Lesson 2 -- Independence and Conservation
Second Grade
Amazon Rainforest Conservation, Brazil
Concept
Things change in all environments. The impact of one loss or disturbance may not be visible until the rate of change and impact on diversity threatens the habitat of a particular species so much that their food source, shelter, health or safety disappears. What is the critical threshold?
Essential Question
Does it all collapse when one block is pulled out?
 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
- 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.).
- 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
- 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.
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
- Ask students to compare the boy's experiment with the salamander to a game of Jenga.
- Have students glue pictures of the different aspects of the rainforest that they used in their previous activity on the Jenga pieces, or label them with words like hot temperatures, humidity, tall trees, vines, tapirs, snakes, insects, etc.
- 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?
- 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.
Materials
- Labeled Jenga pieces from Step 3A
- Glue
Procedure
- Using the Jenga blocks, construct the perfect, most effective tower that represents a working rainforest. Glue the blocks together so they can't be removed.
 Step 4 -- Present
Students present their different Rainforest towers to the rest of the class and ask if anyone can identify a missing piece.
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