Third Grade Collaborative Totem Poles

In third grade, classroom teachers have a Native American Unit of Study.  There are so many amazing ways to incorporate Native American Art in my art room, but the past few years I have chosen to elaborate their study in the art room with a discussion about totem poles.  

After learning the symbolism behind the animals in the totem poles, students picked the animal that best represented their personalities to create as part of a class totem pole.  Students drew their animals from observation and finished off their artwork with chalk pastels.  The artwork is now hanging in the hallway as collaborative third grade totem poles.