 |
|
|
|
Ecuador -- Third Grade
What is the most delicious thing to come from rainforests? Chocolate, of course! In four unique units children will explore chocolate, the food of the gods, and a native tree of the rainforests of Latin America. Students will learn about the Chachi of Ecuador, a small indigenous group who believe strongly in protecting the forest, and who are using cocoa farms to do it. But chocolate isn't the only interesting thing found in these wonderful forests. Students will learn about the wealth of biodiversity that thrives within the moist, green forests of a region of Ecuador known as the Chocó. Lessons Lesson 1 -- Dependence and Interdependence [PDF] Key Concept: In every environment plants and animals depend on each other for food and shelter, protection and community. The survival of different species depends on the health of ecological systems that may be near or far away. The complex relationships within one ecosystem can be hurt when one of the components is threatened or one of the species becomes extinct. Essential Question: Why can't one live without the other? Lesson 2 -- Surviving in Our Ecosystems [PDF] Key Concept: Each species has different survival needs. The balance of each ecosystem is a delicate web of interdependence and every species of plant or animal is affected by changes in that balance. Knowing how we, as humans, are the same and/or different than other species informs us of our role in the larger ecosystem. Essential Question: What do we need to live in the trees? Lesson 3 -- If the Forest Could Talk [PDF] Key Concept: Insects are essential elements of any ecosystem as they serve as pollinators for plants. Insects may be regarded as a nuisance to humans, but if they all disappeared every ecosystem would feel the impact of this loss. Essential Question: What if the forest could talk? Lesson 4 -- The Tropical Supermarket [PDF] Key Concept: Everything has a source. When we consume products from the shelves of supermarkets we are intricately connected to the ecosystem in which the natural resources originated and to the lives of those people who produced them. Essential Question: Whose lives are we eating?
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
