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What Makes a Tropical Rainforest Special? (Grade 3-5)

Master Teacher

Sue Florence

Overview

This unit teaches students the characteristics, layers, and some of the animal species of a rainforest by using ITV series, Internet sites, and teacher-made activities. It also teaches map skills and research skills.

SC Science Standards Met

Science Achievement Standards

Process Skills: A, B, C, D, E, F
Area I—Living Things

Strand 1: B, C

Strand 2: A, B, C
Stand 3: A, B
Area IV—Applications

Strand 1: A, B
Strand 3: A, B

Learning Objectives

The students will be able to:

locate countries with tropical rainforests on a world map
locate the equator, Tropic of Cancer, Tropic of Capricorn, South America, Central America, Australia, Africa, and Indonesia
access selected Internet sites
list characteristics of a tropical rainforest
correctly label the layers of the rainforest
correctly name an animal that lives in each layer of the rainforest
compare/contrast the layers of the rainforest
research and write a report on a rainforest animal
create a web to identify the key points to preserve or destroy a section of the rainforest

draw a picture of a rainforest animal in its natural habitat

Materials

computer with Internet access
markers, crayons, or colored pencils
Journey of the Red-Eyed Tree Frog by Martin and Tanis Jordan
At Home in the Rainforest by Diane Willow and Laura Jacques
manila paper

ITV Series/Internet Sites

Newton's Apple, Program #1408, "Rainforest Animals"

Kratts' Creatures, Program #109, "Rainforest: Under the Canopy"

Previewing Activities

1. To introduce the Rainforest unit, use the "What I Know, What I Want to Know" strategy. (See Activity 1.) Students are to write in the left column what they already know about a tropical rainforest. In the right column, students are to write what they would like to learn about tropical rainforests. Give students about 20 minutes to complete this activity. Make one class chart with the information they already know about rainforests. Make another class chart with the information the class wants to know about a rainforest. Refer to these charts throughout the unit by checking the accuracy of their information and answering the "What I Want to Know" questions.

2. Introduce the Website "Amazon Interactive" (Print sheets)

3. Read the book At Home in the Rain Forest. Ask students to work in cooperative groups and list as many facts about the rainforest that they can remember.

Focus for Viewing

To give students a specific responsibility while viewing the Newton's Apple program, "Rain-forest Animals," ask them to listen for information that tells them that a tropical rainforest is different from where they live.

Viewing Activities

Tell students to raise their hands when they hear how much rain falls in a tropical rain-forest. Start the video and stop it after the information is given. (300 inches a year.)

Measure 300 inches with a meter stick and string to show students how much rain this is. Compare it to the amount of rain that falls in their area. Ask students to raise their hands when they hear the word "ecosystem." Start the video and then stop it when the word is heard. Dis-cuss the meaning of the word with students.

Pass out FACT cards (index cards with the word FACT written on them). Ask students to raise their FACT cards when they hear a fact about the rainforest.

largest river system in the world
over 1,000 tributaries
contains two-thirds of the world's fresh water
crosses a whole continent

Teach lesson on location of rainforests (Print sheets)

Introduce the "Live from the Rainforest" Website. (Print Activity 4.)

Return to the Newton's Apple program and fast forward to the picture of the man beating the drums and stop the tape. Ask students if they think the Atlantic Ocean or the Amazon River would have more species of fish. (Amazon River.) Start the video and then stop it at the answer to the question.

Ask students where they think most of the animals live in the tropical rainforest. (Seventy percent live in the treetops.) Start the video and stop it when the host says,"In the treetops and I know just how to get up there." Introduce the layers of the rainforest. (See Activity 5 & Activity 5 Answers)

Before returning to the program, ask students how they think researchers learn about the plants and animals in the canopy (walkway). Start the video and stop when the host swings on a rope and crashes.

Ask students to raise their hands every time they see or hear an animal. Begin the tape and stop where the host begins crossing the walkway bridge.

Previewing Activities

1. Introduce the Website STRATA and the accompanying activity (Activity 6 & Activity 6 continued).

2. Ask students to select a rainforest animal to research.

Focus for Viewing

To give students a specific responsibility while viewing Kratts' Creatures, "Rainforest: Under the Canopy," ask them to listen for the many kinds of animals that live in a tropical rain-forest.

Viewing Activities

Ask students to listen for and list as many rainforest creatures as they can that are mentioned in the video. (Jaguar, tapir, hummingbird, sloth, toucan, coati, tarantula, boas, capuchins, giant toads.) Stop the video where the host has toads in his hands.

Fast forward to where the hosts slap hands together. Ask students to listen for the location of the video. (Central America.) Stop the video where the question mark appears on the screen. Have students locate Central America on their map from Activity 3.

Ask students to listen for the three types of rainforests. Stop at the picture of the toucan. (Cloud Forest, Dry Forest, Lowland Rainforest.)

Ask students to listen and raise their hands when they hear the three clues that are describing the mystery animal. Stop after the last clue is given.

body like a hippopotamus
trunk like an elephant, but shorter
related to a rhinoceros

Ask students to try and guess the name of the mystery animal. (Tapir.) Play the tape until the name of the mystery animal is given and then stop.

Have students listen for the meaning of the word "amphibious." (Lives on land and water.) Stop when the hosts land in the water and discuss the meaning of the word.

Start the tape again and then stop it when the host starts to feed the tapir. Ask students to guess which food the tapir likes the best—a Palmetto or a Coleandra.

Start the tape and stop at the Footnotes. Ask students why the tapir is great at walking through the mud. (When it walks in the mud, it pulls up its feet without making a sucking sound or getting stuck.) Stop the tape where the tapir is eating.

Ask students to listen to find out why a tapir hangs out in the river. (Safest place to be.) Ask students why they think the tapir is safe in the river from a jaguar. Play the tape until you see the jaguar walking.

Ask students to raise their hands when they hear where a jaguar lives. (Any of the three forests.) Stop at the cartoon picture of the show host.

Ask students to write down what animal they think a coati looks like. (Raccoon.) Stop the tape at the picture of the raccoon and coati.

Ask students what they think the word "diurnal" means. (Hang out in the daytime.) Stop the tape at the picture of the host in a tree with binoculars.

Ask students to raise their hands when they hear how trees are important to monkeys. (They provide food and a place to live.) Stop the tape at the picture of the host in front of a map.

Ask students to work in their groups and write down why they think the rainforest is important. (Lungs of the planet, gives earth its water supply, provides oxygen, medicine, is a giant faucet for forests and deserts.) Stop when the bird says, "What serious stuff?"

Pass out FACT cards and ask students to raise their cards when they hear an important fact about the rainforest.

covers thousands of square acres of land
each has its own ecosystems
used to be 8 million square acres and now less than half of that

Stop the tape at the waterfall.

Ask students why they think the rainforest is disappearing. (Logging, farming, population explosion.) Play the tape until it shows the picture of the cattle.

Have students listen for facts and opinions about the toucan.

colorful beaks (fact)
eat fruits, lizards, and eggs (fact)
chomp their favorite food and throw it up in the air to eat (fact)
"one of Central America's coolest looking birds" (opinion)

Play the tape until the host is walking through the rainforest. Using a map, show students the difference between the size of West Virginia and North America. Discuss the statement, "There are more different birds in a rainforest the size of West Virginia than in all of North America." Stop the tape at the picture of the host with the binoculars to his face.

Start the tape and then stop at the picture of the host in a flowered shirt. Have students listen for the number of times a hummingbird flaps its wings in one second. (Eighty.) Start the tape and stop after the host says, "I got it!"

Ask students to listen for the ways that hummingbirds and flowers work together. (Flowers give hummingbirds nectar to eat and the hum-mingbird spreads pollen from flower to flower.) Stop when the cartoon character says, "It's rainforest logic." Explain what a food web is. Ask students to write down the food web they hear in the video. (Monkeys need fruit; fruit comes from trees; trees need ants.) Play the video and stop when the host says, "Why do trees need ants?" Discuss interdependence of living things.

Have students listen to find out how ants and trees help each other. (The tree provides food and shelter for the ants and the ants protect the tree from creatures that might eat the leaves.) Play the tape and stop it when Martin says, "I'll do it for science."

Ask students to predict what they think will happen to Martin's hand. (He gets stung.) Play the tape until you see the cartoon picture of the host.

Post-Viewing Activities

1. Students will use reference books and Internet sites to research a rainforest animal, write a report, give an oral presentation about their animal, and draw a picture of their animal in its natural habitat. See Activity 7 for research project and grading rubric.

2. Have students complete the Tropical Rain-forest puzzle (Activity 8).

Action Plan

1. Read the book The Journey of the Red-Eyed Tree Frog to the students and complete Activity 9.

2. Have students write letters to their Congressman expressing their concerns about the destruction of the rainforests of the world.

Extensions

1. Health: Students can explore the foods and medicines that come from the rain-forest. 2. Math: Students can go outside to measure the heights of rainforest trees using a meter wheel.

3. Literature: Read the books One Day in the Tropical Rain Forest by Jean Craighead George, The Great Kapok Tree by Lynne Cherry, and Rainforest by Helen Cowcher.

South Carolina ETV

What Makes a Tropical Rainforest Special? (Grade 3-5)

Overview

SC Science Standards Met

Learning Objectives

Materials

ITV Series/Internet Sites

Previewing Activities

Focus for Viewing

Viewing Activities

Previewing Activities

Focus for Viewing

Viewing Activities

Post-Viewing Activities

Action Plan

Extensions

Activity Sheet (PDF)