Rainforest ideas...

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Archive : 2003 : February : 5

Rainforest ideas...
By Nancy

I don't teach science, but a fellow graduate student shared a unit she had done on the rainforest in one of our curriculum classes.

She had her 6th graders create a rainforest within the classroom. They painted a mural
on a wall, hung leaves from the ceiling, created rainforest animals and hung them in the canopy, etc. They also did research projects on plants, animals, etc. on the rainforest. When they had built the rainforest, the teacher would select a portion of the rainforest one evening that would "get destroyed." She simply tore that section of the rainforest down off of the wall. When the

students came in the next morning, they were devastated! But she had started her next lesson...the destruction of such a precious resource. Little by little, she destroyed her classes' rainforest, and her students began developing an awareness of it's importance. They then came up with ways in which they could become environmental 'crusaders.' They began recycling campaigns, and developed other ways in which they, as a class, could help save the environment.

I realize you were looking for precise ideas, but as a whole, I thought hers was brilliant!