week of June 27 | snapshot

We started our 2 week Rainforest unit Monday.

To begin the unit, we made a KWL chart listing what we already Know and what we Want to learn.

We also learned "Layers of the Rainforest" song after looking at the different layers to help us remember them throughout our study.

Then we watched The Great Kapok Tree read-aloud. 

We discussed:

How important was the Kapok tree? 

To whom was it important? 

How do you think the animals in the story felt,

 when they saw a human who was bigger and stronger than them came to chop down their tree? 

How do you think the animals feel now that the Kapok Tree has been cut down? 

What will happen to the animals?

The students then made their own kapok trees using their arms, hands, and fingers.

Next, we talked about where the frogs of the rainforest live (understory layer.) I explained that many of the frogs of the rainforest are as small as a quarter, and there are many dangerous poisonous frogs. Rainforest natives rub the tips of their arrows on the skin of the poison arrow frog and others to make their weapon deadly. We turned our attention to the red-eyed tree frog. 

· Many scientists believe the red-eyed tree frog developed its vivid scarlet peepers to shock predators into at least briefly questioning their meal choice.

· These iconic rain-forest amphibians sleep by day stuck to leaf-bottoms with their eyes closed and body markings covered. When disturbed, they flash their bulging red eyes and reveal their huge, webbed orange feet and bright blue-and-yellow flanks. This technique, called startle coloration, may give a bird or snake pause, offering a precious instant for the frog to spring to safety.

· They hide in the rain forest canopy and ambush crickets, flies, and moths with their long, sticky tongues.

· Red-eyed tree frogs are not endangered. But their habitat is shrinking at an alarming rate, and their highly recognizable image is often used to promote the cause of saving the world's rain forests.

We watched Red-Eyed Tree Frogs | Amazing Animals

Then we learned how to draw a frog step by step 

and then colored him in to look like a red-eyed tree frog.

After drawing our frogs we thought of some other animals that hop like a frog. 

The next day we learned about the spider monkey.

 I asked the students what layer they thought the spider monkey might live in and why.

They spend most of their time in the understory and canopy because of all the vines.

· Spider monkeys (of several species) live in the tropical rain forests of Central and South America. 

· They have long, lanky arms and prehensile (gripping) tails that enable them to move gracefully from branch to branch and tree to tree. 

· Spider monkeys find food in the treetops and feast on nuts, fruits, leaves, bird eggs, and spiders. 

· They can be noisy animals and often communicate with many calls, screeches, barks, and other sounds.

I then asked the students to think of other ways that animals move in the rainforest or other habitats

and recorded their answers on a chart.

Beforehand, I made equal strips of paper labeled swim, slither, walk, and jump/hop. I told the students they will take one strip of paper out of the bucket. Whatever the strip says, they will draw one animal that moves that way for the chart. After everyone had finished with their animals, each student came up and taped their animal under the correct movement and shared with the class what animal they drew, modeled the movement.

We ended the week with a Picnic on the Lawn for the 4th of July!

We ate watermelon, and watermelon popsicles, and patriotic M&M's!

Then we watched Fern Gully 2 to go along with our Rainforest theme since it was so hot outside.

HAVE A SAFE AND HAPPY 4TH!!!