Art/Social Studies Integration

For this project, we discussed totem poles and their meanings. We learned about the history of the totem pole, what different totems symbolize, and even how the different colors used within the totems have symbolism. We then selected a totem and sketched it on a piece of paper, also including all the details we were going to add to the final project. To complete the project, we cut different colors of construction paper and glued them onto the outline of our totem. We finished by layering the totem with different colors to give them more details and characteristics. 

For an extension activity for this project, students could pick one of their favorite Disney characters, and we could create a Disney class totem, highlighting some of the most popular Disney movies and stories.