1. The Rainforest

2. Why Should I Care? The rainforest is home to many different species. At least 80% of our food originated in the rainforest, such as bananas, coconuts, and many types of nuts. We can learn a lot from the rainforest, and from our findings can find many different solutions for our problems. There is so much to discover that we have not even found everything there is to find yet! Maybe one day we will even find a cure to cancer in a plant found in the rainforest! But, if we do not learn about the rainforest and find out how to stop the destruction and how to preserve it, then we will never know.

3. Task  First:  You will divide into four groups. ONE person from your group will come to me and pick one of the four strata of the rainforest.  Next:  In your groups, you will go through the sites provided to research the different aspects of the rainforest. (You need to CLICK ON THE PICTURE to get to the websites!)

4. Task cont.  To complete the task:  Each group will be given materials to complete a shoebox model of their strata. Your model should include the animals that live there, plants that are found there, and the resources available there.  As a group, you also need to complete a one page paper about why the rainforest is important, why it is disappearing and what you can do to prevent more destruction/how to preserve it.

5. Strata

6. Animals

7. Plants

8. Why the Rainforest is Important

9. Why the Rainforest is disappearing

10. Resources Available

11. What you can do to help

12. Evaluation  Rubric for Shoebox Model:  Click Here Click Here  Rubric for Paper  Click Here Click Here

13. Conclusion  From this project, did you learn about the vast amount of resources and life found in the rainforest? Did anything interest you more than others?  You also should have had a lot of fun with your group making your model of the specific strata you had! I hope you enjoyed this project!

14. Teacher’s Page  This is a lesson for fourth grade. It is a project that will get the students to understand what the rainforest is, what lives there and where they are found, and the resources that are available to us from there. The students will also have a chance to explore why it is that the rainforest is diminishing, and what they can do to prevent it and help.  The students will first get into groups, then select a strata to represent. They will need to research the plants, animals and resources found in their strata of the rainforest, and create a shoebox model of it. They will also have to write a one page paper explaining why the rainforest is important, why it is disappearing and what they can do to prevent more destruction/how to preserve it.

15. Standards  S4.A.3.2.1: Identify what different models represent (e.g., maps show physical features, directions, distances; globes represent Earth; drawings of watersheds depict terrain; dioramas show ecosystems; concept maps show relationships of ideas).  S4.A.3.2.2: Use models to make observations to explain how systems work (e.g., water cycle, Sun-Earth-Moon system).  S4.A.3.2.3: Use appropriate, simple modeling tools and techniques to describe or illustrate a system (e.g., two cans and string to model a communications system, terrarium to model an ecosystem).  S4.A.3.3.2: Predict future conditions/events based on observable patterns (e.g., day/night, seasons, sunrise/sunset, lunar phases).  S4.B.3.2.1: Describe what happens to a living thing when its habitat is changed.

16. Standards cont.  S4.B.3.2.2: Describe and predict how changes in the environment (e.g., fire, pollution, flood, building dams) can affect systems.  S4.B.3.3.5: Describe the effects of pollution (e.g., litter) in the community.  S4.B.2.1.1: Identify characteristics for plant and animal survival in different environments (e.g., wetland, tundra, desert, prairie, deep ocean, forest).  S4.A.1.1.2: Identify and describe examples of common technological changes past to present in the community (e.g., energy production, transportation, communications, agriculture, packaging materials) that have either positive or negative impacts on society or the environment.  S4.A.1.3.5: Provide examples, predict, or describe how everyday human activities (e.g., solid waste production, food production and consumption, transportation, water consumption, energy production and use) may change the environment.

17. Standards cont.  S4.D.1.1.2: Identify various Earth structures (e.g., mountains, watersheds, peninsulas, lakes, rivers, valleys) through the use of models.  S4.D.1.2.2: Identify the types and uses of Earth materials for renewable, nonrenewable, and reusable products (e.g., human-made products: concrete, paper, plastics, fabrics).

18. Website Evaluations  Website 1  Jeananda Col, contact information on website  Website does list author credentials, is a.com  Does provide accurate information with little ads.  Created in 1993, Last updated in 2010  Can view all information needed, but also can sign up for a subscription

19. Website Evaluation  Website 2  Specific author not listed, but there is an email to contact on website to The Animal Spot  No credentials listed, is a.net  Accurate information with ads only as links at the top  Produced and Last updated in 2008  Can view all information without any difficulty

20. Website Evaluation  Website 3  MT & PK Productions, contact information on website  Website does not list author credentials, is a.edu  Does provide accurate information with no ads.  No copyright dates  Can view all information needed without any difficulty

21. Website Evaluation  Website 4  Rhett A. Butler, contact information on website  Website does list author credentials, is a.com  Does provide accurate information with no ads.  Produced in 2005, Last updated in 2007  Can view all information needed without any difficulty

22. Website Evaluation  Website 5  Raintree Nutrition, contact information on website  Website does list author credentials, is a.com  Does provide accurate information with no ads.  Produced in 1996, Last updated in 2010  Can view all information needed without any difficulty

23. Website Evaluation  Website 6  Rainforest, contact information on website  Website does list author credentials, is a.org  Does provide accurate information with no ads.  Produced in 1987, Last updated in 2011  Can view all information needed without any difficulty

24. Website Evaluation  Website 3  MT & PK Productions, contact information on website  Website does not list author credentials, is a.edu  Does provide accurate information with little ads.  No copyright dates  Can view all information needed without any difficulty