Saving the Rainforest

1
Saving the Rainforest

• A lesson for 6th Grade
• (Social Studies and Science)
• Designed by
• Christina Kingcmking2_at_oakland.edu
•  

2
Introduction

• We are all aware of the fact that every day the
  rainforest is being destroyed by lumber companies
  and big businesses at a scary rate. If this
  continues, there will eventually be no more
  rainforest left. All the plants and wildlife
  suffer when the land is destroyed, destroying
  them with it.
• But what can you do? How can you help when
  youre over here and the rainforest is way over
  there? Theres a lot you can do and its the
  little things you can do to make a difference.
  Were going to focus on these three for this
  project Letter Campaign, Poster Campaign and
  Video Campaign. Youll be doing the letter
  campaign individually, the poster and video
  campaign in groups of three. Are you ready to
  get started?

3
Task

• You have three major tasks
• A Letter Campaign contacting environment
  conservation groups to learn what more you can do
  to help.
• A Poster Campaign for school and
  community-wide awareness of rainforest
  conservation.
• A Video Campaign to generate school interest
  and awareness using the information youve
  acquired.

4
Process 1

• Letter Campaign
• Pick a website that has the organization youd
  like to contact.
• Write a letter or email asking what you can do
  locally.
• Turn in a copy to teacher before submitting.
• Adopt-A-Rainforest
• Sponsor Rainforest
• Amazon Rainforest Conservation

5
Process 2

• Poster Campaign
• 1.Youll need poster board, glue, markers and
  scissors.
• 2.As a group, design a poster to provide
  information about
• a) Destruction of rainforest
• b) How people can help
• c) Websites to visit for more information (one
  that I provided and one from your own search)
• 3.Poster must be creative, informative and
  visually appealing.
• You can use pictures from the internet to print
  and glue for your poster of animals and
  plantlife.
• Conservation in Images

6
Process 3

• Video Campaign
• Youll need a video camera, you can use your own
  or rent one from the school.
• The video campaign should be somewhat like a
  commercial, but informative.
• You must make it entertaining and let people know
  about the danger of the disappearing rainforest.
• It must be three to five minutes.

7
Evaluation

• Youll be evaluated as a group for the Video and
  Poster Campaign, but individually for the Letter
  Campaign. You can print the rubric to use as a
  guideline while completing this project.
• Rubric

8
Conclusion

• In this lesson, you have not only learned about
  what you can do to help save the rainforest, but
  you have actually done something to make a
  difference. You contacted conservation groups by
  writing them letters and/or emails, you came
  together and created a poster and video to
  educate others and generate school and community
  involvement.
• The WebQuest Site
• The IST 396 Site
• ISTE Home Page
• COATT Home Page

9
Credits

• I found images for this project at solboricua.com
  and boricuakids.com. I got this template from
  my IST 396 class website.
• Thanks to Mrs.Johnson and Graham Elementary who
  helped me with ideas who was teaching her 2nd
  graders about the rainforest at the same time as
  this project.

10
Introduction (Teacher)

• This lesson was developed for my IST396 class at
  Oakland University.
• This lesson is about saving the rainforest and
  what students can do to help. Theyll be able to
  write letters to conservation groups, create
  posters and video to generate interest and
  involvement in the school and community, while
  having fun and learning along the way.

11
Learners (Teacher)

• This lesson is designed for 6th graders social
  studies, but also involves science and art. This
  project could easily be used for younger grades
  and older ones as well.
• Learners must know how to be able to write
  letters and use the internet to search for
  information.

12
Standards (Teacher)

• Students will learn several things from this
  lesson.
• Social Studies Standards Addressed
• Recognize the relationships between environment
  and rainforest.
• Learn about the value of the rainforest and how
  vital it is to our environment.
• Kids will be learning and having fun at the same
  time. Theyll be practicing proper letter
  writing format, organizing and presenting
  information, teaching others and getting others
  involved in a cause. Researching information and
  applying it cause.
• Social Studies Standards

13
Process 1 (Teacher)

• Letter Campaign
• The letter campaign is an individual project and
  should be completed in just one class period or
  can even be taken home as homework. Students can
  write letters on the computer in Word, can be
  hand-written, or even emailed.
• Any teacher can conduct this project.

14
Process 2 (Teacher)

• Poster Campaign
• Students will be put into groups for this
  project, so itll probably take more than one
  class period to complete. It is a
  multidisciplinary project that requires them to
  collaborate their ideas, provide information, be
  visually appealing and generate outside interest
  in their cause.
• Any teacher could pull this off. Supplies needed
  for this project poster board, scissors, glue,
  markers, printed photos.
• Variations
• Instead of printing materials off the internet,
  students could draw their own which would save
  printer paper and ink, but take more time to
  complete.

15
Process 3 (Teacher)

• Video Campaign
• Students are also in groups for this project, and
  will also probably take more than one class
  period to complete. Students will have to make a
  commercial-type video to inform, entertain and
  generate interest in their cause.
• Any teacher can conduct this project. Supplies
  needed video camera, TV and VCR.

16
Resources (Teacher)

• Materials needed for this project
• Letter Campaign
• Stationary (or regular notebook paper)
• Writing utensils
• Envelopes
• Stamps
• Computer
• Microsoft Word, Word Pad, etc
• Poster Campaign
• Poster board
• Masking tape
• Markers
• Scissors
• Glue
• Video Campaign
• Video camera
• TV
• VCR

17
Evaluation (Teacher)

• I know this lesson will be successful because it
  gets the students actively involved and will
  hopefully motivate them to continue to learn and
  continue to make a difference. Ill be looking
  at how the students work in their groups, the
  quality of their letters and the creativity of
  their posters and video.
• Rubric

18
Conclusions (Teacher)

• This is a great lesson for kids because they will
  be using a variety of skills such as writing
  letters, using creativity and working with others
  to complete a task. Instead of just lecturing
  about the rainforest and the environment, the
  kids are able to get involved and feel good about
  doing something beneficial in their own community
  as well as campaigning for places far away.

19
Credits (Teacher)

• Solboricua
• Boricuakids
• A special thanks to Mrs. Judy Johnson at Gram
  Elementary for inspiration for this project.
• The MMPtemplate can be downloaded from the IST396
  website.