Rainforest Unit

EXPLORING THE RAIN FOREST UNIT

Overview: You will work in a small group and research the animals, vegetation, climate and people of the rain forest for this unit.

Objectives:

Students will work in small groups and research the animals, vegetation, climate and people of the rain forest.

Students will use books, magazines, journals and other media, such as, computers to research these areas.

Students will create a mural of the rain forest to decorate a wall in the classroom.

Students will write a post card from the perspective of someone who lives or has visited the rain forest.

Students will create a poster with a slogan expressing their desire to save the rain forest, including a specific reason.

Students will record local precipitation and create a graph comparing this data to precipitation in the rain forest using weather.com or another web site. (click on local weather, use the following locations for your search: Hollywood, FL 33023 and Manaus, Brazil, When forecast appears look for yesterday,s weather report and search for the actual precipitation in inches.)

Students will keep a journals based on their research. As a final activity, the students will work together to create a podcast on all the areas researched and what they learned. The presentation may be informative or editorial based.

Activities

Week 1:

* Review the entire unit and each weeks activities and guidelines.

* Assign a section to each of the four group members as follows: animals, vegetation, climate and
people.

* Do a KWL of what you know about the rain forest already in your science journals.

* Begin researching your area, take notes in your science journal and work on a rough draft.

Week 2:

* Continue working on presentation and fill out worksheets for your topic.

* Make the Save the Rain forest Poster and present it to the class. The poster should contain a
picture or symbol and a slogan, with a specific reason why we should save the rain forest.

* Begin recording local precipitation and precipitation in the rain forest for one week in your
science journals.

Week 3:

* Continue working on research and begin final drafts. Start working with group on combining all
the information into one podcast.

* Using a double bar graph or double line graph, compare the data recorded of local precipitation
and precipitation in the rain forest over a week’s time. Write a brief explanation of the data and
your comparison in your science journals.

* Begin working on mural of the rain forest. Your mural should contain images of the animals,
vegetation and possibly people of the rain forest.

Week 4:

* Finish your podcast and present to class.

* Complete the post card on a visit to the rain forest, explaining in detail what it sounds, looks,
smells and feels like.

* Finish murals of the rain forest.

* Complete the KWL with what you now know about the rain forest in your science
journals.