Part of the Florida Geographic Alliance's collection of lesson plans.

RAIN FORESTS OF THE WORLD

BRENDA WARD

Table of Contents:

INTRODUCTION

Grade Level: 5-7

Time: 1 period

Theme

Regions

Purpose

This is the introduction lesson for a unit on rain forests of the world. The students will be doing research and activities and all will be put together in book form. Each student will be responsible for making a book and decorating the front cover. In this first lesson, students will learn where the rain forests of the world are located, the four layers of the rain forest, and content information on rain forests.

Objectives

Locate areas of rain forests of the world.
Label continents that contain rain forests.
Identify the layers of a rain forest.
Be able to define the term rain forest.

Materials

rain forest location world map
colored pencils
identification sheet: rain forest layers
content information sheet: What is a Rain Forest?
atlases

Procedures

Introduce topic, give a brief overview of book project.
Pass out materials.
Have students color green all shaded areas on world map.
Using atlas, students label continents where rain forests are located.
Students identify, label, and color the four layers of rain forest on layer sheet using content material on rain forest layer identification sheet.
Read and discuss rain forest information sheet.

Evaluation

Grade on both shaded map and layers sheet. Bonus points for class participation.

Discussion Questions

What makes a rain forest different than any other forest?
Name several kinds of rain forests?
What location are most rain forests found?
What are the three main areas of rain forest?
Why do you think the rain forest areas are shrinking?

Resources

Aten, J. "Understanding Our World Through Geography". Carthage, IL: Good Apple, 1991.
National Wildlife Federation. "Help Save Their Layers of Rain Forests". 1992.

Rain Forest Layers

Towering above all the other plants in the forests are giant trees called emergents, which grow to heights of 115 to 250 feet. There are usually only one or two of these emergents per acre, and they have small leaves, umbrella-shaped crowns, and tall slender trunks.
The next layer, the canopy, is like a thick green carpet. This is formed by flat-crowned trees, 65 to 100 feet above the ground. Canopy trees turn the bright sunlight into energy for growth, flowering and bearing fruit.
Below the canopy are small trees that usually do not grow to heights of more than 15 feet or so, and a shorter layer of very young canopy trees and shrubs. Together, these plants make up the understory layer. Many of these trees have elongated crowns shaped like candle flames.
On the forest floor, the herb layer, the conditions are very different from those at the top. The canopy is subjected to strong sun and wind, causing daily fluctuations in humidity and temperature. But on the sheltered floor, the air is very still, humidity is almost alway above 70% and the temperature remains relatively constant. Although seedlings, herbs and ferns grown on the forest floor, the vegetation is sparse--mainly because of lack of light.

Rain Forests: What Is A Rain Forest?

The word "rain forest" was first coined in 1898 by a German botanist to describe forests that grow in constantly wet conditions. These forests can occur wherever the annual rainfall is more than 80 inches.
There are many kinds of rain forest. Among them are flooded mangrove forests along the salty coastlines of Southeast Asian Islands, high altitude cloud forests of South America, temperate rain forests of the U.S. Pacific Northwest, and tropical forests that form large pockets of green along the Earth's equator.
Tropical rain forests once covered 20% of the Earth's land surface. Today, they cover less than 7%. Although rain forests grow in more than 50 countries, about half of the total area is contained in just three: Brazil with 33% and Zaire and Indonesia with 10% each.

TROPICAL TREK

Grade Level: 5-7

Time: 2 periods

Theme

Location, Regions

Purpose

This is a rain forest poster activity for students to display in the room and also include part of the activity in their rain forest books. The class will work in three cooperative learning groups to do the poster project but will also include the animals in the project in their individual books. Research materials will be used so animals can be colored correctly.

Objectives

Correctly match plants and animals to rain forests around the world.
Identify and color correctly the plants and animals.
Display neatly on a poster.
Be able to report to class about several of the plants and animals.

Materials

rain forest world location map
animal and plant pictures from National Wildlife Federation
colored poster board
construction paper
yarn
colored pencils
scissors
glue
atlases
research materials
markers

Procedures

Introduce lesson.
Divide class into cooperative learning groups.
Pass out materials.
Have students repeat the coloring of rain forests of the world on large world map and label continents.
Glue map in center of poster board.
Each student takes one or two plants or animals to color - use research materials to identify correct color of these.
After coloring is completed on all plants and animals, cut out box around plant or animal - cut a piece of construction paper a little larger than box.
Glue completed picture on constuction paper and then glue this on poster board around map.
Using atlas, correctly identify location of all plants and animals.
Glue yarn from plants and animals to correct location where these are found.
Each group must display poster and choose one plant and one animal and present to class.
Group decides on title for poster and prints this neatly on poster.
Plant and animal activity will be repeated by each student to be placed in individual rain forest books.
This activity will be continued to next day.

Evaluation

Poster will be graded on neatness and accuracy.
Each group member will receive a grade after completing "Cooperative Learning Group Rating Sheet".

Resources

National Wildlife Federation. "Help Save Their Layers of Rain Forest". 1992.

KIDS TEACHING KIDS RAIN FOREST FACTS

Grade Level: 5-7

Time: 1 to 2 days

Theme

Regions, Human-Environment Interactions

Purpose

This is the third lesson in a unit on rain forests of the world. This is a cooperative group learning exercise. Students will work in six groups of four members per group. Each member will be given a card with three facts about rain forests in the categories of general information, geography, and causes of deforestation. Each student will study their card and discuss with other members in the group. Using the facts, each group will prepare a presentation to teach the rest of the class. Methods such as charts, graphs, diagrams, poems, songs, stories, raps games, or any other creative innovation may be used. After presentations students will write several paragraphs on what they have learned. This will go in their rainforest book.

Objectives

Students will become better informed with facts about rain forests.
Group members will learn by teaching and being taught by peers.

Materials

fact cards
poster paper
markers, crayons, colored pencils, art supplies magazines, books, maps, pictures of rain forest

Procedures

Introduce lesson.
Pass out fact cards.
Students will form groups of four by matching category on card.
Give specific instructions and suggestions for lesson.
Each member will teach others in group what they think is important to learn.
Group will brainstorm ideas on how to teach these facts to the class.
Materials will be available for presentations.
Give enough time for all groups to prepare for presentations.
Each group will have up to ten minutes for presentation.
Each student will write several paragraphs on what they have learned.
Glue information card on this paper and place in rain forest book.

Evaluation

Groups will be graded on presentation and participation.

Resources

McKisson, M. and MacRae-Campbell, L. "The Future of Our Tropical Rainforests". Tucson: Zephyr Press, 1990.

Nothing but the Facts: Tropical Rainforests

Fact Cards

General Information:

Approximately 8% of the earth's land surface is tropical rainforest. The rainforests form a green band around the equator.
Rainforests are the richest regions on earth in terms of their diversity of life. The tropical rainforests house 40 to 50% of the world's plant and animal species.
One-half of all growing wood on earth is located in the tropical rainforests.

General Information:

Up to two hundred different types of trees can be found growing in 2.5 acres of tropical rainforest.
The intricate plant systems found in tropical rainforests support a great diversity of insect and animal life.
Tropical rainforests remain a mystery to us - scientists have identified less than 20% of all the species which live there.

General Information:

When a tropical forest is repeatedly cleared, the land loses its productivity and supports only the growth of coarse grasses and troublesome weeds.
The tropical forests are being destroyed by cattle ranching, logging, road building, industry and relocating peasants who move to the forests.
When a tropical forest is cleared, it takes 400 years to regrow if the soil is not permanently damaged.

General Information:

Tropical forests help us control pests that destroy nearly 40% of our domestic crops. We use the chemicals from plants that have developed ways to repel insects.
Tropical forests also give us beneficial insects that control pests which destroy domestic crops. Florida saves about $30 million a year after spending $35,000 for importing parasitic wasps.
Tropical rainforests are home to many tribal people who have learned how to live in harmony with the forests.

General Information:

Leaves of trees and other plants are the most important "chemical factories" in the world. They provide oxygen and food for humans and animals.
The process of photosynthesis consists of sunlight giving leaves energy to form simple sugars by combining carbon dioxide from the air with water from the roots.
Humans and animals exhale carbon dioxide which trees and plants depend on for survival. An interdependent process exists between plants, trees and humans and animals. The rainforests contribute to the basic processes that make life possible on earth.

General Information:

Rainforests serve many important functions. They capture, store, and recycle rain which prevents floods, droughts and erosion of the soil.
Forests act as major gene pools on earth, accounting for the emergence of many new species. They also recycle nutrients.
The rainforests also play important roles in regulating local and global weather. The destruction of rainforests may cause alterations in world climates.

General Information:

Tropical rainforests benefit humankind in many ways. They provide more drug-yielding plants for medicine than any other ecosystem.
Tropical rainforests enhance agriculture. Some rainforest fruits and vegetables when crossed with modern strains produce a higher quality product.
Tropical rainforests yield many well known foods such as yams, bananas, rice, millet and others.

General Information:

Once a forest is cleared, minerals wash deep into the soil or beyond the reach of plants and shrubs, breaking the rainforest's nutrient cycle.
Once trees are removed, the exposed ground bakes in the hot tropical sun and becomes as hard as concrete. Deforestation, thus, increases drought problems.
When a forest has been cleared, and the tropical rains hit, there is massive water runoff and erosion. Increased flooding is caused by deforestation.

Geography:

Tropical rainforests grow near the equator in approximately a 3000 mile wide band around the earth.
The largest tropical rainforests are located in the Amazon River Basin of South America, the Congo River Basin of Africa and throughout much of southeast Asia.
Smaller rainforests are located in Madagascar, Australia, Central America, Costa Rica, India and elsewhere.

Geography:

Tropical forests have great ecological richness. For example, southeast Asia has 297 species of land animals and 732 kinds of birds while Europe, an area four times as large, only has 134 species of land animals and 298 bird species.
The Malay Peninsula alone has 7900 plant species, while Great Britain, an area nearly twice as large, has only 1430 species.
The rainforests of Latin America provide winter habitat for migratory birds from the U.S. However, as the tropical habitats are being destroyed, the migrant species are also dying out.

Geography:

At the present rate of deforestation, virtually all of the forests of West Africa, southeast Asia and Central America will be destroyed by the year 2000.
Each year an area of tropical rainforest the size of Indiana is destroyed.
Large areas of tropical forests in Columbia, Peru and Brazil could be eliminated by the year 2000.

Geography:

Deforestation has been more rapid in some areas than others. Costa Rica lost 1/3 of its forest in ten years.
Similar losses of large portions of tropical forests have occurred in Thailand, the Ivory Coast and the Phillipines.
Clearing land for crops and livestock destroys over 12,000 miles of Brazilian rainforest each year. This is an area larger than the country of Belgium.

Geography:

The Penans of Borneo depend completely on the forest for their livelihood. Their survival is threatened by the Malaysian logging industry.
Logging activities are causing massive erosion, flooding, pollution of watersheds, and extinction of plant and animal species.
The Penan are now facing starvation and disease since fishing waters are polluted, and food and medicine sources are scarce.

Geography:

Native Indians in the Brazilian rainforests are losing their way of life because of deforestation.
Some of the Brazilian Indians are nicknamed rubber trappers because of their ability to harvest rubber from tropical trees without damaging them.
The rubber trappers and the newly arrived ranchers who clear the rainforest have had some violent confrontations. The Indians want to preserve their way of life. One Indian leader, Chico Mendez, was shot as he tried to save the rainforest and his way of life.

Geography:

Many tropical countries export their timber and in doing so, seriously deplete their rainforests.
Malaysia exports 53% of all tropical lumber. Indonesia exports another 31%.
Wood from southeast Asia often is sold to Japan. Wood from Africa goes to Europe, and Latin America exports to North America and Europe.

Geography:

The largest buyers or importers of tropical woods are Japan, the United States and the European community.
The U.S. imports plywood and paneling from southeast Asia and also buys Brazilian mahogany. The U.S. buys 70% of all tropical hardwood, plywood and veneer.
Japan buys 80% of the timber exported from Sarawak in Malaysia. Japan's demand for timber has also led to deforested areas in Thailand, Indonesia, Papau New Guinea and the Philippines.

Causes of Deforestation:

Tropical farmers used to clear a small plot, grow crops for a short period, then move onto a new site. Larger populations and an increase in clearing forests no longer make "shifting cultivation" a viable form of agriculture.
"Shifting cultivation" is responsible for 70% of the deforestation in Africa, 50% in Asia, and 35% in Central and South America.
More than 11,000 square miles of forest in the Amazon area of Brazil was converted into agricultural land, incapable of sustaining intensive agriculture. Today this land is a vast wasteland of coarse grass and shrubs.

Causes of Deforestation:

Commercial timber industry is a major cause of deforestation in Asia, Africa and the Amazon. Commercial timber cutting can clear several acres in two hours.
Only 12 square miles of forest are replanted each year in the Ivory Coast of Africa, yet, over two thousand square miles of forest are logged yearly.
According to the World Bank, at least 12.5 million acres of rainforest are destroyed by commercial loggers each year. Developing countries, facing large debts, export timber as a way to earn foreign exchange.

Causes of Deforestation:

Rainforests are being cleared for cattle ranching to provide beef for the export market. One thousand pounds of forest life per acre is destroyed for every hamburger produced in Central America.
Between 1961 and 1978, 40% of the tropical forests in Central America were destroyed while grazing land more than doubled.
In Central America, the land can sustain cattle ranching for only 5 to 7 years before it is unable to support life and becomes consumed by weeds.

Causes of Deforestation:

Large agricultural projects which export bananas and coffee add to the problem of deforestation when they are not managed properly.
Government sponsored agricultural resettlement programs, like the Transmigration Project in Indonesia and Brazil, cause massive deforestation. In response to a population crisis in major cities, Brazil and Indonesia are moving thousands of families into the forest.
Thousands of miles of forest are being destroyed by people migrating into them. The forests are replaced by agriculture that gives low yields and is only productive for a short period of time.

Causes of Deforestation:

As rural populations grow, the need for fuelwood increases and deforestation often results. Village people in parts of Africa and Asia have depleted their fuelwood supply.
Fuelwood is scarce in at least 27 countries (18 of which are African) and it is seriously depleted in 42 countries (20 being African).
Deforestation is also caused by the demands of wealthy countries for timber and other agricultural products.

Causes of Deforestation:

Lack of protective regulations for public land in many developing countries add to deforestation. In India, firewood is illegally cut from forest reserves to be sold in the cities.
Multilateral Development Banks (MDB's) loan about $22 billion each year to "third world" development. Two MDB's, The World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank promote large scale agricultural and cattle ranching projects so that developing countries can export goods to pay their foreign debts.
Selling off forest products results in a short term solution because only a little of the money is used to replace the trees.

Causes of Deforestation:

The destruction of the rainforests has a variety of negative effects on other lifeforms. As the forests die, so do many of their plants and animals.
Giant otters, jaguars, and the woolly spider monkey are becoming increasingly rare due to the destruction of their habitat.
Scientists fear that the rampant destruction of the forests will result in agricultural devastation within the first decade of the 21st century, similar to what happened in Ethiopia and Haiti during this century.

Causes of Deforestation:

Other negative consequences of deforestation are climate and land alteration. When tropical forests are clearcut, the carbon atoms from the vegetation are released into the atmosphere. This results in increased amounts of carbon dioxide which contributes to the "greenhouse effect" and may cause the earth's temperature to rise.
The widespread destruction of tropical forests could change the climate throughout the world, according to many scientists. Rainfall near the equator and in the northern temperate regions, including the breadbaskets of the United States and Canada, could dramatically decrease.
The majority of soil in the tropics is unsuitable for agriculture. The forests protect the topsoil by building reserves of minerals above ground in the vegetation. Deforestation robs the soil of its protective covering and is washed away by rains and stong winds. This results in "human-made" deserts.

PYGMIES OF THE ITURI

Grade Level: 5-7

Time: 1 period

Theme

Regions, Human-Environmental Interactions

Purpose

This is the fourth lesson in a unit on rain forests of the world. The students will read a story of life among the Ituri people who live in a rain forest in Zaire, Africa. This location will be located on a wall map and a globe. The class will discuss the story and compare this to their style of life. They will then draw a picture showing one aspect of the Ituri way of life and the way they do the same activity and write several sentences explaining this. Volunteers may show their drawing to class and explain the activity. These will then be placed in each student's rain forest book.

Objectives

Read and discuss the lifestyle of an indigenous tropical rain forest culture.
Compare the lifestyle of this Ituri group with the lifestyle of American families.
Each student will complete a drawing comparing an activity of the Ituri family with their family.

Materials

story of the Ituri for each student
world map and globe
drawing paper
colored pencils, crayons, markers
individual map showing location

Procedures

Introduce lesson.
Pass out stories and maps.
Find the location of the Ituri people on a world map.
Have several students trace with their finger on the globe from their city to this location in Zaire.
Each student will read the story silently.
Ask for volunteers to read sections of the story orally.
Discuss the story. Ask the following questions:
1. How did the Ituri people find food? How does your family get food?
2. What type of food did they find? What type of food do you eat?
3. What did they use for shelter? What do you use for shelter?
4. Do men and boys do different activities than women and girls? Do we do different activities than this where we live?
5. What type of activities does each person do?
6. Where does everything they use come from? Where everything we use come from?
7. What happens when there is no longer any food in the area?
8. What do we do when we run out of food?
9. What impact does this way of life have on the rain forest?
Pass out paper and art materials.
Each student will draw a picture comparing one aspect of their way of life to the Ituri. Write several sentences explaining this.
Ask for volunteers to show and explain their picture to the class.
Students place the story, map, and drawing in their rain forest book.

Evaluation

Class participation grade.

Resources

National Wildlife Federation. "Help Save Their Layers of Rain Forest". 1992.

RAIN FOREST DODECAHEDRON

Grade Level: 5-8

Time: 2 to 3 days

Theme

Regions

Purpose

This is the culminating activity for the unit on rain forests of the world. This activity will be a group project where students make a decorated dodecahedron using pictures, maps, and information learned from the lessons on rain forests. Students will work in groups of four.

Objectives

Students will construct a dodecahedron on rain forests of the world following written instructions.
After completion of project, students will display their project in class and explain each side.

Materials

pattern for sides of dodecahedron
tourist brochures and other sources for pictures
stapler, tape, glue, scissors
research material
sheet of instructions

Procedure

Explain project.
Show completed example.
Divide students into cooperative learning groups of four.
Give students a list of instructions.
Pass out materials.
Give students several days to complete project.
Students display projects and explain to class.

Evaluation

Students will be given a group on project and an individual grade on participation.

Procedures for Rain Forest Dodecahedron

Follow each of these instructions carefully. Read through instructions before beginning. Gather information before glueing and stapling together. Remember this is a twelve sided figure so you must cut out twelve of the pattern provided and fold each on the lines. Side 1 will be at the top and side 12 on the bottom. Number each side. Select a group leader. Leader assigns group members sides to do. Staple together as a group when all sides are completed.

The names of everyone in your group, class period, and name of the project. (Rain Forests of the World)
Pictures of rain forests.
Copy of rain forest map with areas colored green.
List three facts about rain forests.
List three products we get from rain forests.
Copy of map showing location of Ituri people.
Write a paragraph on the Ituri way of life.
Picture of rain forest plant and description.
Picture of rain forest animal and description.
List three causes of deforestation.
Give three suggestions to help stop the destruction of rain forests.
Collage of rain forest pictures.