Classroom activity Grade 3 Art & Music

Saltbush Flats Furrow Prints: A Grade 3 Irrigation Pattern Activity

A grade 3 printmaking activity where students stamp a repeating field-and-furrow pattern to show how a dry-country town waters its crops in even rows.

Grade: Grade 3
Subject: Art & Music
Material: Classroom activity
Time: 45 min
Prep: Moderate prep
Materials: Sponge pieces or foam stamps, Washable paint in green and blue, Paper, Paper plates for paint, Smocks or newspaper

Standards

D2.Geo.4.3-5 C3 Framework

Explain how culture influences the way people modify and adapt to their environments.

How this material aligns: The activity shows how a dry-country community adapts to its environment by digging ditches to carry water to fields in even rows, matching this standard's focus on culture, adaptation, and the environment.

All materials for D2.Geo.4.3-5 →

W.3.2 Common Core ELA

Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.

How this material aligns: Students write a short caption for their print that explains how the town brings water to its crops, examining the topic and conveying the information clearly.

All materials for W.3.2 →

Download Word file

This material is in the public domain (CC0) and may be copied, edited, and shared freely, without attribution. Updated 2026-07-23.

Objectives

Students will stamp a repeating pattern of crop rows and water furrows.
Students will explain how a dry-country town waters its fields in rows.

Vocabulary

Key words: furrow, irrigation, pattern, row, crop

Teacher overview

Saltbush Flats is a made-up town in a dry place where rain is rare. To grow food, farmers dig small ditches called furrows and let water run down them in even rows between the crops. In this printmaking activity, students stamp a repeating pattern that shows the same idea: green rows of crops with blue water lines running between them. The repeat is the point, because a real field is planted in even, repeating rows so the water can reach every plant. Students work at tables in groups of four, sharing paint, and each makes a print of their own. The pattern connects the art to how a dry community shares water with its fields.

Activity Directions

Before class, cut sponges into small squares and rectangles, set out green and blue paint on plates, and cover the tables. Seat students in groups of four.
Show a simple picture of a field with rows of crops and water furrows between them. Explain that the town digs furrows so water reaches every row, and that the rows repeat across the whole field.
Model the print: press a green sponge to make a short row of crops, leave a small gap, then press a blue sponge in the gap to make the water furrow. Repeat the pair across the paper.
Students make their own print, stamping green crop rows and blue water furrows that repeat down the page. Remind them to keep the rows even and the gaps about the same, like a real field.
When prints are drying, each student writes a one-sentence caption below or beside the print that tells how the town gets water to its crops.
End the activity when every student has a repeating print and a caption. Lay the prints out together so the class can see the pattern repeat from print to print.
Debrief: ask why the farmers keep the rows even, and what would happen to plants in a row the water could not reach. Connect the even rows to making sure every plant gets water. Ask one or two students to point to a spot on their own print where the water reaches every green row, and to a spot where a plant might be left dry.

From Water for Schools (waterforschools.org). This material is in the public domain (CC0) and may be copied, edited, and shared freely.

Differentiation

Support

Give students a paper lightly printed with faint guide lines for the rows, so they can place their stamps evenly. Let them practice one green-then-blue pair on scrap paper before starting the full pattern.

Extension

Ask students to add a third color that shows a water gate or ditch head where the water enters the field, and to explain in one sentence why the town would control where the water starts.

ELL supports

Pair the words "furrow," "row," and "crop" with the sample picture and point to each as you say it. Provide a caption frame: "The town brings water to the crops by ___."

Extensions

If your area has farms or community gardens, show photos of real planted rows and drip lines, and have students compare the spacing in the photo to the even rows in their own prints.