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Animals | Insects | Birds | Reptiles

= Learning Object

= Student Activity

Lesson 5 - Animals and Birds of the Rainforest

These lessons will be taught over a number of days.

Objectives

The student will:

• learn to identify rainforest animals and their characteristics.
• read a rainforest ABC e-book to gain information
• begin to compose individual books called "A Week in the Rainforest"
• Throughout the animal study, students can choose different animals for their book.
• begin to compose a journal "Animals of the Rainforest." where students write down facts they learned about each animal. This could be in the form of a shape booklet.

Resources

• Rainforest animal e-book
• student journals
• various books on animals in the rainforest
• headbands
• paint
• paper Plates
• activity sheets
• pineapple
• markers
• coloured paper
• comprehension sheet
• charcoal and corte

Assessment:

• Rating Scale

Teacher Note: The following are a series of suggested activities to discover the different animals in the rainforest. Talk about many different animals and discuss what layer you would find them in. After you do your art activity with the animals place them in your rainforest around the room.

• Language Arts, Math and Art are integrated in our animal study
• Make a journal "Animals of the Rainforest". This could be a shape booklet. After the study of each animal write down 3 facts about the animal. With Kindergarten you could do a printing page with each beginning letter. You should be able to find pictures of the animals in the suggested library resource books.
• Read the book "Who Lives in the Rainforest" as an introduction to the study of Rainforest Animals.

Jaguar

• Make jaguar headbands
• Write reports on jaguars after reading about them. Write 3 facts about them "A jaguar is a cat. It has spots. The jaguar lives in the jungle.
• Art Activity. Paint your hand orange and made a print, cut it out, and then made an orange head. Using a black marker, put spots on the jaguar. Put the jaguar on a blue background and used green coloured paper to create the trees in the jungle.

Frogs

• There are lots of books on Rainforest frogs.
  • "Flashy Rain Forest Frogs"
  • "Red-Eyed Tree Frog"
  • "Rainforest Ride"

   

• Read "Fantastic Frogs" and "Flashy Fantastic Rain Forest Frogs". Talk about how they are different and the same as ordinary frogs. Many of the rainforest frogs are very tiny and many are poisonous. Make paper plate frogs and paint them bright colours - orange, red, blue and yellow.



• Read the "Red-Eyed Tree Frog" and do a comprehension sheet - filling in the blanks with words from the story. This sheet is available in PDF format. Left click to view, right click top download.

• Read Rainforest Ride
  • Make a bromeliad
    • idea came from website - Rainforest Alliance
    • Colour a poison-arrow frog and glue it to a leaf on the bromeliad.
    • Use a pineapple to show how the bromeliad acts like a watertank.
      
      

Flying Foxes - Fruit Bats

• Discuss how flying foxes differ from other bats which eat insects. They eat nectar, fruit and pollen. They use their eyesight rather than echolocation to help them find food.
• Make flying foxes and glue popsicle sticks to body so the students can make them flap their wings. This sheet is available in PDF format. Left click to view, right click top download.
  • There is a pattern in #2385 Rain Forest Primary By Teacher Hosted Materials, Inc. Ranger Rick also has some good pictures of flying foxes.
  • You can also use the bat pattern in dltk-kids.com

Monkeys

• Read book "Monkeys"
• Talk about the differences between apes and monkeys.
• Make charts and compare the groups.
• Show pictures of the different kinds.
• The book "Nature's Green Umbrella" by Gail Gibbons has some good info and pictures about monkeys of the Rainforest. Most monkeys spend their time in understory and canopy. Monkeys have tails, Apes do not have tails.

• Make monkeys and hang them around the room. Could do a concept attainment lesson.
• Kratt's Creatures has an excellent show "Monkeys of the Rainforest"
• For story and comprehension questions go to abcteach.com

Gorillas

• Sing "Little Black Gorilla" (To the tune of "I'm a Little Teapot") and make the craft project from teacher resource (In the Rainforest - Evan Moore).
  

  Little Black Gorilla

  Little Black Gorilla went up
  the banana tree.

  When he reached the top,
  he was stung by a bee.

  Down came Gorilla with a stinger
  in his knee.

  And Little Black Gorilla cried,
  "Mama, please help me!"
  

• Little Gorilla Language Activities
  • Read: Little Gorilla by Ruth Bornstein: Clarion, 1976. Brainstorm words that describe Little Gorilla. Record these on a chart for students.
  • Phonics: Listening for Initial Sounds
    Make a set of bananas from yellow construction paper. Put pictures of objects that begin with the initial sound of "g" on the bananas. Include a few bananas with pictures of items that begin with other sounds.
  • Make a banana tree on a bulletin board. Pin the bananas to the tree. Using the pattern for Little Gorilla, make a finger puppet by attaching a paper ring to the backside. Select a child to wear the puppet as he/she picks a "g" banana from the tree for Little Gorilla to eat. Continue until all the "g" word bananas have been picked.
  • Chant and Pull:
    Make Little Gorilla climbing up as banana tree. Ask children to colour Little Gorilla and the tree. Cut Little Gorilla out. Tape him to a piece of green yarn 24 inches (61 cm) long. Punch a hole at the top and bottom of the tree. String the yarn through the holes and tie in back. (The holes will last longer if you place tape over the spot before you punch the hole.)
  • Have children sing "Little Black Gorilla" to the tune of "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" as they help Little Gorilla climb the tree.
    
    
• Art
  
  • Use charcoal and conte and do some directed art lessons on drawing monkeys. A useful site for ideas is: www.chunkymonkey.com . We mainly did heads of monkeys and put on green leaves.
    

Sloth

• "Welcome to the Green House" by Jane Yolen has pictures of sloth.
• Talk about the sloth and write down three facts about the sloth.
  • The sloth hangs upside down
  • The sloth moves very slowly
  • Their fur is covered with algae
• Make a sloth - trace your foot,

  • Use four rectangles for legs.
  • Add a round head and claws.
  • Make the sloth hang upside down on a toilet paper roll.

  
• For story and comprehension questions go to abcteach.com

Animals | Insects | Birds | Reptiles

Insects in the Rain Forest

Objective

The student will:

• listen to a picture book to gain information
• view artwork to gain ideas for representation.
• create a variety of insects

Exploring Activities

Butterflies

• Read "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" by Eric Carle.
• Do an activity page on the life cycle of butterflies
• Make butterflies (good symmetry lesson) using a butterfly pattern and used torn pieces of coloured paper to create patterns on wings.

• Samples of other projects.

Insects

• Read "Who's Hiding" Discuss other types of insects in the Rainforest

• Looked at some art work done by Henri Rousseau and created insects that could live in the Rainforest.
  • Paint a background of leaves using different shades of green.
  • Using a black marker outline the leaves.
  • Before you draw the insects talk about characteristics of insects.
  • 3 body parts
  • six legs
  • some have wings
  • Create your own insects, outline with a black marker and colour them. Glue them on background.

   

  
  
  

Animals | Insects | Birds | Reptiles

Birds of the Rainforest

Objectives

The student will:

• identify birds in the rainforest
• make models of some of the birds
• gather information from non-fiction books
• look at books and find pictures of some birds in the rainforest.

Exploring Activities

• Identify characteristics of various birds found in the rainforest and what layer they are found in.

Suggested birds presented in Rainforest books are:

Macaw

• Read the book "Sarah Saw a Blue Macaw"
• Make macaws out of coloured construction paper using students foot and hand. Hang in the trees in your Rainforest.
• Do some work on rhyming words.

Toucan

• There is an art project in "Crafts for Kids Who Are Wild About Rainforests" by Kathy Ross, Millbrook Press, 1997

Owls

• Share the story Have You Seen Birds? By J. Oppenheim After reading the story provide plastercine and styrofoam trays. Have students draw an owl on the tray and then fill in with plastercine using the art form of Barbara Reed.
  
  

Harpy Eagle

• Puppet pattern in "Crafts for Kids Who Are Wild About Rainforests" by Kathy Ross, Millbrook Press, 1997

Quetzel

• Completed an art project from dltk-kids.com

Vultures

• you can make a mini-book at this website.
• A vulture coloring page can be found here.

Animals | Insects | Birds | Reptiles

Reptiles of the Rainforest

Objective

The student will:

• listen for information
• construct snakes, chameleons, sloths and butterflies.
• write informative journal entries.

Resources

• 'Verdi" by Jarell Carnan
• paper plates
• pantyhose
• newspaper
• eyes felt
• water colour crayons
• patterns

Exploring Activities

Snakes

• Kinds of Snakes:
  • Anaconda
  • Emerald Tree Boa
  • Boa Constrictor
  • Pythons
    
    
• Read snake book - Verdi by Janell Cannon.
• Make spiral snakes from paper plates and hang them from the trees.
• Use old pantihose, stuff them with newspaper and paint them. Add some eyes and a felt forked tongue.
• Boa Constrictor (on-line story and questions at abcteach.com)

Chameleons

• Read story "Chameleons are Cool" by Martin Jenkins
• Make chameleons using water colour crayons . The pattern is available in PDF format. Left click to view, right click to download.

Iguanas

• Discuss iguanas
• Write down three facts about the iguana in your journal.

Alligators

• Find the differences between an alligator and a crocodile.
• Some alligator activities and crafts are available here.

Animals | Insects | Birds | Reptiles

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02/21/2006