This is a fun way to combine art and science. I developed this project this year for the Grade 4 Ontario Science curriculum: Communities and Habitats. This could work for students all all grades.
After working through some fundamental science vocabulary about communities, habitats, and ecosystems, we studied local trees: coniferous and deciduous and how to identify trees based on the characteristics of their leaves.
We spent a lot of time outside observing and documenting trees and collecting leaves. We then learned about scientific illustration and how to label, classify, identify, how to use a magnification bubble, and how to ask questions about what is being studied.
The final project:
Students create a poster about their chosen leaf. They draw a scientific illustration with relevant labels, questions and a magnification bubble. We got to laminate our leaves and add them to the poster. The students loved it and learned a lot!