Rainforest Wildlife

1. Invite students to become familiar with living things in the rainforest through books, video, and computer experiences. Working in small groups, ask students to make a list of plant and animal life in the rainforest. Discuss how plants and animals depend on each other in that natural environment.
2. On a large sheet of white paper, students outline a rainforest scene, including both plants and animals, with Crayola® Crayons.
3. With Crayola Washable Kid's Paint and Paint Brushes, mix red, blue, yellow, black, and white to blend unique colors. Encourage students to mix hues on a washable surface such as a recycled foam produce tray, or on a paper plate. Experiment to find ways to lighten and darken colors.
4. Paint over and inside the crayon outlines to illustrate a richly dense Rainforest Wildlife environment.
5. Provide an opportunity for students to present their artwork to small groups of classmates. Encourage groups to include significant information from their research in their presentation.

LA: Read and comprehend informational texts, including history/social studies, science, and technical texts, at the high end of the grade level text complexity band independently and proficiently.

LA: Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.

LA: Participate in shared research and writing projects.

LA: Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade level topics and texts, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.

SS: Use appropriate resources, data sources, and geographic tools to generate, manipulate, and interpret information.

SS: Explore causes, consequences, and possible solutions to persistent, contemporary, and emerging global issues, such as pollution and endangered species.

VA: Use different media, techniques, and processes to communicate ideas, experiences, and stories.

VA: Use visual structures of art to communicate ideas.

Possible classroom resources include: Over in the Jungle: A Rainforest Rhyme by Marianne Berkes; A Rainforest Habitat by Molly Aloian; The Umbrella by Jan Brett; Tropical Rainforests by Seymour Simon

Students work in small groups to act out the movements and sounds of their animals as a dramatic response to a story about the rainforest.

Encourage each student in the class to select a living species found in the rainforest. Children investigate the species that they have chosen and organize their research into an oral presentation for classmates.