Visual Arts - Unit 1

In the ‘Art and Me’ unit, students will explore their significance within their families and homes through drawing, painting, and mixed media, focusing on how their art can reflect their identities. In the first part of the unit, Unit 1A students learn how to represent themselves in art through self-portraiture. They will experiment with various materials and techniques, gaining agency in their artistic choices while recognising the importance of art as a means of expression. The unit will culminate in an interactive showcase where students present their creations, celebrating their unique perspectives and the connections between their art and personal experiences.

This unit aligns with the Australian Curriculum content descriptions:

• Exploring and Responding: explore where, why and how visual arts are created and/or presented across cultures, times, places and/or other contexts.
• Developing practices and skills: experiment with a range of ways to use visual conventions, visual arts processes and materials.
• Creating and making: use visual conventions, visual arts processes and materials to create artworks that communicate ideas, perspectives and/or meaning.
• Presenting and Performing: share and/or display artworks and/or visual arts practice in informal settings.

Each of the nine lessons learning objectives:

• In this lesson we will understand that shapes make a face.
• In this lesson we will use shapes and lines to draw a detailed self-portrait.
• In this lesson, we will learn the names of colours and how to mix them.
• In this lesson, we will mix colours to paint our self-portrait.
• In this lesson, we will make a collage by arranging warm and cool colours.
• In this lesson, we will make a collage self-portrait using warm or cool colours.  
• In this lesson, we will learn how to create different patterns.
• In this lesson, we will complete our self-portrait using colour, collage and pattern.
• In this lesson, we will reflect on our learning and share our artwork.

• L1: Understand the shapes and lines that make up a face and draw them in the right place.
• L2: Notice the details of your face and draw these using shapes and lines.
• L3: Name primary and secondary colours and mix them.
• L4: Make colour choices and paint mixed colours onto the self-portrait.
• L5: Create a warm and cool colour collage.
• L6: Choose warm or cool colours, cut and stick shapes to make a face.
• L7: Use shapes and lines to make colourful patterns.
• L8: Apply skills and techniques to make a mixed media self-portrait.
• L9: Reflect on learning and present artwork to others.

Continuous assessments 

Continuous assessments are used to ascertain whether the knowledge recently taught has been understood by the student. These include oral tasks administered to individual students or tasks administered to the whole class for an entire lesson.

Final assessment 

The final assessment occurs at the end of the unit in Week 9 and consists of a final summative review of their self-portraits, art tasks to demonstrate skills and reflection.

In the ‘Art and Action’ unit, students will explore environmental advocacy and art activism while making a difference through the creation of clay species that have been impacted by human activity and climate change. They will learn techniques for building and decorating clay, emphasising the importance of careful choice-making. The unit will conclude with a collaborative clay installation, allowing students to present their art and share its purpose with others to inspire change. 

This unit aligns with the Australian Curriculum content descriptions:

• Exploring and Responding: explore where, why and how visual arts are created and/or presented across cultures, times, places and/or other contexts.
• Developing practices and skills: experiment with a range of ways to use visual conventions, visual arts processes and materials.
• Creating and making: use visual conventions, visual arts processes and materials to create artworks that communicate ideas, perspectives and/or meaning.
• Presenting and Performing: share and/or display artworks and/or visual arts practice in informal settings.

Each of the nine lesson’s learning objectives:

• L1: In this lesson, we will research coral reef biomes and the artists that help them.
• L2: In this lesson, we will draw our coral carefully, showing all the important details we learned about.  
• L3: In this lesson, we will learn clay techniques to make a patterned sea turtle. 
• L4: In this lesson, we will learn how artist Courtenay Mattison creates clay corals to raise awareness of coral bleaching.  
• L5: In this lesson, we will make our first detailed clay corals.
• L6: In this lesson, we will make our second detailed clay corals. 
• L7: In this lesson, we will make our third detailed clay corals.
• L8: In this lesson, we will paint our corals. 
• L9: In this lesson, we will create an installation of our clay corals, to raise awareness of coral bleaching. 

• L1: Find and understand facts about coral bleaching.
• L2: Draw what you see accurately and include important details that help others understand your coral.
• L3: Join clay pieces together strongly, build up clay shapes carefully, make textures and patterns in clay. 
• L4: Explain how artists make art to raise awareness about climate change.
• L5: Create your first coral form using careful clay building techniques. 
• L6: Work independently to create surface textures that match your coral’s real features. 
• L7: Explain your creative choices and what you learned while making your coral. 
• L8: Mix colours that match your coral research image and paint your coral.
• L9: Arrange your coral sculptures effectively as part of our class installation. 

Continuous assessments 

Continuous assessments are used to ascertain whether the knowledge recently taught has been understood by the student. These include oral tasks administered to individual students or written tasks administered to the whole class for an entire lesson. Written tasks are completed in the Student Workbook.

Final assessment 

The final assessment occurs at the end of the unit in Week 9 and consists of a final summative installation of their corals, art analysis tasks and two final reflection tasks.

In this unit, students will learn how accurate observation is essential for creating meaningful drawings through techniques like contour line drawing.

They will take charge of their creative processes while exploring contour lines, shading, and negative space.

The unit will culminate in a detailed contour drawing of people in motion and a final drawing exhibition.

Unit 1A: Drawing Years 5 and 6 is a Visual Arts unit for Years 5 and 6 students. 

It aligns with the Australian Curriculum content descriptions:

• Explore ideas and practices used by artists, including practices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists, to represent different views, beliefs and opinions (ACAVAM114).  
• Develop and apply techniques and processes when making their artworks (ACAVAM115). 
• Plan the display of artworks to enhance their meaning for an audience (ACAVAM116).  
• Explain how visual arts conventions communicate meaning by comparing artworks from different social, cultural and historical contexts, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artworks (ACAVAR117).

In Weeks 1–8, students learn:  

• to identify and apply their understanding of contour lines and edges 
• to identify and draw spaces and forms using both positive and negative space 
• how artists communicate their ideas using specific practices in the development of their artworks 
• how to compare and respond to different artworks from a range of cultural contexts, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples 
• to document and refine their creative process in their Process Journals

• Develop an understanding of how edges and spaces make up a drawing (Week 1–8). 
• Apply drawing skills to produce a contour line drawing. (Weeks 9). 
• Identify and compare the practices, ideas and meaning behind artworks from different cultural contexts (Weeks 1–8). 
• Demonstrate an understanding of artworks studied in the creation of a response artwork (Weeks 1–8). 
• Identify, evaluate, and compare the creative process and decision-making behind developing their artworks (Weeks 1–8).

Continuous assessments 

Continuous assessments are used to ascertain whether the knowledge recently taught has been understood by the student. These include oral tasks administered to individual students or written tasks administered to the whole class for an entire lesson. Written tasks are completed in the Student Workbook.

Final assessment 

The final assessment occurs at the end of the unit in Week 10 and consists of a Final Self Portrait, a revised Process Journal with annotated drawing exercises and art analysis tasks, and a final reflection task and art display.

In this unit, students will build on their knowledge and understanding from Unit 1A. They will practice accurate observation skills and begin an introduction to tonal drawing. They will learn how to create shadows and highlights in tonal drawings and develop proportion and relationships between forms. The unit will culminate in a tonal self-portrait, and a final drawing exhibition.

Unit 1B: Drawing Years 5 and 6 is a Visual Arts unit for Years 5 and 6 students. It aligns with the Australian Curriculum content descriptions:  

• Explore ideas and practices used by artists, including practices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists, to represent different views, beliefs and opinions (ACAVAM114).  

• Develop and apply techniques and processes when making their artworks (ACAVAM115). 

• Plan the display of artworks to enhance their meaning for an audience (ACAVAM116).  

• Explain how visual arts conventions communicate meaning by comparing artworks from different social, cultural and historical contexts, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artworks (ACAVAR117). 

In Weeks 1–8, students learn:  

• to identify and apply their understanding of space and value 

• to identify and draw spaces and forms using both positive and negative space 

• how artists communicate their ideas using specific practices in the development of their artworks 

• how to compare and respond to different artworks from a range of cultural contexts, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples 

• to document and refine their creative process in their Process Journals. 

• Develop an understanding of how to draw relationships between forms (Week 1–4). 

• Apply drawing skills to produce a tonal drawing. (Weeks 9). 

• Identify and compare the practices, ideas and meaning behind artworks from different cultural contexts (Weeks 1–8). 

• Demonstrate an understanding of artworks studied in the creation of a response artwork (Weeks 1–8). 

• Identify, evaluate, and compare the creative process and decision-making behind developing their artworks (Weeks 1–8). 

Continuous assessments 

Continuous assessments are used to ascertain whether the knowledge recently taught has been understood by the student. These include oral tasks administered to individual students or written tasks administered to the whole class for an entire lesson. Written tasks are completed in the Student Workbook.  

Final assessment 

The final assessment occurs at the end of the unit in Week 9 and consists of a Final Self Portrait, a revised Process Journal with annotated drawing exercises and art analysis tasks, and a final reflection task and art display.