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Allen, Classroom Activities for On the Banks of the Amazon,

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Classroom Activities for On the Banks of the Amazon by Nancy Kelly Allen Classroom Activities

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Facilitate whole class participating in shared reading and discussion of On the Banks of the Amazon. Read aloud the story. Ask the following open-ended questions: What did you learn from the story? Who do you believe should read this story? Why? Which animal or plant interested you the most? Why? What are your responsibilities in caring for animals and plants? Explain your answer. If you could be any animal, what animal would you chose to be? Why would you want to be that animal? How would you act? What would you do? Describe a day in the life of that animal. What are animal habitats? Why is it important to protect animal habitats?

Assign selected words from the story that are grade-level appropriate. Assign two words to pairs of students. Ask students to create flash cards that explain and illustrate what each word means. Use flash cards to create a “rainforest” word wall. Assign student partners to complete the chart below. Refer to the book and other resources. (List 8 animals) Identify as Identify an activity Describe or draw a Rainforest animal of that animal picture of animal ________________________________________________________ _____ Pink dolphin Swims slowly (Picture or description)

Allen, Classroom Activities for On the Banks of the Amazon,

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Inform students that they have an opportunity to demonstrate what they have learned about rainforests through a performance or activity. Talk show host-Interview the animals or the two hunters Act out the activities of a particular animal and let other students guess the animal that is portrayed. Create a rainforest postcard. Design one side of the postcard with an illustration/picture of the place. Write a message about the rainforest on the opposite side. Place all the postcards in a box so students can look at the cards as time permits. Create a greeting card in the shape of a caiman. Write a message on the card. (Directions and materials list are attached) Make animal masks of animals in story. Students wear mask and act out the behavior of the animal. Photograph students wearing masks and display pictures on wall. Make a rainstick. Students use the rainsticks to create the sound of rain in a rainforest. Rainstick Materials: A paper towel tube or wrapping paper tube Aluminum foil Small dried beans, unpopped popcorn, or dry rice. Crayons or markers Construction paper Glue Scissors Decorate the tube using crayons or markers. Cut two aluminum foil sheets that are twice as long at the tube. Crush one sheet of foil into a long rope and twist the rope around your finger to make a coil. Keep twisting until the entire foil rope is a coil. Repeat with the second sheet. Place the two coils into the tube. Spread the foil so that it reaches from end-to-end in the tube. Cut a circle larger than the end of the tube to use as a cover for one end of the rainstick. Glue the circle over the end of the tube so the material will not come out when the rainstick is shaken. Pour one cup of dried beans, unpopped corn or dried rice into the open end of the tube. Use more or less beans, depending on the sound you want. Cover the open end of the tube with a circle of construction paper and glue into place. Shake! Shake! Shake!

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7. Each student will cut out a shape of a rainforest animal or plant. Student will write a poem or riddle on the shape, color it and attach to a green string to make a rainforest vine. Hang vines in classroom to create a rainforest. 8. Make an A to Z class book, On the Banks of the ________________. (Use name of creek or river near school, rather than Amazon. Also, use plants and animals associated with the selected creek or river). Each student will write and illustrate one page of the book, each student using a different letter of the alphabet. Bind the book together to keep in the classroom. 9. Students will make animal books, with each book consisting of three sheets of white construction paper, folded in half and stapled into book form. Each student will select a rainforest animal from one of the following categories: Animals with Shells, Animals with Feathers, Animals with Fur, Animals with Scales. On the front cover, the student will write a title for the book and the student’s name as the author of the book, along with a picture of the animal in the rainforest. Each page inside the book will contain other animals of the same category, such as Animals with Shells. Different types of animals with shells will be drawn, one per page, in their habitats. Either below or above the illustration, the student will write information about the animal. In upper grades, students will incorporate more information than those of lower grades. Kindergarten and first grade students may draw the animals and the teacher/aide write a statement about the animal as dictated by the student or just write the name of the animal. 10.Each student in class will draw on a sheet of white paper one rainforest animal in its habitat. Select an animal from the following categories: Animals That Hop, Animals That Run, Animals That Walk, Animals That Swim and Animals That Fly. Students will draw the animals in action and write a description of the animal and its movements on the same page. Older students may use reference books to research their selected animals. Bind the pages into a classroom book and display the book in the classroom for students to read when time permits. 11.Each student will select an animal whose physical attributes would make the student's life easier. Students will draw a picture of themselves exercising their new ability and write a sentence. Example: If I could fly like a parrot, I wouldn’t need to ride the bus to school. Older students will write a paragraph or a short story

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comparing physical attributes and abilities of animals to people. This is a good exercise for adding details and expanding a thought.

12. Students will write sentence pyramids to form poems. Use animals that live in a rainforest. I saw a parrot. I saw a squawking parrot. I saw a squawking parrot flying. I saw a squawking parrot flying to a tree. I saw a squawking parrot flying to a kapok tree. I saw a squawking parrot flying to a kapok tree in the rainforest. 13.Assign each student a letter of the alphabet. Assign all letters. The letter “x” may have to be omitted. Students will research rainforest animals whose names begin with their assigned letters of the alphabet. The student who receives the letter “P” may choose to research parrots or piranhas. Students will record interesting facts on the bottom of a sheet of paper and will illustrate the animal in the upper section. Arrange papers in alphabetical order and bind into a classroom book.

14.Each student will receive a sheet of construction paper cut into an oval shape. Beginning on the outer edge, students will cut a oneinch “snake” by cutting in a circular pattern to the center of the sheet. Students will write interesting facts on the “snake” and hand it by its “head” on the wall so the body of the snake will curve downward.

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Core Content RD-04-2.0.7 Students will make inferences or draw conclusions based on what is read. RD-04-3.0.1 Students will explain a character’s or speaker’s actions based on a passage. RD-04-4.0.1 Students will connect information from a passage to students’ lives (text-to-self), real world issues (text-to-world) or other texts (text-totext - e.g., novel, short story, song, film, website, etc.). RD-04-5.0.2 Students will identify literary devices such as foreshadowing, imagery or figurative language ( similes, metaphors, and personification). WR-04-1.1.2 In Personal Expressive Writing, • Students will communicate the significance of the writer’s life experience by narrating about life events or relationships. • Students will apply the characteristics of the selected form (e.g., personal narrative, personal memoir). • Students will create a point of view. Students will sustain a suitable tone or appropriate voice. SC-EP-4.6.1 Students will describe basic relationships of plants and animals in an ecosystem (food chains). Plants make their own food. All animals depend on plants. Some animals eat plants for food. Other animals eat animals that eat the plants. Basic relationships and connections between organisms in food chains can be used to discover patterns within ecosystems. SC-EP-4.7.1 Students will describe the cause and effect relationships existing between organisms and their environments.

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The world has many different environments. Organisms require an environment in which their needs can be met. When the environment changes some plants and animals survive and reproduce and others die or move to new locations. SS-05-4.4.3 Students will describe how individuals/groups may have different perspectives about the use of land (e.g., farming, industrial, residential, recreational). AH-05-4.3.2 Students will improvise to tell stories that show action and have a clear beginning, middle, and end. (Literary elements) AH-05-4.4.2 Students will use a variety of media and art processes to produce twodimensional (2-D) and three-dimensional (3-D) artwork. AH-05-4.2.1 Students will create patterns of movement incorporating the elements of dance (space, time and force).

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Rainstick Rainsticks are ceremonial musical instruments used to invoke the rain spirits. Supplies needed: • • • • • •

A paper towel tube or other long cardboard tube Aluminum foil Small dried beans (like lentils), unpopped popcorn, dry rice, or tiny pasta. Brown paper (from a grocery bag) or construction paper Glue Scissors

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Crayons or markers

Trace around the end of your tube onto a piece of brown paper (or construction paper). Draw a bigger circle around that circle and then draw a lot of spokes between the two circles. Cut along the spokes.

Put glue on the spokes and glue the cap onto one end of your tube.

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Cut a piece of aluminum foil that is about one and half times the length of your tube and about 6 inches wide.

Crunch the aluminum foil into two long, thin, snake-like shapes. Then twist each one into a spring shape. Put the aluminum foil springs into your tube. Pour some dry beans, dry rice, or unpopped popcorn into your tube. The tube should only be about 1/10 full. You can experiment to see how different amounts and different types of seeds and beans change the sound. Make another cap from brown paper (the same as the first three steps) and cap your tube.

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Optional: Decorate the tube by covering it with brown paper or construction paper, and then making designs with crayons or markers (or cut-out paper or stickers). Rainforest designs are nice, especially brightly-colored butterflies, frogs, and flowers. Tiny construction paper butterflies (like the one on the right) are nice glued onto the rainstick.

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Caiman Craft or Card This caiman can be used as a card. It is made from a single piece of green construction paper (or white paper that you decorate). Supplies needed: • • •

A piece of green (or white) paper Pencil Scissors

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Crayons (optional)

Fold a piece of green paper the long way. Draw a caiman shape on one side of the paper. Draw a long snout, two legs, and a long tail; the fold line will be the alligator's back. Cut about 6 small diagonal slits along the back of the caiman (along the fold line). Unfold the paper. Fold over each of the slits you cut, forming little triangles.

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Draw or cut out a big, toothy mouth, add an eye, and write a message on the caiman.

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Rainforest Liana Vine Decorative String Make a rainforest liana vine to decorate a room. Add leaves, flowers, butterflies, caterpillars, snakes, lizards, sloths, and other life to the vine. You can drape the colorful string around the classroom, from the ceiling, or over the windows. Liana is a woody, climbing vine that grows on tree trunks in order to reach sunlight in the rainforest. Rattan, used for making wicker furniture, is made from liana vines. n Supplies needed: • • • •

Construction paper (many colors) Crayons or markers Scissors Glue, tape, or staples

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A long piece of green or brown yarn or string

Draw a leaf on a piece of construction paper. Make sure to draw a thick stem on the top (your leaf will hang from this stem, which will be folded over). Cut out the leaf. Draw the leaf veins if you wish. Fold the leaf's stem in half. Attach the leaf to a long string using tape, glue, or staples. Make more leaves and attach them to the string.

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Make flowers, butterflies, caterpillars, snakes, and other animals for the vine (if you're really adventurous, try caimans and sloths). A nice way to attach butterflies to the vine is by taping (or stapling) a Vshaped pipe cleaner to the butterfly's head (as its antennae), and then twisting the pipe cleaner to attach it to the vine. Draw details on your flowers and animals, and attach them to the string (using tape, glue, staples or pipe cleaners).

Hang your rainforest vine across the room for a colorful rainforest decoration.