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The website I chose was http://www.ethnobotany.org/. This website is a great tool to use when teaching elementary and junior high children about the Amazon Region. My lesson plan will focus primarily on 4th graders. After completing all lessons, I would expect my students to be familiar with not only the cultures and setting of the Amazon Region, but also the importance of Indians in the region and how they live off the land, the use of plants for medicinal purposes, and the importance of the Amazon River for life. I would also expect them to have knowledge about the rainforest canopy and what purpose it serves, what lives in the Amazon Region, and products we see almost everyday that come from this area. After the students have completed all lessons and activities, I hope that they would have a better understanding about the Amazon Region and even be amazed with all the exotic animals and plants that live there.
The website I chose can be taught by actually having the students get on the internet to read the lessons themselves, or if computers with internet are not accessible, I would print the lessons off and read them aloud in class while also giving the students their own copies. So, I would be using their written material, but making up my own projects and tests.
For example, the first lesson is called, “In the Jungle, the Indian Knows Everything.” This lesson teaches students about the importance of Indians in the Amazon Region and how they survive off the land and make tools and other products from nature. Along with this lesson is a crossword puzzle where you find the different tribal names of Indians. For more emphasis on how Indians live off the land I would assign a project where each student finds one item outside in nature and must think of something they could make from it. All students would participate in a “show and tell” and explain how they could make their item into something useful.
The second lesson is called, “The Shaman’s Apprentice” and it tells about how people in the Amazon Region use plants to make important medicines. After teaching the lesson we would, as a class, discuss the different medicines that derived from plants, especially those found in the rainforest. The next lesson is called, “The Mighty Amazon” and it stresses the importance of the Amazon River to this region. To teach this, I would begin by showing a video about the Amazon River that emphasizes how important it is to the people of the Amazon Region and to emphasize how large it is. Another thing I would do is share interesting facts about the Amazon River like that it flows for over 4,000 miles. Kids love fun facts and often repeat them to their parents and/or peers. To finish off the lesson, I would assign each student to prepare a short essay on one aspect of the Amazon River like the fish that live in it, or how people depend on it. All students would share their essays with the rest of the class. I feel that this is a great way for everyone to learn more about the river and is more fun that listening to it in a lecture.
The fourth lesson is called, “The World’s Most Beautiful Roof” and it talks about the canopy in the Amazon Rainforest. A fun way to teach about the canopy to 4th graders would be maybe to have them actually construct a canopy in the classroom out long thin strips of green and brown paper. This would give the perfect atmosphere to learn about the animals that have actually adapted to living on the canopy.
The next lesson is called, “The Amazon Forest: Where Life Overflows” and it focuses on life in the Amazon rainforest and stresses that this place is home to over one million species. I would have each student choose one creature that lives in this region and do a “profile” of that animal. This would include finding or drawing a picture of it and gathering several interesting facts about it. Again, this information would be shared with the entire class orally. A great project to do in class would be to construct a terrarium with tropical plants. Actually seeing the plants and watching them grow would be a great experience for the kids.
The last lesson is called, “The Rainforest is Closer than You Think” and it talks about foods that we see everyday that actually come from the rainforest. To emphasize this, I would prepare a list of foods and spices that come from the Amazon Rainforest and even bring samples of some of these foods and recipes that use them like lemonade and tropical fruit salad. With parental help, each student could prepare a dish that uses foods from the rainforest and share them in class.
In conclusion, I think that after going through all of these lessons, my students would have a better understanding of the Amazon Region. On the last day of our “trip” through the Amazon I would have all students arrange their desks so that they are in a circle and we would discuss the Amazon and all the things we learned about it. This would be a great time for students to ask me questions and share knowledge they learned on their own when researching for their projects. To assess whether my students have learned what I think they should, I would also give a written exam over the key points of the lessons.
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Last Updated: April 15, 2004
Background courtesy of: http://www.ou.edu/special/owp/yummy/backgrounds/background.html
