At home in the tropical rainforest

Students will choose one rainforest animal to research using print and electronic resources. They will work cooperatively with a partner to create a Hyperstudio card with the following information: photograph of the animal, the layer of the rainforest it inhabits, sound the animal makes, and an interesting fact about the animal.

A lesson plan for grades 1–2 English Language Arts and Science

By Sally Eller

Learn more

• Enchanted Learning Educational resources site for teachers
• Rainforest Heroes Kid's action to help the rainforest
• Animal Sounds A comprehensive index of different animal sounds

Related pages

• The Walter L. Stasavich Science and Nature Center at River Park North: This park with its new nature center is a fun place for students to go and learn about the indigenous species of eastern North Carolina.
• Feathers, fins, fur, scales, and skin: Using observation, students will identify animal groups by their appearance. The students will move through animal centers looking for similarities and differences of birds, fish, mammals, reptiles, and amphibians.
• Bakers Mountain: Come to Bakers Mountain to learn about the flora, fauna and natural heritage of Southwest Catawba County.

Related topics

• Learn more about animal characteristics, animals, biology, cooperative learning, habitats, language arts, rainforests, and science.

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Learning outcomes

Students will be able to identify the layers of the rainforest and the various types of animals the layers support.

Teacher planning

Time required for lesson

4 weeks

Materials/resources

• Nature’s Green Umbrella: Tropical Rain Forests by Gail Gibbons
• Eyewitness Books Jungles by Theresa Greenaway
• Life in the Rainforests by Lucy Baker
• The Great Kapok Tree by Lynne Cherry
• Jungle Days, Jungle Nights by Tanis Jordan
• Here is the Tropical Rain Forest by Madeleine Dunphy
• Welcome to the Green House by Jane Yolen

Technology resources

• internet access
• electronic encyclopedia
• Hyperstudio multimedia software
• scanner to scan photographs from print resources

Pre-activities

Identify the layers of the tropical rainforest: forest floor, understory, canopy, emergent layer.

Activities

1. Teacher will provide students with a list of rainforest animals to choose from. Suggestions include: red-eyed tree frog, poison arrow frog, blue morpho butterfly, orchid bee, leaf cutter ants, emerald tree boa, jaguar, ocelot, tapir, three toed sloth, red howler monkey, spider monkey, harpy eagle, toucan, scarlet macaw, and gecko.
2. Students will work cooperatively with a partner to research their animal with print and electronic resources. Students will save photographs of their animal from the internet or scanned images from print resources into a folder on the computer. Students will also locate a sound file of their animal from the internet or electronic encyclopedia and save into a folder on the computer. Students will record an interesting fact about their animal, as well as the layer it inhabits, on a form provided by the teacher.
3. The teacher will help students place their information on a Hyperstudio card and link the cards together to create a multimedia linear presentation about the animal inhabitants at home in the tropical rainforest.

Assessment

Use the attached checklist to judge each Hyperstudio card.

Supplemental information

Attachments:

• HyperStudio file
• My Rainforest Animal Report
• Student Checklist: doc | rtf

Hyperstudio 3.2 is required to open the attached jag.STK. If you don’t have Hyperstudio, you will need to download the player from the Hyperstudio website.

Comments

I like to do this unit in April when first graders have the ability to do this type of project. It coincides well with the month of April and the theme of rain. This lesson could also be adapted for second grade. Expand the information to include animal classification, life cycle of animals and create a database from the information gathered by students. Use the database as a teaching tool for students to locate information about rainforest inhabitants.