ThemesBig Ideas

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THE GREAT KAPOK TREE A TALE OF THE AMAZON RAIN
FOREST By Lynne Cherry
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To play with survival or to live in a sustainable
way?

• In the first place, it is a simple and evident
  fact that the world population not only wants to
  survive but wishes to attain a satisfactory life
  for itself and its descendants. To achieve
  this objective, a new developmental model is
  required and we need to learn to live in a
  different way.
• Secondly, the basic conditions of human
  beings existence depends on the Earths
  resources with the result that the decrease or
  the deterioration of such resources endangers
  the fulfillment of our needs and those of our
  descendants. This threat has increased to
  disturbing proportions, due to our inability to
  take proper care of the Earth and to live in a
  sustainable way. We are putting survival of
  civilization at stake .
• Lastly, it is necessary to say that we are
  not condemned to failure. By learning to
  distribute resources equally, taking care of the
  Earth and living in a sustainable way we may
  still be able to minimize the negative impact on
  the environment.

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Overview/Background

• By reading this story, your students will gain
  an appreciation for the variety of living things
  that make forests their homes, and for the
  variety of habitats within forests.
• A habitat is the place where animals and plants
  live and get all the things they need to
  survive, such as food, water, space to grow,
  breed, and raise their young. A deer's habitat
  might be a combination of forests and fields. A
  pitcher plant's habitat is a bog. And a humpback
  whale's habitat can be a stretch of ocean from
  Alaska to Hawaii. Within any habitat - a forest,
  a field, a coral reef, or a sandy shore - there
  are many smaller microhabitats in which
  temperature, humidity, light, and other
  conditions vary from those of the habitat as a
  whole. For example, a decaying log in a forest
  may be damper and cooler than the surrounding air
  or leaf litter.
• A small clearing in a forest may have more light
  and be drier than the surrounding areas. One part
  of a mountain may get more sunlight and less wind
  than other parts. And the deeper parts of a coral
  reef get less light than those closer to the
  surface of the ocean.
• Plants and animals are often adapted to
  conditions within a microhabitat. For example,
  certain kinds of trees and other plants are
  adapted to growing in forest clearings while
  others are adapted to growing in the shadier
  (generally cooler and moister) parts of the
  forest. Mosses and fungi may be able to grow on
  one side of a tree or rock but not on the other
  because of differences in light, temperature, and
  moisture. And some animals that live in damp leaf
  litter couldn't survive above ground.

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Overview/Background

• What is a tropical rainforest?
• Tropical rainforests are warm year-round ---24 to
  31 0C (75 to 88 0F)
• because they are near the equator. They live up
  to their name they
• receive at least 2,000 millimeters (80 inches) of
  rain every year.
• Rainforests cover less than 7 percent of the
  Earth's surface, but they are
• estimated to contain about half of the plant and
  animal species of the
• planet. Since the rainforest is home to so many
  plant and animal species,
• the level of biodiversity may be higher in
  rainforests than in any other
• place on Earth. For example, an average of 20 to
  86 tree species exist per
• acre in a tropical rainforest (In a temperate
  zone forest, there are about four
• tree species per acre).

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Overview/Background

• How is the rainforest structured?
• There are four main layers of a rainforest the
  ground layer, the understory layer, the
• canopy layer, and the emergent layer (see diagram
  on next slide). The groundlayer,
• or forest floor, is dark. It receives less than 3
  percent of the sunlight that hits the forest
• and is quite humid. Ferns, seedlings, and palm
  plants grow here. The tops of young
• trees form the understory, the next layer above
  the forest floor. The canopy, located
• above the understory, is full of life. This layer
  contains most of the leaves in the forest,
• so it attracts beetles, caterpillars, and many
  other herbivores. The trees are often
• covered with plants called epiphytes, which grow
  right on their trunks, leaves, and
• branches. Lianas, woody vines with roots in the
  ground, climb up the trees to reach
• the sunlight in the canopy. The emergent layer is
  the top of the rainforest, where a
• few of the tallest trees poke out above the
  canopy. These trees are more exposed
• to sunlight, high temperatures, low humidity, and
  strong winds.

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Emergent layer. This layer gets a lot of sun and
wind. It is significantly warmer than the forest
floor. Canopy. Canopy plants produce 90 percent
of all forest leaves, fruit and seeds. More
forest insects, birds, bats, frogs, and snakes
live here. Understory. The understory gets 60
less light and 50 less wind than the canopy, but
is more humid Forest floor. The forest floor is
the coolest, darkest, and most humid part of the
forest. It gets less than 3 of the available
sunlight.
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Summary of Story

• In the dense, green Amazon rain forest, a man is
  chopping down a great Kapok
• tree. The animals who live among its leaves and
  branches watch him silently.
• Hot and weary, the man lies down to rest at the
  foot of the tree and falls asleep.
• Then, one by one, the forest creatures emerge to
  whisper in his ear. They beg
• him not to destroy their home and tell him how
  important every tree is in the
• rain forest. An anteater reminds the man, "What
  happens tomorrow depends on
• what you do today." Finally, a Yanomamo child of
  the rain forest pleads,
• "When you awake, please look upon us all with new
  eyes."
• The man wakes up with a start. All around him are
  monkeys, tree porcupines,
• frogs, bees, butterflies, anteaters, birds of
  many colors, a jaguar, and a three
• toed sloth. Their whispers echo in his ears. The
  man and the creatures stare
• silently at one another, and then he makes his
  decision. (By Lynne Cherry)

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Content Standards K-4

• Science as Inquiry
• CONTENT STANDARD A
• As a result of activities in grades K-4, all
  students should develop
• Abilities necessary to do scientific inquiry
• Understanding about scientific inquiry
• Life Science
• CONTENT STANDARD C
• As a result of activities in grades K-4, all
  students should develop understanding of
• The characteristics of organisms
• Life cycles of organisms
• Organisms and environments

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Content Standards K-4

• Science in Personal and Social Perspectives
• CONTENT STANDARD F
• As a result of activities in grades K-4, all
  students should develop understanding of
• Personal health
• Characteristics and changes in populations
• Types of resources
• Changes in environments Science and technology in
  local challenges

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Themes/Big Ideas

• Environmental Interrelationships
• Biological diversity results from the interaction
  of living and non-living environmental components
  such as air, water, climate, and geological
  features
• Forest as well as other ecosystems, contain
  numerous habitats that support diverse population
  of organisms.
• Altering the Environment affects all life
  forms-including humans- and the
  interrelationships that link them
• Resource and Technological Interrelationships
• Resource management technologies interact and
  influence environmental quality the acquisition,
  extraction and transportation of natural
  resources all life forms and each one of us.
• While technological advances decrease the
  incidence of disease and death, the ever
  increasing world population is placing heavy
  demands on the finite resources of the Earth

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Themes/Big Ideas

• Societal and Cultural Interrelationships
• Human societies and cultures throughout the world
  interact with each other and affect natural
  systems upon which they depend.
• The quantity and quality of resources and their
  use- or misuse- by humans affect the standard of
  living of societies.
• Cultural and societal perspectives influence the
  attitudes, beliefs and biases of people toward
  the use of resources and environmental protection
• All humans consume products and thereby affect
  the availability of renewable and nonrenewable
  natural resources.
• The extracting, processing, transporting, and
  marketing of natural resources provide employment
  opportunities for many people.

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Class Composition

• LEVELS
• Grades 2-5
• SUBJECTS
• Science, Language Arts, Social Studies.
• This activity will be part of an integrated
  thematic unit on Living Things and their natural
  requirements.
• SKILLS
• Comprehending, Concept Forming, Comparing and
  Contrasting
• TIME CONSIDERATIONS
• Preparation 15 minutes
• Activity 45 minutes

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Objectives

• Students will
• Identify ways in which people use forest
  resources
• Explain that forests are managed to satisfy a
  variety of human needs
• Identify relationships between trees and other
  organisms
• Describe the ways in which trees benefit people

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Doing the Activity

• Ask the students to describe what a forest is and
  if theyve ever visited one. What was it like in
  the forest? What kind of things did they see
  while they were there? Did they enjoy being
  there?
• Tell the students you are going to read them a
  story about a man that went to a rainforest.
  They should listen very carefully to the things
  that happened to him and the things he saw and
  heard.
• Read the story. Show the students pictures of the
  plants and animals in the story. You may want to
  have younger students do movements and sounds
  each time they hear a characters name (e.g. Make
  a sssssss sound when they hear about the snake,
  etc). Or you may just want to have the students
  relax, close their eyes, and listen as you read
  the story from start to finish.
• You can check for understanding using the
  discussion questions.
• Pass out drawing paper and crayons, colored
  pencils, markers, etc, and have the students draw
  pictures of the story. They might draw a picture
  of their favorite part of the story, a scene that
  depicts the Man and many of the creatures in the
  forest, etc.

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Discussion questions

• Why do you think the man wanted to cut the Tree?
• Why do you think that the tree frog told the man
  a ruined rainforest means
• ruined lives..many ruined lives
• How do the following animals depend on the Tree?
  How do they use the Tree?
• Boa Constrictor, bees, buterflies, wasps
  (insects), monkeys, birds, tree frogs, men.
• What do you think will happen if people cut too
  many trees in the rainforest? How
• could this fact affect us, in Cali or in another
  place in the World?
• Where can we find Rainforests in our planet?
  Why?
• How did the man feel about cutting a Tree at the
  end of the story? Why did he
• feel in such way?

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Discussion questions

• Discuss the following sentence
• It is my home, where generations of my ancestors
  have lived.
• What are ancestors? Say or write a sentence using
  the word ancestors.
• How can we take care of the Rainforests? What can
  we do to stop cutting
• down trees in the rainforest?

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Assessment Oportunities

• Conduct a survey of the forest products found in
  the classroom or home.
• For the classroom, divide students into small
  groups, with each assigned
• one of the following categories
• Paper products
• Other school supplies
• Building materials
• Furniture or furnishings
• Personal items (even chewing gum was once
  entirely made from the latex of a tropical tree)
• Distribute a copy of Classroom Forest Products
  to each group. Have
• each group identify the classroom forest products
  found within the
• selected category and record their information on
  the handout

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Assessment Oportunities

• Create a Three Cheers for Trees bulletin board
  showing the benefits of trees.
• Have the students brainstorm a list of tree
  benefits. Then have them draw or cut
• out pictures and write slogans that depict these
  benefits (products, shade,
• wildlife, beauty, fresh air, and so on). With
  your guidance, allow them to design
• and arrange the bulletin board.
• Students answers to the discussion questions at
  the end of the story can be used
• to assess students understanding of the
  environmental messages contained in
• the story

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Future Activities

• Pass the plants, please (Classroom-Home
  Activity)
• Overview Chocolate candy. Apple pie. French
  fries with catsup.
• Tortilla Chips with guacamole dip. Thanks to
  plants, these and
• many other favorite foods are ours to enjoy. Try
  the following
• activities to get your students thinking about
  just how big a part
• plants play in our daily diets.
• Trees as Habitats (Fieldtrip Activity)
• Overview From their leafy branches to their
  tangled roots, trees
• provide a Habitat for a host of plants and
  animals. In this activity,
• your students will discover how plants and
  animals depend on
• trees in many ways.

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Future Activities

• The closer you look (Fieldtrip Activity)
• Overview All students, no matter how young, have
  an idea of
• what a tree looks like. But many are unfamiliar
  with either the
• actual structure of a tree or the function of its
  principle parts. In
• this activity, your students will take a closer
  look at trees and their
• parts.
• How Plants Grow (Experimenting Activity)
• Overview A plant is a biological system with
  these basic requirement for
• functioning and growing sunlight, water, air,
  soil and space. This activity
• allows students to explore what happens when a
  plants basic needs
• are not met.

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Future Activities

• People of the forest (Videotherapy Activity)
• Overview To the Mbuti Pygmies of Africa, the
  Kogi, Arhuaco and Wiwa,
• from the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Colombia,
  and other people
• around the world, the forest is home. More than
  just a place to live, the
• forest provides for all of their needs. By
  comparing and contrasting
• different forest people, your students can learn
  about some of the ways
• people have depended on forest throughout
  history.
• Tree Lifecycle (Kyneasthetic Activity)
• In this activity, students will discover that
  trees have a lifecycle that is
• similar to that of other living things. They will
  investigate a trees role in
• the ecosystem at each stage of its life.

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Future Activities

• Trees for Many Reasons (Bibliotherapy Activity)
• Overview By reading fables such as The Lorax by
  Dr. Seuss or The Man Who
• Planted Trees by Jean Giono, students can examine
  the importance of
• conserving natural resources

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Bibliography/Resources

• Cherry, Lynne. GREAT KAPOK TREE A TALE OF THE
  AMAZON RAINFOREST.
• Orlando, FL Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1990.
• Project Learning Tree Environmental Education
  Pre K-8 Activity Guide
• American Forest Foundation. 1111 19TH Street, NW.
  Washington, DC 20036
• PLT uses the forest as a "window" on the world to
  increase students' understanding
• of our environment stimulate students' critical
  and creative thinking develop
• students' ability to make informed decisions on
  environmental issues and instill in
• students the commitment to take responsible
  action on behalf of the
• environment. http//www.plt.org/