Resources:
In-service conference Nov. 15-17
Bibliography

Standing in the Amazon rain forest thousands of miles from her Yonkers classroom, Samantha Rosado thought about how her trip would translate into learning activities.

The rain-forest ecosystems could lend to science and social studies lessons. Math can be taught in the number of animals living in the forest, or the dots decorating tropical frogs.

"Each day, one of the scientists would take us out on an excursion," said Rosado, a member of the Yonkers Federation of Teachers. "One day we focused on birds. Another day we went to see a shaman, a medicine man. The shaman had an entire garden of plants he had taken from the rain forest. They are medicinal plants we actually use here."

Rosado traveled through the Peruvian Amazon with teachers, scientists and Lynne Cherry, author of The Great Kapok Tree. Rosado knew the rain forest could be a great teaching tool, especially for new teachers. "The main problem new teachers have is how to fit everything in the school day," Rosado said. "You can touch upon the skills using one theme."

In The Great Kapok Tree, a modern-day fable, a young man starts to cut down a tree. When he tires, the animals plead with him to reconsider. They tell him that their lives depend on the rain forest being kept intact.

Using Cherry's book, Rosado and other members of the New York State United Teachers Subject Area Committee for Elementary Education created a multi-disciplinary thematic lesson plan for K-4 teachers.

"We went page by page and looked at the animals and wondered how can we integrate it across the curriculum using the standards," Rosado said.

The lesson plan was presented at last year's state conference on in-service education. The lesson will be repeated at this year's conference, scheduled for Nov. 15-17 in Albany.

"NYSUT's subject area committees have developed standards-based, hands-on workshops that can help teachers everywhere," said Antonia Cortese, first vice president of NYSUT. Workshops are available on topics across the curriculum, including elementary, document-based questions, statistics in high school math, and languages other than English.

Gorilla math

Ideas for class inquiry include: A gorilla can weigh 300 pounds. How many students equal the weight of one gorilla? Have students choose an animal and calculate the food it eats daily, monthly, yearly. Using rain-forest plants and animals, students can calculate, graph, measure and respond to word problems.

In science, Rosado explains food and life webs. Standing in a circle, students pass around a ball of yarn, unraveling it as they go, until a giant web is created. Each child gets a rain forest card, with the name of a plant or animal and its source of energy. One example is a fish that gets its energy from plankton. If the plankton are killed by pollution, for example, everything that depends on plankton will also die. The students with the plankton and fish cards drop their yarn link. The student holding the animal card that survives off fish (like some birds) will also die and so on as the web unravels.

"It motivates the students to find ways to preserve the environment," said Rosado.

In social studies, Rosado's students learn ways to preserve the environment. That could include encouraging stores to use more paper rather than plastic bags, or having students explain to parents why certain wood is more environmentally sound when buying furniture. "Soft wood like pine grows faster than hard wood like cherry, ebony and mahogany," Rosado said.

For more on rain-forest resources, visit www.rainforest-alliance.org, or www.wcs.org.

- Clarisse Butler

Bibliography

Literature Resources

Amsel, S. (1993). Rain Forests. Steck-Vaughn.

Bains, R. (1985). Forests and Jungles. Troll Associates.

Baker, J. (1987). Where the Forest Meets the Sea. New York: Greenwillow.

Baker, L. (1990). Life in the Rainforest. New York: Franklin Watts.

Cherry, L. (1990). The Great Kapok Tree. San Diego, CA: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.

Cherry, L. (1992). A River Ran Wild. San Diego, CA: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.

Chinery, M. (1992). Rainforest Animals. New York: Random House.

Collins, M. (1990). The Last Rain Forest. New York: Oxford University Press.

Cowecher, H. (1988). Rain Forest. Scholastic, Inc.

Dorros, A. (1990). Rain Forest Secrets. New York: Scholastic.

Forsyth, A. (1990). Portraits of the Rainforest. Camden East, Ontario: Camden House.

Forsyth, A. (1988). Journey Through a Tropical Jungle. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Ganeri, Anita and Jakki Wood. (1993). Around and About the Rainforests. Barron's.

George, J. (1990). One Day in the Tropical Rain Forest. New York: Crowell.

Goodman, B. (1991). The Rainforest. Boston, MA: Little, Brown.

Jordan, M. and J. (1991). Journey of the Red-Eyed Tree Frog. New York: Green Tiger Press.

Landau, E. (1991). Tropical Rain Forests Around the World. New York: Franklin Watts.

National Wildlife Federation Staff. (1991). Rain Forests: Tropical Treasures. National Wildlife.

Pearce, Q.L. (1990). Piranhas and Other Wonders of the Jungle. J. Messner.

Peet, B. (1966). Farewell to Shady Glade. Houghton Mifflin.

Penny, M. (1988). The Food Chain. Bookwright.

Ross, S. What's in the Rainforest? Los Angeles, CA: Enchanted Rainforest Press.

Rowland-Entwistle, It. (1987). Jungles and Rainforests. Morristown, NJ: Silver Burdett.

Taylor, B. (1992). Animal Atlas. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.

Taylor, B. (1992). Rain Forest. New York: Dorling Kindersley, Inc.

Vyner, Tim. (1994). The Tree. Barron's.

Weir, B. and W. (1991). Panther Dream. New York: Hyperion Books.

Willow, D. (1991). At Home in the Rain Forest. Watertown, MA: Charlesbridge Publication.

Wood, J. (1991). Rain Forests. Gareth Stevens.

Yolan, Jane and Laura Regan. (1993). Welcome to the Green House. G.P. Putnam's Sons.

Teacher Resources

Albert, Toni and George Ling. (1993). Endangered Rain Forests. Carson-Dellosa Publishing Company, Inc.

Audet, Theresa Ives, Karen Gibson and Ann Flagg. (1995). "A Treasure Chest of Life," The Primary Mailbox. April/May 1995.

Berger, Gilda and Denise Prowell. (1993). Life in the Rain Forest. Newbridge Communications, Inc.

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