Rainforest Alliance

Step 1 -- Connect (The Concept to Prior Knowledge)

Challenge

Students identify what they need to live within their present environment and what might happen if those things were absent.

Materials

- Art/drawing supplies
- Large drawing paper or posterboard (One for each student or group of students)
- Old magazines; other sources of pictures

Procedure

1. Students draw pictures of themselves in the middle of a page. Using magazines or other sources of pictures, they attach pictures of the things that they need to survive (food, shelter, transportation, friends, clothes, etc.).
2. Ask students to write a 'What if?' story that places them in the rainforest where they have to find food, shelter, safety, transportation, etc. How will it be different than what they describe in their pictures of home? What might they eat? Where might they live? How would they make themselves safe? How would they have to move through the forest (would their bicycles work there)?

Step 2 -- Literature/Discuss (Give Expert Information Book; Ask Questions)

Challenge

Students realize that it is difficult to change environments without making important adaptations. They understand that keeping all the important ingredients to survival intact and working well is important to the survival of all species.

Materials

- Book: The Salamander Room by Anne Mazer

Procedure

1. Read the book The Salamander Room by Anne Mazer. Discuss the reasons the salamander couldn't live with the boy, including their different needs for food, climate and habitat.
2. Explain that most of the plant and animal species that live in the rainforest are specifically adapted to where they live. If rainforests disappeared, so would they.

Step 3A -- Practice (Math and Learning Centers)

Challenge

Students will understand 'tipping points' in an environment.

Materials

- Jenga or similar block-stacking game (one set per group of students)
- White label stickers or small rainforest photos (for Jenga blocks)
- Glue

Procedure

1. Ask students to compare the boy's experiment with the salamander to a game of Jenga.
2. Have students draw pictures of the different parts of the rainforest that they identified in the previous activity on the Jenga pieces, or label them with words like hot temperatures, humidity, tall trees, vines, tapirs, snakes, insects, etc.
3. Construct a rainforest tower of labeled Jenga blocks. Taking out one at a time, make guesses about how many will have to be pulled out to make the tower fall. Ask the following questions: How do the parts rely on each other? What happens when one part is removed? Why can some pieces be removed without causing problems?
4. To play Jenga with students, start with the wooden blocks stacked as a tight tower. Ask students to remove pieces from the bottom of the tower and stack them on top. Keep stacking until the tower collapses. Discuss the game with the class. Ask students: Why can't we keep building higher? How is the system different at the beginning? What is the benefit of the original structure?

Step 3B -- Create (Performance Tasks Related to Standard Indicators)

Challenge

Students understand that a system needs all of its parts to work effectively.

Step 4 -- Present

Students present their rainforests to the rest of the class and explain how the elements included are connected to each other.

The Rainforest Alliance curriculum is unique in that it teaches science, math, language arts and social studies essentials while addressing the United States National Standards for Learning. These are the standards addressed in the second grade lessons.

Writing

Standard 3 Level 1: K - 2
1. Generates questions about topics of personal interest.
2. Uses a variety of sources to gather information.

Reading

Standard 7 Level 1 Grade K - 2
1. Uses reading skills and strategies to understand a variety of informational texts.
4. Relates new information to prior knowledge and experiences.

Listening and Speaking

Standard 8 Level 1 Grade K - 2
8. Listens and responds to a variety of media.

Thinking and Reasoning

Standard 1 Level 1 Grade K - 2
Understands and applies the basic principles of presenting an argument.

Standard 5 Level 1 Grade K - 2
Identifies simple problems and possible solutions.

Standard 3 Level 1 Grade K - 2
1. Identifies the similarities and differences between persons, places, things and events using concrete criteria.

Mathematics

Standard 1 Uses a variety of strategies in the problem solving Level 1 Grade K - 2
1. Draws pictures to represent problems.
2. Makes organized lists or tables of information necessary for solving a problem.

Standard 3 Level 1 Grade K - 2
3. Understand basic estimation strategies

Standard 4 Level 1 Grade K - 2
2. Understand the basic Measures of length, width, height, weight, and temperature.

Life Sciences

Standard 6 Level 1 Grade K - 2
1. Knows that plants and animals need certain resources for energy and growth.

Standard 13 Level 1 Grade K - 2
Understands that in science it is helpful to work with a team and share the findings with others.

Standard 12 Level 1 Grade K - 2
1. Knows that learning can come from careful observations and simple experiments.

Standard 5 Level 1 Grade K - 2
1. Knows the basic needs of plants and animals (air, water, nutrients, light or food, shelter).
2. Knows that plants and animals have features that help them live in different environments.

Standard 4 Level 1 Grade K - 2
3. Knows that differences exist among individuals of the same kind of plant or animal.

Standard 7 Level 1 Grade K - 2
2. Knows that there are similarities and differences in the appearance and behavior of plants and animals.