LEARN NC

K–12 teaching and learning · from the UNC School of Education

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 PowerPoint slide with the following information: photograph of the animal, the layer of the rainforest it inhabits, the 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

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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

Technology resources

  • internet access
  • encyclopedia (digital or print)
  • PowerPoint
  • 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
    • gecko
  2. Students will work cooperatively with a partner to research their animal with print and electronic resources.
  3. Students will save photographs of their animal from the internet or scanned images from print resources to the computer. Students will also locate a sound file of their animal from the internet or electronic encyclopedia and save it to the computer.
  4. Students will record an interesting fact about their animal, as well as the layer it inhabits, on a form provided by the teacher.
  5. The teacher will help students place their information on a PowerPoint slide. The slides will be linked together to create a class slideshow about the animal inhabitants at home in the tropical rainforest.

Assessment

Use the attached checklist to judge each PowerPoint slide.

Supplemental information

Attachments:
My Rainforest Animal Report

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.

North Carolina curriculum alignment

English Language Arts (2004)

Grade 2

  • Goal 4: The learner will apply strategies and skills to create oral, written, and visual texts.
    • Objective 4.08: Write structured, informative presentations and narratives when given help with organization.

Science (2005)

Grade 1

  • Goal 1: The learner will conduct investigations and make observations to build an understanding of the needs of living organisms.
    • Objective 1.02: Investigate the needs of a variety of different animals:
      • Air.
      • Water.
      • Food.
      • Shelter.
      • Space.
    • Objective 1.05: Discuss the wide variety of living things on Earth.

Grade 2

  • Goal 1: The learner will conduct investigations and build an understanding of animal life cycles.
    • Objective 1.01: Describe the life cycle of animals including:
      • Birth.
      • Developing into an adult.
      • Reproducing.
      • Aging and death.

  • North Carolina Essential Standards

    • Science (2010)

      • Grade 1

        • 1.L.1 Understand characteristics of various environments and behaviors of humans that enable plants and animals to survive. 1.L.1.1 Recognize that plants and animals need air, water, light (plants only), space, food and shelter and that these may be found...
        • 1.L.2 Summarize the needs of living organisms for energy and growth. 1.L.2.1 Summarize the basic needs of a variety of different plants (including air, water, nutrients, and light) for energy and growth. 1.L.2.2 Summarize the basic needs of a variety of different...

      • Grade 2

        • 2.L.1 Understand animal life cycles. 2.L.1.1 Summarize the life cycle of animals: Birth Developing into an adult Reproducing Aging and death 2.L.1.2 Compare life cycles of different animals such as, but not limited to, mealworms, ladybugs, crickets, guppies...