Overview of Lesson		Materials
Connection to the Curriculum,Standards and Skills		Body of Lesson - Procedure & Assessment
Grade Level		Activity One and Student Assessment
Purpose of Lesson		Activity Two and Student Assessment
Primary Geographic Question		Activity Three and Student Assessment
Secondary Questions		References

Overview of the Lesson

The world's tropical rain forests lie along the equator mostly within the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn.  The Amazon rain forest is located in South America.  A rain forest is a thick, wet forest that is home to many special kinds of plants and animals.  The world's rain forests are being destroyed at the rate of 50 million acres a year.

Geography Standards

Standard 1:  How to use maps and other geographic representations, tools, and technologies to acquire, process, and report information from a spatial perspective.

Standard 4:  The physical and human characteristics of place.

Standard 14:  How human actions modify the physical environment.

Alabama Course of Study:  Social Studies Content Standards (Grade 7)

Standard 3:  Illustrate graphically and analyze the distribution of major physical and human features on Earth's surface using different scales.

Standard 5:  Locate selected countries, cities, and physical features on maps, globes, and satellites.

Standard 13:  Describe ecosystems and why they differ from place to place.

Geographic Skills

Acquiring geographic information, students will use maps, atlases and globes to locate major land masses and bodies of water.

Grade Level

Grade 7

Students will use maps, globes, and atlases to locate the world's rain forests.  Students will research the tropical rain forests through the use of trade books, encyclopedias, rain forest videos, and computer searches to determine the effects that human use has on the rain forest.

What is happening to the rain forest as a result of human use?

Where are the rain forests (continents and countries)?

What are the characteristics of the Amazon rain forest (physical environment, human inhabitants, flora, and fauna)?

What ways are the rain forests being used and changed?

Should all areas of the rain forest be protected areas?  Why or why not?

• student map of the world and South America
• atlas
• overhead map of South America
• globe
• crayons
• wall map

Activity One

Secondary Question # 1:  Where are the rain forests?

Direct the students in a review about the purposes of maps, globes, and atlases.  Discuss the different characteristics such as outline, color, and size.  Students should also be reviewed on the topics of longitude, latitude, prime meridian, equator, Tropic of Cancer, and Tropic of Capricorn.

Read Welcome to the Green House by Jane Yolen.

After reading and discussing the story, have students predict the location of the story.

Divide students into groups of four.

Give each group an atlas, globe, and base map of the world.

Each group should also be given a list of countries, continents, and oceans to be located and labeled.

Students will shade the rain forest areas green, oceans blue, and other landforms brown.

Students will look for a pattern of the rain forests (located mostly around the equator between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn).

Students will watch a video about the rain forest.

Assessing Student Learning: Activity One

Students will be assessed on the accuracy of their map.  Students should also be able to explain the pattern of the tropical rain forest.

Activity Two

• Secondary Question # 2:  What are the characteristics of the Amazon rain forest (physical environment, human inhabitants, flora, and fauna)?
• Read The Cousteau Society:  An Adventure in the Amazon by Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers.
• The teacher will locate the Amazon rain forest on the overhead map projection.  The teacher will lead the class in a discussion on the characteristics of a rain forest.  Students will locate the nine countries within the Amazon rain forest using the overhead transparecy and a student map.
• Students will be divided into groups of four to research the Amazon rain forest.
• Each group will be given two weeks to research one country in the Amazon rain forest.  Research should include information about:  physical environment, people, flora, fauna, and ways in which the people use the rain forest.
• Students will present their research to class.
• Along with presentation, students will display a map with their selected country labeled.

Assessing Student Learning: Activity Two

Students will be assessed on their written reports and oral presentation.

Activity Three

• Secondary Question #3:  What ways are the rain forests being used and changed?  Should all areas of the rain forest be protected areas?
• Students will be divided into teams in which they will debate the issue to preserve or not to preserve the rain forest.
• One team will represent citizens of Brazil (want to use the rain forest).  The other team will represent a group of Alabama citizens (want to protect all rain forests).
• Each team will debate their side with valid reasons to express their point of view.
• Debates will be followed by class discussion.
• Students will individually write an explanation including resources.

Assessing Student Learning: Activity Three

A rubric will be used to assess students' explanation of their viewpoint.  Valid research should be used to support their views.

References

The Nature Conservancy

The Rainforest Alliance

Rainforest Action Network

National Council for Geographic Education

Welcome to the Green House by Jane Yolen.

Scholastic Integrated Theme Units

The Cousteau Society:  An Adventure in the Amazon by Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers.

Amazon by Peter Lourie.

The Rain Forest by Billy Goodman.

Tropical Rainforests by Jean Hamilton.

Explore a Tropical Rain Forest by the National Geographic Society.

Endangered Animals in the Rain Forest by Sandra Uchitel.

 

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