Rainforest Project 2016

WOW!
It's been way too long since I've updated my blog!  *I feel like this is something I've said numerous times in my blog.  I think I just felt so tired after working all day, that I didn't have the energy to blog.

Back in January, I begged for help to fund my Donors Choose project which was all about the rainforest project my students were going to work on.  That was fully funded, and now, our rainforest is complete!

As I mentioned in that post, I had huge expectations for how the rainforest was going to look this year. I think my students and my principal thought I was crazy when I told them what I wanted.  Even though I kept my parents updated via class dojo, I don't think they realized just what their kids were getting into!

My students busted their butts on this project.  Let me explain just what we did.

It all started with a flipchart and research packet.  I created a flipchart with 62 rainforest animals that my students were going to study.  I went through the flipchart with them several times.  I created a research packet with information on all of the animals and made copies of the packet for my kiddos.

We started doing research in small groups. We would read the information together and the students got to pick the information they thought we needed to highlight.  This was taking very long and we were starting to get short on time, so for about two-three weeks straight, we researched whole group.  No joke: we finished researching the last animal up until 2 minutes before dismissal time.  They were so excited when they finished, they started cheering!

After finishing our research, we started making animals, trees, flowers, etc...They had the option to use any and all of the materials I had in my room. 

The kids decided where they were going to put everything.  It turned out better than I ever could have imagined!

I'll let the pictures speak for themselves!  (If you'd like a video your, click here.)

The students gave tours to over 20 classes in our school!  It was awesome!  They did an amazing job and I'm so proud of them!  Their parents were ecstatic too! 

Thanks for stopping by and again, I apologize for the delay in getting this up!

~Stacey~

Rainforest Project - I could use your help!

Image taken from here

My mind always has a bunch of tabs open!  It's a wonder that I actually get anything done.  You would never know it if you actually looked at my to do list though.  I feel like for every item I cross off my list, I add 3-5 more items.  Something that has been on my to do list for awhile now is updating my blog. I am horrible at updating my blog.  I really am.  I LOVE sharing things with you, but at least one of several things happen. 

1.  I forget to take pictures.  (I really need to hire someone to be in my classroom all day just to take pictures! )

2.  I have no energy to do anything.

3.  I get distracted by something else.

4.  I don't have the time to devote to make my entry what I want it to be.

Don't get me wrong, it's not like I don't know what to write about.  I actually have a list of topics I've wanted to share with you!  They will be shared eventually, but I have something else on my mind this evening.

 

Image from here

I'm not going to lie - I love the topics we cover for the 3rd quarter!  There's a geography project on Brazil for social studies and taking care of the earth for science.  Two of the books we use are The Great Kapok Tree and Just a Dream.  These books draw my students in and really make them think.  Then the questions start flowing.

What is a rainforest?

What animals live in the rainforest?

Why are people cutting down the trees?

What happens when all of the trees are gone?

What can we do to save the animals?

What can we do to save the trees?

Those are just some of the amazing questions my first graders have asked me over the years.  They really enjoy learning about the rainforest.  One of the first years I taught this unit, my students created a rainforest mural which was proudly hung up in the hallway.  They did a great job with it and I was proud of them.  But I wanted more!

Our rainforest grew from there.  The next year my students created a rainforest that took up our entire side of the hallway.  (One of the other 1st grade classes participated in that as well.)  Here are a few pictures from that year.

The kids added a writing component to the rainforest that year.  If you look closely, the animals have facts on them.

Once again, the students did a great job, but still, I wanted more! 

The next year, this is what happened.  It was bigger and better than I could have ever dreamed it would be!  I loved it!  They learned so much!  They were excellent tour guides!  They jumped several levels in reading!  All of it was amazing!  I truly felt like my students and I had maxed out our rainforest potential.  My students loved this project so much!  The day we took everything down was a very sad day for all of us!  They didn't want to take down their rainforest.  "Mrs. Lynch, it's like we're cutting down our rainforest!  We can't destroy our rainforest!"  (I love the connections my students make!)

Last year's class chose not to go the rainforest route.  Instead they created a zoo.  While I was sad to not partake in the rainforest project, I still enjoyed what my students created and how much they learned.  It also gave me a bit of a *rainforest* break that I didn't realize I needed.

Enter the 2015-2016 school year.  The year that I went deskless.  The year my students want to create a rainforest again.  Hmmm......deskless classroom + rainforest = BIGGEST RAINFOREST YET!

This year it will not only be all along the walls, but all OVER my room. We're talking trees, plants, bushes, flowers, etc...coming up from my floor. Rainforest animals in the trees. A path for "tourists" to walk on. It will be easy to set up since I don't have to move desks out of the way! I can just see it in my brain!

 

In order to have all of the supplies we need, I put up a Donors Choose project. Donors Choose is a fantastic website where public school teachers can post projects for things they need / want in the classroom. I've had 5 projects funded on Donors Choose in less than 2 years.  It is a FANTASTIC resource and I highly encourage all teachers to use it!

If you, my fantastic and loyal readers, could please donate to my cause I would greatly appreciate it.

If you could also please share the link with your friends and family, I would appreciate that too.

http://www.donorschoose.org/project/art-supplies-for-rainforest-project-bas/1843303/?rf=link-siteshare-2016-01-teacher-teacher_788062&challengeid=219803

I love the rainforest.

I love exposing my students to the rainforest. I love opening their eyes to this amazing wonder.  I love the questions they ask. 

I love how one student asked me with the most serious tone in her voice, "Mrs. Lynch, can we please take a trip to the rainforest?"  When I told her it was too expensive and too far away, she exclaimed, "Well I am going to go there one day!"  I told her I believed her!

Thank you all for your love and support and I will keep you posted on our rainforest journey!

Have a great evening!

Love,

Stacey

 

RAINFOREST!!!!

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!
I let way too much time pass in between posts!  I will make more of an effort to post more frequently!

The past 3 years I have done a rainforest activity with my students.  Every year it has become bigger and better.  This year's goals were 1) to give my students more of a voice and choice (project based learning style,) and 2) give tours to our parents and other classes.

Well, we certainly achieved our goals!!!

Let me backtrack here.

I started off by introducing both a coral reef and a rainforest to my students.  We looked at pictures and watched a Magic School Bus video on both.  (I picked both of those places because I love them.  They are such colorful, vibrant places, and my kids really like things like that.

I then told my students to think really hard about which of those places they would like to do a project on.   My students voted with a secret ballot and the rainforest won!

I put together a flipchart with pictures of enough rainforest animals for each student to choose 2.  I had name sticks so each time I called on a student they picked an animal.  (I picked names twice and at random.)


Once the students had their animals, it was time to get stared.  Even though each student had 2 animals, each reading group was able to learn about their group mate's animals.  I had printed information on their animals.  We read through it together and the students told me the important information we should highlight.

**Side note:  My co-teacher was working with my students on foods from the rainforest, plants, and trees.  They were learning a LOT about the rainforest.**

Once we got through the research, the students got to make their animals.  The students also made trees, flowers, and plants.

The students chose where to place them.  Then they took leaves and wrote rainforest facts, plant, facts, tree facts, and animals facts on the leaves and placed them around the rainforest.

Our rainforest looked like this:

Hallway: quetzal, toucan, parrot, gecko, iguana, tarantula, cassowary, and leaf cutter ants.

Hallway: parrot, orangutan, vampire bat, macaws, komodo dragon, caecilian, poison dart frogs, geckos, and the beginning of an anaconda.

Hallway: more of the anaconda, lemur, gorilla, queen alexandra birdwing butterfly, iguana, chameleon, and some frogs.

Hallway: The end of the anaconda, quetzal, toucan, vampire bat, lar gibbon, sloth, iguana, capybaras, caecilian, blue morpho butterfly, tarantula, gold frog, (and maybe some poison dart frogs)

Hallway: toucans, tapir blue morpho butterfly, lar gibbon, harpy eagle, beginning of a python, vampire bat, tapir, tarantula, poison dart frogs, red eyed tree frogs, leaf cutter ants, caecilian, and katydids.

Hallway: Caiman crocodile, hoatzin, jaguar, caecilian, blue morpho butterfly, great hornbill, parrot, baboon, more of the python, and more teeny, tiny frogs!

This photo is in my classroom. It includes a parrot, a baby sloth, queen alexandra birdwing butterfly, vampire bat, caecilian, tarantula, quetzal, iguana, gecko, macaw, and a few random, tiny frogs!

Also in my classroom: Capybaras, gorilla, chameleon, iguana, gecko, caecilian, red eyed tree frogs, and poison dart frogs, (the frogs are sooooo tiny!!!),

Classroom: lemur, macaw, parrot, vampire bat, gold frog, caecilian, chameleon, tarantula, poison dart frog, red eyed tree frog, and leaf cutter ants,

classroom: chimpanzee, tarantula, gold frog, caecilian, vampire bat, hoatzin, and gecko,

This photo is in my classroom. It includes a yellow boa, a macaw, and a caecilian.

So what did we do once everything was put up?  I took these pictures and their notes that they had.  I put together a packet with the pictures and their notes. We practiced this packet everyday in reading group and I even had it as a listening center. Students had this to help them when giving tours.  They gave their parents a tour.  The parents LOVED it.  I heard from many parents that they have been hearing rainforest facts for weeks!  One parent even told me that her child wanted to buy her a macaw for Mother's Day!  Cracked me up!

My students also gave a tour to 17 other classes in my school.  Needless to say, they were TOURED OUT by the time they finished.

When we finally took down our rainforest, it was VERY emotional.  Many of us were trying not to cry.

Due to testing and snow days, we didn't get as much done as I wanted to.  Other things I wanted to do:  Have the kids make binoculars for the tourists, create a brochure for the tourists to take with them, and a few other things that I'm drawing a blank on right now!

Hope you enjoyed my post!
Stacey