Leadership

Leadership graphic

TEACHING IDEAS

My third graders researched different rainforest animals and made a puppet to match, turning the science room into a puppet stage. The puppets introduced themselves, telling about their special characteristics, and then created a spontaneous skit - interaction with 2 or 3 other puppets as would have occurred in their rainforest habitat. The interacting animals were chosen randomly. This proved an effective assessment of their learning as well as educational sharing.

Ann McInnis, Clarkston, MI

Remember those “hole patterns” on the leaves? I tell my students about how leaves start out in a tight curled shape. We then cut a piece of green paper in the shape of a leaf and then roll the leaf (like a funnel). Next, I explain how ONE insect comes walking along, gets hungry, and starts to eat. It eats from the outside, through the leaf, and comes out the other side. We then take pencils and drill a hole through our leaf and open the leaf to see the hole pattern. I show the students a photograph of a leaf found along one of the paths that has the same type of pattern. Now whenever they see a leaf with holes in a pattern they know how the holes were produced.

Also, this year I built a rainforest on the bulletin board in my room, had the students make Yagua crafts and trade with “tourists”. It was a super success. We made life size poison arrow frogs out of air dry clay, katydids with clay and real leaves, a tarantula with hair clippings to make it look real, cup fungus, a tapir, a sloth, a morpho butterfly, and an iguana. I purchased a real tarantula (the secretary named it Don Juan!), cockroaches, and millipedes. It’s just a beginning because we are adding to it to create a school museum and arthropod menagerie. Oh, we have some highland poro seeds growing too, and we made paper orchids out of bright colored paper to go with the white (bat pollinated) flowers. Now we’re working on painting the hall walls with scenes of the Amazon. I use my slides and the students trace them on the walls. Then they paint in the colors. It’s been a big success.

Joan Horn, Scotch Plains, NJ

Every picture tells a story — I have on my desk at school a stack of about 12 photos depicting different aspects of the Peru trip last summer. Everyday a few students will stop at my desk and look through the pictures, viewing some longer than others. They will then ask me a few questions about a selected picture. The questions are always different, the answers sometimes the same. I feel the students get more out of these interactions than if they were engaged in a rainforest unit for six weeks.

Tim Roach, Chiefland, FL

After studying Christopher Columbus back in October, we set out on our own adventures in Costa Rica. The 70 K-1 explorers prepared for their journey by making binoculars, safari hats, trail mix, and maps of the world in teams. They viewed my video of Costa Rica, slides & photos, the Children’s Rainforest video, a WWF video, and the Philadelphia Zoo on Wheels came with rainforest animals. We read great books, big books, poetry and song as yet another way for the children to build understanding. A special delivery from Costa Rica (not from the school office) included a toucan and a spider monkey puppet, foods from the rainforest, more photos and a message “to help the rainforests of the world”. The puppets, Mr. Toucan and Cheechoo, became the primary speakers and the children eagerly sought their company. We held a Q & A session at which I appeared in my rainforest gear and narrated my video. The kids selected an animal, researched it, wrote a report, and drew the animal. The reports were compiled in a big class book.

Denise Touhey, New Brunswick, NJ

I am a junior high teacher at Clark County R-1, Kahoka, Missouri. I teach a class titled “Contemporary Problems.” When the students decided to study the rainforest as one of the current issues facing us today, I enlisted the help of Karen Tuttle (workshop alumnus). She had attended an Educator’s Rainforest Workshop and had spoken to my geography students. As a result of her help and suggestions our class has made this a year long project.

The most exciting thing that the students have done is to show the connection between the rainforest and their own home by producing a video called “The Clark County - Rainforest Connection”. They researched the area, planned what to visit and what to show on the video, wrote a script, contacted local businesses, and shot the video themselves. Some of the places included in the video were Mrs. Tuttle’s home, a lumber store, a pharmacy, flower shops, grocery stores, antique shops, a general merchandise store, a seed company, and their own homes. One student researched aluminum so that he could give a detailed report on it for the video. Another student was interested in how burlap could be tied to the rainforest and found out how it was made into seed bags in the past. The students are also working on related displays that can be shown at the Spring science fair at the elementary school. I could never have accomplished this without Karen’s help and very interested and enthusiastic students.

Jackie Stammeyer, Kahoka, MI

In high school environmental science we encounter the rainforest a number of times in the semester: 1) as a biome; 2) when studying biodiversity; and 3) as a current event. I show the slides that I took in the Amazon. In evaluations, students consistently name this as a highlight of the course.

Dan R. Kunkle, Lehighton, PA

Create a rainforest habitat in your classroom using the following suggestions:

1) drape crepe paper lianas;

2) create crepe paper waterfalls;

3) borrow a kit from the zoo - confiscated endangered species products;

4) take an imaginary trip around the world to rainforest areas;

5) make skirts - using cattails (or other plant materials);

6) create an Oropendula bird nest - using balloons wrapped with heavy twine adhered with glue and stuff with moss;

7) create leaves with drip tips (put glitter on tip to look like water);

8) construct cardboard canoes;

9) make a rainforest in a terrarium - using one-liter bottles, cut and sealed;

10) create masks;

11) create a Canopy Walkway down your hallway - decorate walls with wildlife of the rainforest while student guides explain things to visitors; or

12) use rainforest audio tapes.

More ideas -

1) research rainforest products - have students bring from home some products or make something using rainforest products;

2) make a rain stick - use a paper tube (from hand towels) - insert toothpicks through tube (maybe 20 per tube) - tape the bottom (book binding tape) - add oatmeal, rice, and/or corn, or dry beans, or sand - trim the sticks so that they are flush with the tube - dab on glue - wrap with tape - seal the top - decorate with legends - use as a percussion instrument;

3) morning announcements by students - on tropical Tuesday -"This is brought to you by the 3-toed sloth" - a student gives information on the sloth as they give school announcements;

4) make web teams - each student chooses an animal or plant from the rainforest - takes a piece of yarn and tells about self - next student takes yarn, names a plant or animal and describes his/her relationship to first. This exercise shows how all species in the rainforest need each other;

5) do a government study - write a bill about the rainforest - run it through the legislative process until it becomes law.

Elementary School Idea Exchange summarized by

Ann McInnis, Clarkston, MI