reflection

Learning intentions and success criteria

Students will:

understand the Earth Hour initiative
focus on a threatened species of Australia.

Students can:

create a face painting design of a threatened species.

Tune In: Understanding Earth Hour

Step 1

Watch the following video with your students, briefly summarising WWF’s global initiative, Earth Hour.

Could an Hour change the world? - (youtube.com/watch?v=PivAqlCBL2o)

Step 2

Invite students to share their thoughts about this environmental initiative. You might ask students to describe Earth Hour in their own words and discuss the benefits of global participation in the world’s largest community-driven climate change campaign. Reiterate to students that the core focus of Earth Hour is switching off lights to show a commitment to taking action and thinking about changes and sustainable behaviours you can make in your life.

Find Out: Threatened species

Step 1

Direct students to the species webpage from WWF-Australia. As a class, read and scroll through the webpage to learn about threatened species across Australia and the world that WWF is working to protect.

Take Action: Face painting designs

Step 1

Invite students to select one threatened species that WWF is working hard to save in Australia and overseas. You can provide students with the list below:

koala
platypus
glossy black cockatoo
greater glider
blue whale
southern right whale
green turtle
hawksbill turtle
eastern quoll
northern bettong
black-flanked rock-wallaby
nabarlek
gouldian finch
bilby
orangutan
tiger

Step 2

Discuss with your students that Australia has the worst mammal extinction rate in the world and that our native mammal population is rapidly declining. Threatened species like those on the above list are vulnerable or endangered and facing extinction. Many things threaten their survival, including:

loss of habitat due to deforestation and land clearing for urban development or agriculture, impacting their habitats and food sources
climate change (bushfires and floods are increasingly severe, impacting animals and their habitats)
predation by introduced animals (like foxes and cats)
disease and sickness
getting hit by cars.

Your students’ task is to create a face painting design depicting their chosen threatened species to spread awareness about the species. Students will need a copy of the activity sheet to create their design. Encourage students to experiment with colours and techniques to create their designs.

You can decide whether you would like students to create their design using paint and brushes OR markers and pencils. Ensure that students have a variety of colours to choose from.

Learning support: Provide students with multiple examples of face painting designs from the internet. Alternatively, you might like to print the required images of threatened species for students to use as a reference.

Step 3

Ask students to use books or internet access devices to find two facts about their threatened species. Then, students can write these facts around their face painting design on the Student Worksheet.

Literacy extension: Students write 2-3 sentences about why they chose their threatened species.

Reflection

Conduct a class discussion about the face painting design and ask students:

What went well?
What didn’t go well?
What would you do differently next time?

Earth Hour - Painting for Earth

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Summary

Lesson Guides and Printables

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Earth Hour - Painting for Earth

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Summary

Lesson Guides and Printables

In this lesson