The Park School
Social Studies 1
The Park School Lower Division > Grade 1 > Social Studies > Social Studies 1 > Week 25 ­ Week 35
Rainforests
Collaboration
TEAM PLANNING
Planning Unit Learning
Unit Description
In this unit of study, students will build an appreciation, excitement and passion for the plants, animals and people of the Amazon Rainforest! As they consider their use of
products and resources provided by the rainforest, they will be asked to rank each as a "want" or a "need". Experiencing the difficulty of considering choices, students will
consider how they might make a difference in preserving the rainforest to ensure that its plants, animals and people have what they need from the rainforest environment,
and so that important products and resources can continue to impact the rest of the world.
National Learning Standards
NCSS: Social Studies 2010
NCSS: Elementary
PEOPLE, PLACES, AND ENVIRONMENTS
Knowledge Learners will understand
The theme of people, places, and environments involves the study of location, place, and the interactions of people with their surroundings;
Physical and human characteristics of the school, community, state, and region, and the interactions of people in these places with the environment;
Factors influencing various community, state, and regional patterns of human settlement, such as the availability of land and water, and places for people to live;
Physical changes in community, state, and region, such as seasons, climate, and weather, and their effects on plants and animals;
Benefits and problems resulting from the discovery and use of resources;
PRODUCTION, DISTRIBUTION, AND CONSUMPTION
Knowledge Learners will understand
How people and communities deal with scarcity of resources;
The difference between needs and wants;
Processes Learners will be able to
Analyze the differences between wants and needs;
Evaluate how the decisions that people make are influenced by the trade­offs of different options;
Essential Questions
Students Will Know
(Hook)
Animals of the Amazon Rainforest
Plants of the Amazon Rainforest (4 layers)
Yonomami people are indigenous to the Amazon Rainforest.
Students Will Come To Understand
Six Facets of Understanding
The environment of the rainforest impacts every aspect of how plants,
animals and people live.
Even though the rainforest if so far away and so different, we need and use
Yanomami people rely on the environment. (homes, food, clothing)
products and resources from it. (identify source and resource)
We can make a difference, today and in the future, by preserving the
rainforest
Amazon River (Landforms)
Heat and Rain (Climate)
The Rainforest is the source of products and goods and resources such as
cocoa beans, paper, medicine, oxygen, water, etc., to use in the USA.
The rainforest distributes/exports products to the USA and rest of world.
Differences between wants and needs
Skills
Bloom's Taxonomy
Identify products that I use from the rainforest.
Analyze differences between wants and needs.
(Math ­ data #'s use of products)
Make paper from recycled paper
Create an activist poster
Public speaking (public presenting)
Technology Integration
Hardware
Technology Integration
Software
*Used Google Earth for Lesson 2 (will attach full
lesson below)­
1) Lesson: taught buttons (search box, north,
location, and ground level view, as well as how to
move your fingers to zoom in, out, and tilt.
2) Activity: students explored the different features
learned and were challenged to search 'South
America' and 'The Amazon River' *Challenge:
students took screen shots of the two places*
3) Reflection: share what you found
Teacher Resources
Technology Integration
SAMR Model
SAMR Model
Student Resources
Resources and Uses Template
Resources & How We'll Use Them
Interactive "Where are Rainforests" Map
Video of the Amazon River from the sky at Manaus, Brazil
Teacher Reflections
Unit Thinking:
Understanding 1: Did not spend much time on "people". Plants and Animals were a
big focus.
Worked for Teachers
Atlas plans; Kept me on track
Parking Lot
Sequence of Learning
­Animals, people and plants
­Landforms (Amazon River, habitats and structures.
­Production, distribution and consumption. (goods and services and tourism.
People, places and environment)
­Wants and Needs
­Responsibility to preserve
Google earth lesson ­ where are rainforests (SA, Amazon River ­ SS goals +
technology)
Trading products from the rainforest ­ great experience
Understandings on Atlas ­ Lessons by week really made us feel like we all
targeted the same learning, but in individual ways. Felt on­target.
Whether habitat, location on the earth or animals, felt cohesive (upfront
planning helped) and the outline of where we were going was very helpful
Teacher knowledge is greater for rainforest than the Arctic. Rainforest was
meatier than the Arctic.
Being aware of what other teachers were doing; better communication.
Challenging for Teachers
Need more time; lost time for May Day prep. Also, it felt generally quick.
Plan for more time.
Projects are engaging, yet NEED more time.
Need to increase teacher knowledge
Options for Assessments or End­of­Unit Activity
Personification
Puppet Show into iMovie
Research & Write
Interview and Maybe Video Capture of it
Picture video slideshow with no words
Be an Activist
Mural of favorite things
Memory book of what I loved learning
Protect the _________ (parameters for how to explain like, where is it? what
does it provide to whom? why is it important? Ex: choice of plant or animal
to report on)
What surprised me? Bothered me? (student choice of plant or animal,
leading to a persuasive project for protecting the rainforest)
Reorganize kids based on a rainforest interest
Worked for Kids
So age appropriate
Great opps for collaboration
Investment into animals and their importance
Animals are a great entry point to caring for the environment, as well as the
"so what" culmination.
Mobiles are great! (Research)
Challenges for Kids
Some research packets were hard; How do more kids access the
information?
pebblego ­ good for animal info, but make sure the animals we "need" are
actually there.
Planning Unit Assessment
Assessments
GRASPS
GRASPS Samples
Great Kapok Tree Student Play
Performance: Dramatization
Script
Animal Mobiles
Summative: Project: Visual Arts
Product of Animal Research
PowerPoint Questionairre
Summative: Oral: Discussion
Total class participation: Vote YES / NO = this animal, plant or people would be in the rainforest.
Rainforest SlideShow Q&A
Plants/Animals
Formative: Oral: Discussion
Powerpoint of plants and animals
PlantsAnimals.pptx
INDIVIDUAL PLANNING
Planning Unit Instruction
Sequence of Collaborative Lesson Plans
Lesson Plan Template
Sequence of Individualized Lesson Plans
Week 1 (March 30)
WHERETO
Lesson 1
Intro Lesson
rainforest provocation student reflection.docx
rainforest provocation parent letter.docx
Lesson 1­ Provocation.gdoc
Lesson 2
Lesson Plan
Interactive "Where are Rainforests?" Map
Lesson 2­ Rainforests on a Map.gdoc
Lesson 3
Kids will gain a basic understanding of typical landforms in the
rainforest climate as well as typical weather patterns.
Lesson Plan
Rainforest Landforms
Amount of Rainfall in MA vs. Rainforest
Lesson 3­ Landforms.gdoc
Lesson 4
Plants ­ Intro
True/False Plants & Animals in the Rain Forest
Plants in the Rain Forest
Lesson 5
Lesson Plan 5
Lesson 6
Lesson Plan 6
Animal Video 3:30­20:08
Lesson 7
Lesson Plan 7
Lesson 8
Lesson Plan 8
Lesson 9
Lesson Plan 9
Lesson 10
Lesson Plan 10
Lesson 10­ What products come from the rainforest?.gdoc
rainforest products sheets and reflection.docx
Lesson 1: Provocation­ connecting student emotion to unit concepts
Lesson 2: Rainforests on a map: how they have been depleted, grouped near
equator, Where we are going to focus
Lesson 3: Weather and landforms
Week 2 (April 6)
Lesson 4: Plants of the Rainforest
Lesson 5: Plants continued
Week 3 (April 13)
Lesson 6: Animals of the rain forest
Lesson 7: Animals continued; "hands on deep dive" (if extra time)
Week 4 (April 20)
Lesson 8: Introduce Yanomami
Lesson 9: Yanomami continued
Week 5 (April 27)
Lesson 10: What goods, products and resources come from the Rainforest?
Lesson 11: What do we want? What do we need? Sort products and resources into
categories
Week 6 (May 4)
Lesson 12: Cailin's lesson idea: Color blocks = products, trade to collect lots of
colors, React/learn what happens as environment changes
Lesson 13: What can I do to protect the rain forest?
Week 7 (May 11)
Lesson 14: What can I do to protect the rainforest?
Lesson 14: Produce a reflection of interest (multiple days)
Lesson 15: Continue to produce a reflection of interest
Read Alouds: Eric Carle (Sloth), Afternoon in the Rain Forest Magic Tree House
Math: Xerox rainforest math