Layers of the Rain Forest
Distance Learning
Summary and Goals
Students will be able to identify the layers of the rain forest and animal species that live in
each layer.
Grade Levels
Grades 3- 5
Engage
This activity is designed to start your students in recognizing themselves as researchers and
thinking critically about problem-solving. The goal is to teach concepts through discovery
and to encourage using scientific thought processes. As with all lessons provided, please
feel free to adapt them according to your students’ abilities. Some of your students may be
early readers, in which case you may find it more successful to lead activities and
discussions as a whole group rather than using individual Research Plan sheets. Certain
scientific vocabulary may or may not be appropriate for your students’ level of
understanding. Take these ideas, make them your own and your students will have a
greater chance at success.
What are the challenges for a canopy animal to survive on the forest floor? What about a
forest floor animal surviving in the canopy?
1. Begin this lesson by telling students that they will be investigating layers of the
rainforest and animal species that inhabit the ecosystem.
2. If your students are familiar with brainstorming and recording their ideas, break them
into small groups. If your students need more guidance, work with them as a large
group. Engage your students in a discussion of what they predict the answer to the
question to be. More importantly, why do they think this?
3. What are the differences and similarities between the layers of the rainforest? What
would you have to observe in order to tell the differences between the layers?
Explore
4. Continue with the above discussion and encourage the group to come up with ways
they could investigate the question and test their predictions scientifically (all
suggestions are welcomed). What tools might they need to carry out their suggested
explorations? Are there materials that would help them find the answer? Should they be
making observations? What kinds of records will they need to keep? What will they do
with the information once they have it? And how will they know that they’ve
successfully answered the question? Allow a wide variety of ideas and encourage
conversation amongst the students to refine the details of their ideas.
5. Rainforests Have Layers
a. Divide students into groups, assigning each group a different layer of the rain
forest, i.e. emergent/canopy/understory/forest floor.
b. Have groups collect any information about each group’s layer.
c. Afterwards, divide students again into different groups and have them work
cooperatively to create a list for each of the following categories using the
information they learned in their previous groups:
i. Group 1: Trees
ii. Group 2: Plants for all layers
iii. Group 3: Animals in the emergent layer
iv. Group 4: Animals in the canopy layer
v. Group 5: Animals in the understory layer
vi. Group 6: Animals on the forest floor
6. Ideas should be recorded on the Research Plan sheets. Small groups can record their
own answers or you can record ideas as a group.
Explain
7. Explain to the group that they will be participating in our Distance Learning program
“Layers of the Rain Forest” that might help to give them some insight into the situation.
8. This covers topics including layers of the rain forest, the animals that inhabit those
layers and animal species specific to the rain forest habitat.
Expand
9. Ask students to reflect on what they have learned in the distance learning program and
review their ideas of how to get the information they would need to answer the original
research question.
10. Scientists believe that many plants and animals in the rain forest have not been
discovered yet. Instruct students to pretend that they have just encountered an
unknown rain forest animal or plant. Have each one draw a picture of his discovery,
labeling parts that make it adaptable to life in the rain forest. Have the class design and
create a rain forest mural.
11. Allow students to discuss and plan how they could make the activity more successful. Do
they need to gather any additional information before they can answer the research
question? Did they think of additional ways to gather information based on the activities
they have just completed?
12. Feel free to repeat any of the activities in any number of ways.
Suggested search terms: Rainforest,
Amphibian, Bird, Mammal, Reptile
Cleveland Metroparks Zoo | Layers of the Rainforest
Assess
13. Monitor your students as they continue to research and develop their method for
communicating their results. Make sure to help them continue their discussion on the
rain forest ecosystem. Have your students share their results with the rest of the class.
Allow time for student critique and comments.
14. Was the outcome the same as what they had predicted? What are the differences
between the layers of the rain forest? Does each layer contribute something to the
whole of the forest?
15. If the students are working in small groups, observe their work and review what they
are writing on the Research Plan. If working as a whole group, fill in the Research Plan
together.
Standards
Ohio Academic Content Standards
Grades 3-5
Life Science Topic: Behavior, Growth, and Changes
Individuals of the same kind differ in their traits and sometimes the differences give individuals an
advantage in surviving and reproducing
Plants and animals have life cycles that are part of their adaptations for survival in their natural
environments
Life Science Topic: Earth's Living History
Changes in an organism's environment are sometimes beneficial to its survival and sometimes
harmful
Life Science Topic: Interactions within Ecosystems
Organisms perform a variety of roles in an ecosystem
Suggested search terms: Rainforest,
Amphibian, Bird, Mammal, Reptile
Cleveland Metroparks Zoo | Layers of the Rainforest
Standards (continued)
National Science Education Standards
Grades K-4
Science as Inquiry
Abilities necessary to do scientific inquiry
Understandings about scientific inquiry
Physical Science
Properties of objects and materials
Position and motion of objects
Light, heat, electricity, and magnetism
Life Science
Characteristics of organisms
Life cycles of organisms
Organisms and environment
Earth and Space Science
Properties of earth materials
Objects in the sky
Changes in earth and sky
Science in Personal and Social Perspectives
Personal health
Characteristics and changes in populations
Types of resources
Changes in environments
Science and technology in local challenges
Grades 5-8
Science as Inquiry
Abilities necessary to do scientific inquiry
Understandings about scientific inquiry
Life Science
Structure and function in living systems
Reproduction and heredity
Regulation and behavior
Populations and ecosystems
Diversity and adaptations of organisms
Earth and Space Science
Structure of the earth system
Earth's history
Earth in the solar system
Science in Personal and Social Perspectives
Personal health
Populations, resources, and environments
Natural hazards
Risks and benefits
Science and technology in society
Suggested search terms: Rainforest,
Amphibian, Bird, Mammal, Reptile
Cleveland Metroparks Zoo | Layers of the Rainforest
Layers of the Rainforest
Supplemental Materials
My Research Plan
1. What is my research
question?
Is it a good question?
What are the challenges for a canopy animal to
survive on the forest floor? What about a forest
floor animal surviving in the canopy?
2. How can I get my
information?
3. What will I do with this
information?
4. How will I know I did my job
well?
Suggested search terms: Rainforest,
Amphibian, Bird, Mammal, Reptile
Cleveland Metroparks Zoo | Layers of the Rainforest
Layers of the Rain Forest
Supplemental Materials
Animals within a South American Rainforest
Emergent
Blue Morpho Butterfly
Tiger Swallowtail
Moths
Hummingbird
Macaw
Canopy
Golden Lion Tamarin
Squirrel Monkey
Two-toed Sloth
Black Howler Monkey
Amazon Milk Frog
Giant Waxy Tree Frog
Toucan
Black Spider Monkey
Yellow and Blue Poison Dart Frog
Harpy Eagle
Scarlet Macaw
Emerald Tree Boa
Vampire Bat
Suggested search terms: Rainforest,
Amphibian, Bird, Mammal, Reptile
Understory
Jaguar
Tree Frogs
Yellow-Breasted Capuchin
Green Tree Boa
Jamaican Fruit Bat
Kinkajou
Forest Floor
Capybara
Giant Anteater
Red River Hog
Anaconda
Agouti
Tapir
Ocelot
Blue Poison Dart Frog
Green and Black Poison Dart Frog
Ornate Horned Frog
Smooth-Sided Toad
Leaf Cutter Ants
Cleveland Metroparks Zoo | Layers of the Rainforest