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On
the Banks of the Amazon by Nancy Kelly Allen Facilitate whole class participation in the shared
reading and discussion of On the Banks of the Amazon.
Read aloud the story. Ask
the following open-ended questions: 1.
What did you learn from the story? 2.
Who do you believe should read this story? Why? 3.
Which animal or plant interested you the most?
Why? 4.
What are your responsibilities in caring for animals and plants?
Explain your answer. 5.
If you could be any animal, what animal would you chose to be?
Why would you want to be that animal?
How would you act? What would you do?
Describe a day in the life of that animal. 6.
What are animal habitats? Why is it
important to protect animal habitats? 7.
Do people have different ideas as to how rainforest land
should be used or protected? Explain. Activities:
Assign selected words from the story that are grade-level appropriate.
Assign two words to pairs of students. Ask students to create flash cards
that explain and illustrate what each word means. Use flash cards to
create a “rainforest” word wall using such words as caiman, orchid, and
howler monkey.
Assign student partners to
complete the chart below. Refer to
the book and other resources. (List
8 animals) Identify as
Identify an activity
Describe or Pink dolphin Swims slowly (Picture) Inform students that they have an opportunity to
demonstrate what they have learned about rainforests through a performance or
activity. 1. Talk show host-Interview the animals or the two
hunters. 2. Act out the activities of a particular animal and
let other students guess the animal being portrayed. 3. Create a rainforest postcard. Design one
side of the postcard with an illustration/picture of the place. Write a
message about the rainforest on the opposite side. Place all the postcards
in a box so students can look at the cards as time permits. 4. Create a greeting card in the shape of a
rainforest animal. Write a message on the card. 5. Make animal masks of animals in story.
Students wears mask and act out the behavior of the animal. Photograph
students wearing masks and display pictures on wall. 6. Create the sound of rain in a rainforest with a
rainstick. Rainsticks are ceremonial sticks, made of bamboo or dried
cactus and filled with small pebbles, used to get the rain spirits to make rain.
Shake the sticks to make rhythmic sounds. Directions to make a rainstick. Rainstick Materials: A paper towel tube or wrapping paper tube Decorate the tube using crayons or markers.
Cut two aluminum foil sheets that are twice as long at the tube.
Crush one sheet of foil into a long rope and twist the rope around your
finger to make a coil. Keep twisting
until the entire foil rope is a coil. Repeat
with the second sheet. Place the two
coils into the tube. Spread the foil
so that it reaches from end-to-end in the tube.
Cut a circle larger than the end of the tube to use as a cover for one
end of the rainstick. Glue the
circle over the end of the tube so the material will not come out when the
rainstick is shaken. Pour one cup of
dried beans, unpopped corn or dried rice into the open end of the tube.
More or less beans/corn/rice may be used, depending on the sound you
want. Cover the open end of the tube
with a circle of construction paper and glue into place.
Shake! Shake!
Shake! 7. Each student will cut out a shape of a rainforest
animal or plant. Student will write a poem or riddle on the shape, color
it and attach to a green string to make a rainforest vine. Attach several
shapes to a vine and hang vines in classroom to create a rainforest.
8. Make an A to Z class book, On the Banks of the ________________. (Use name of creek or river near school, rather than Amazon. Also, use plants and animals associated with the selected creek or river). Each student will write and illustrate one page of the book, each student using a different letter of the alphabet. Bind the book together to keep in the classroom. 9. Students will make animal books, with each book consisting of three sheets of white construction paper, folded in half and stapled into book form. Each student will select a rainforest animal from one of the following categories: Animals with Shells, Animals with Feathers, Animals with Fur, Animals with Scales. On the front cover the student will write a title for the book and the student’s name as the author of the book, along with a picture of the animal in the rainforest. Each page inside the book will contain other animals of the same category, such as Animals with Shells. Different types of animals with shells will be drawn, one per page, in their habitats. Either below or above the illustration, the student will write information about the animal. In upper grades students will incorporate more information than those of lower grades. Kindergarten and first grade students may draw the animals and the teacher/aide write a statement about the animal as dictated by the student or just write the name of the animal. 10. Each student in class will draw on a sheet of white paper one rainforest animal in its habitat. Select an animal from the following categories: Animals That Hop, Animals That Run, Animals That Walk, Animals That Swim and Animals That Fly. Students will draw the animals in action and write a description of the animal and its movements on the same page. Older students may use reference books to research their selected animals. The pages will be bound into a classroom book and be on display in the classroom for students to read when time permits. 11. Each student will select an animal whose physical attributes would make the student's life easier. Students will draw a picture of themselves exercising their new ability and write a sentence. Example: If I could fly like a parrot, I wouldn’t need to ride the bus to school. Older students will write a paragraph or a short story comparing physical attributes and abilities of animals to people. This is a good exercise for adding details and expanding a thought. 12. Students will write
sentence pyramids to form poems. Use
animals that live in a rainforest. I saw a parrot. I saw a squawking
parrot. I saw a squawking
parrot flying. I saw a squawking
parrot flying to a tree. I saw a squawking
parrot flying to a kapok tree. I saw a squawking parrot flying to a kapok tree in the rainforest. 13. Students will be assigned a letter of the alphabet to make an ABC book. Assign all letters. The letter “x” may have to be omitted. Students will research rainforest animals whose names begin with their assigned letters of the alphabet. Example: The student who receives the letter “P” may choose to research parrots or piranhas. Students will record interesting facts on the bottom of a sheet of paper and will illustrate the animal in the upper section. The papers will be arranged in alphabetical order and bound into a classroom book. 14. Each student will receive a
sheet of construction paper cut into an oval shape.
Beginning on the outer edge, students will cut a one-inch “snake” by
cutting in a circular pattern to the center of the sheet.
Students will write interesting facts on the “snake” and hand it by
its “head” on the wall so the body of the snake will curve downward. 15. Lead a class discuss of ways we can protect the Earth. List the ideas on a chart. Each student will write a sentence or paragraph explaining what he/she can do to care for the planet Earth. Illustrate the sentence or paragraph. Display the work.
RD-04-2.0.7 Students
will make inferences or draw conclusions based on what is read. RD-04-3.0.1 Students will
explain a character’s or speaker’s actions based on a passage. RD-04-4.0.1
Students
will connect information from a passage to students’ lives (text-to-self),
real world issues (text-to-world) or other texts (text-to-text - e.g., novel,
short story, song, film, website, etc.). RD-04-5.0.2 Students
will identify literary devices such as foreshadowing, imagery or figurative
language ( similes, metaphors, and personification). WR-04-1.1.2 In Personal Expressive Writing, ·
Students will communicate the significance of the writer’s life
experience by narrating about life events or relationships. ·
Students will apply the characteristics of the selected form
(e.g., personal narrative, personal memoir). ·
Students will create a point of view. Students will
sustain a suitable tone or appropriate voice. SC-EP-4.6.1 Students will describe basic relationships of plants and animals in an ecosystem (food chains). Plants make their own food. All animals
depend on plants. Some animals eat plants for food. Other animals eat animals
that eat the plants. Basic
relationships and connections between organisms in food chains can be used to
discover patterns within ecosystems. Students
will describe how individuals/groups may have different perspectives about the
use of land (e.g., farming, industrial, residential, recreational). AH-05-4.3.2
Students
will improvise to tell stories that show action and have a clear beginning,
middle, and end. (Literary elements) AH-05-4.4.2 Students
will use a variety of media and art processes to produce two-dimensional (2-D)
and three-dimensional (3-D) artwork. AH-05-4.2.1 Classroom
Activities Once
Upon a Dime by Nancy Kelly Allen Facilitate whole class participation in the shared
reading and discussion of Once Upon a Dime. Read aloud the story.
Stop reading at various points and ask students to
make predictions, such as, What will grow on the tree when pig squish is used as
fertilizer? Sheep biscuits?
Bull chips? Ask the following open-ended questions: 1.
What did you think about the story? 2.
Did the story remind you of anything you have heard, seen, or read? 3.
What did you like about the story? 4.
What did you learn from listening/reading the story? 5.
Which character was your favorite? Why?
6.
What passage in the story did you like the most?
Why? 7. Did you notice a pattern in the book? Explain the pattern you noticed. 8.
Can money really grow on trees?
9.
What is the relationship between plants and animals in this story?
In real life? Have
students complete one or more of the following based on the book: 1.
Write a letter to other students persuading them to read the book. 2.
Write a book review persuading readers to either read the book or not
read the book. Include a
description of the story, but do not include the ending.
What was the author’s message and purpose in writing the book?
Give your opinion of the book (Did you like it?
Rank it from one to five. One
is the highest ranking). Make a chart to display the rankings. 3.
Write a poem about a farm or money. 4.
Write a newspaper article about the events that happened on the farm. 5.
Write a letter to Farmer Worth suggesting what fertilizer he should use
on the tree. Explain what you think
would grow if the fertilizer is used. A
mixture of two fertilizers can be used. What two fertilizers do you
recommend? Explain what you think would grow with the two fertilizers and
how much of each. Students will demonstrate what they have learned
through performance or activities. 1.
Write and perform a commercial about an “unusual” farm. 2.
Divide students into several groups of three.
Each group retells the story with a beginning, middle, and an end. Each
member of a group is assigned a segment of the story to retell.
3.
Create a word quilt.
Each student writes the name of a farm animal or a coin, such as
“dime” on a square of paper. Draw
a picture of the animal or coin. Piece
the papers together on the wall to make a quilt. 4.
Students will act out events in the story in the order in which they happened. Discuss fiction and
nonfiction. 1.
Ask the students if a money tree could really grow on a farm?
2.
Is this story fiction or nonfiction? How
did you decide on your answer? 3.
Cite example passages that indicate the story is fiction. 4.
Have students write or express orally an “unusual” farm they would like to
own or visit. 1.
Students will decorate a tree (a branch of a tree held upright in a tree stand
or flower pot) with plastic coins. Attach
a paperclip to the end a string and tie other end of string to a branch on the
tree. Tie several strings to the
branches. Slip plastic coins in each paperclip.
Let students have a picking party. Students
will add the value of the coins they picked.
One or two students picking at a time is recommended.
Variation: Students picks
only pennies or dimes, to learn to recognize that particular coin. 2.
Most of the animals on the farm were plain and regular, also known as average.
Take a few measurements of the students in class.
Share the data to find the “average” in the following: Head Circumference____________ Arm span from fingertip to
fingertip_______________ Pulse rate (at rest)______________ Shoe size____________ Height_____________ Weight_____________ Age_____________ Number of vehicles in
household_____________ Number of pets______________ Find the Mean,
Median, Mode,
and Range of the data collected. v Mean-_____________
Mean is the same as finding the average of a group.
To get the mean, add up all the numbers for any category, such as Shoe
Size, in your data collection. Divide
that number by the number of students that participated. v Median-____________Median
means the middle number. To find the
medial, organize the numbers for any category, such as Pulse Rate, in your data
collection so they are listed from smallest to largest.
Find the number exactly in the middle.
If you have an even number of items, you will have to find the number
that comes between the two middle numbers. v Mode-____________Mode
means the number which occurs the most often.
To find the mode, list the numbers for any category, such as Age, in your
data collection. The number that
appears most often is the mode. v Range-____________Range
is the difference between the largest number and the smallest number in your
data collection. Do you think the people on Bird Haven Hollow were
full of hot air when they told the story of money growing on trees?
Could you also be full of hot air? A
balloon will give you an idea of just how much hot air you exhale with each
breath. For demonstration, give one
student a balloon. The student will
blow one breath into the balloon. Hold
the stem of the balloon closed while another student measures the circumference
(distance around) the balloon. Have
student blow one more breath into the balloon.
Take second measurement. Keep
blowing one breath at a time, measuring after each.
What did the balloon measure after one breath_____?
Two_____? Three_____? Four_____? How many breaths did it take to fully inflate the
balloon______? Give each student a balloon and a partner.
Just how full of hot air are the students?
Let them measure to find out. Make a chart to record data from each
student. How many quarters are in a quarter of a quart of
quarters? Fill a quarter of a quart with quarters and count the number.
Does the size of the quarter-of-a-quart container make a difference? Does
a tall, narrow quarter-of-a-quart container hold more quarters than a wide,
shallow quarter-of-a-quart container? Does the shape of the container make
a difference? Why or why not? Core Content RD-04-2.0.7 Students
will make inferences or draw conclusions based on what is read. RD-04-3.0.1 Students will
explain a character’s or speaker’s actions based on a passage.
RD-04-4.0.1
Students
will connect information from a passage to students’ lives (text-to-self),
real world issues (text-to-world) or other texts (text-to-text - e.g., novel,
short story, song, film, website, etc.). RD-04-5.0.2 Students
will identify literary devices such as foreshadowing, imagery or figurative
language ( similes, metaphors, and personification). In Personal Expressive Writing, ·
Students will communicate the significance of the writer’s life
experience by narrating about life events or relationships. ·
Students will apply the characteristics of the selected form
(e.g., personal narrative, personal memoir). ·
Students will create a point of view. WR-04-1.1.2 In Literary Writing, ·
Students will communicate to an audience about the human condition
by painting a picture, recreating a feeling, telling a story, capturing a
moment, evoking an image, or showing an extraordinary perception of the
ordinary. ·
Students will apply characteristics of the selected form (e.g.,
short story, play/script, poem). ·
Students will create a point of view. ·
Students will use a suitable tone or appropriate voice. Students
will apply a fictional perspective in literary writing when appropriate. Students
will analyze real-world problems to identify the appropriate mathematical
operations, and will apply operations to solve real-world problems with the
following constraints: ·
add and subtract whole
numbers with three digits or less; ·
multiply whole numbers
of 10 or less; ·
add and subtract
fractions with like denominators less than or equal to four and ·
add and subtract
decimals related to money. Students
will analyze and make inferences from data displays (drawings, tables/charts,
tally tables, pictographs, bar graphs, circle graphs, line plots, Venn
diagrams). Students
will apply and describe appropriate strategies for estimating quantities of
objects and computational results (limited to addition and subtraction).
MA-EP-1.3.1 Students
will analyze real-world problems to identify the appropriate mathematical
operations, and will apply operations to solve real-world problems with the
following constraints: ·
add and subtract whole
numbers with three digits or less; ·
multiply whole numbers
of 10 or less; ·
add and subtract
fractions with like denominators less than or equal to four and ·
add and subtract
decimals related to money. MA-EP-4.1.2 Students
will collect data. MA-EP-4.1.3 Students
will organize and display data. MA-EP-5.1.1 Students
will extend simple patterns (e.g., 2,4,6,8, …; ◊∆◊∆
…). Plants make their own food. All animals
depend on plants. Some animals eat plants for food. Other animals eat animals
that eat the plants. Basic
relationships and connections between organisms in food chains can be used to
discover patterns within ecosystems. Students
will improvise to tell stories that show action and have a clear beginning,
middle, and end. (Literary elements) Classroom
Activities Whose
Food is This? Whose
Sound is This? Whose
Work is This? by
Nancy Kelly Allen Facilitate whole class participating in shared
reading and discussion of the books in the Whose series.
Read aloud each book. Ask
the following open-ended questions: 1.
What was your favorite animal in the
book/books? Why? 2.
What would you do if a wild animal
charged at you? Explain in detail. 3.
What animal do you think has the
coziest home? Explain your answer. 4.
Milk is used in candy, cakes, bread,
ice cream, and many other foods we eat every day. What would life be like if we
had no milk? 5.
What work do you want to do when you
grow up? Why is the job you chose
important? How does that job help
people? 6.
Students look at pictures of two
animals. Example:
horse and chicken. Discuss
ways in which the animals are alike and different.
Make a Compare/Contrast list of the two animals. 7.
All animals need to learn skills to
survive? Select a specific animal
and describe the survival skills needed by that animal. 8.
Why is it important to protect animal habitats? 9.
How do animals depend on plants? Writing Activities: 1.
Draw a picture of any animal in the Whose series.
Write an appropriate name/title for each picture.
Share the pictures with classmates, and then display pictures on wall.
Write a letter to parents, principal, secretary or someone else, inviting
them to come to the classroom to view the pictures. 2.
List 10 things you can do with an egg. Be
as creative as you wish. 3.
Write a poem about one of the following-chicken, donkey, snake, sheep, or any
animal of your choice. 4.
Write a description of donkey for a
person who has never seen one. You
may not use any of the following words: large,
big, strong, hee-haw, brown, or horse. 5.
Write a radio advertisement for honey.
Use as many of the five senses as you can to create a sensory image in
the minds of the listeners. 6.
Write three reasons to convince an adult to take you on a field trip to a zoo or
to get you a new pet. 7.
Hand out directions to a recipe (example: ice
cream, cheese, or candy) that has been cut into separate strips.
Students work together in a team to read and sequence the strips into
correct order. · For
younger students, use pictures in place of words when possible.
Send home a note asking parents to send in their child’s favorite
recipe. Have the child dictate the
same recipe to an older child or adult. The
two recipes (from the child and the parent) can be mounted on one page,
illustrated by the child, and bound into a class book. · Write
a recipe for making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
Write as accurately as possible. Directions
should be sequentially correct and accurate.
Students make sandwiches following the directions in the recipes. ·
One student draws a stick figure of an animal on the board.
Other students give directions using descriptive words to complete the
animal drawing. For example, instead
of “Give it hair,” students should respond with more detailed descriptions,
such as “give it short, curly, brown hair.” Students can then divide into
teams of two and create more pictures using descriptive words. · Create
a drawing of an imaginary animal. Below
the picture write a description of the animal.
Include the following: What
sound does the animal make? What
food does the animal eat? What work
does the animal do? Where does the
animal live? Give the animal a name.
· Take
a survey of favorite farm animals and make a graph to show results.
Students will work in teams of two or three to decide on a way to tell
others about the information in the graph. Possible
ways of telling others: skit, oral
report, advertisement, letter, postcard, panel discussion, TV show, and
interview. · Draw
pictures of animals running. Write a
sentence below the picture describing the action of the animal, but do not use
the word run. Possible words:
streak, leap, and hop. Substituting
interesting verbs perk up stories. · Work
in pairs to create three riddles about animal sounds, animal work and animal
food. Example:
I began as a grain of sand, and now I decorate a ring. Answer:
Core Content RD-04-2.0.7 Students
will make inferences or draw conclusions based on what is read. RD-04-4.0.1
Students
will connect information from a passage to students’ lives (text-to-self),
real world issues (text-to-world) or other texts (text-to-text - e.g., novel,
short story, song, film, website, etc.). In Personal Expressive Writing, ·
Students will communicate the significance of the writer’s life
experience by narrating about life events or relationships. ·
Students will apply the characteristics of the selected form
(e.g., personal narrative, personal memoir). ·
Students will create a point of view. Students will
sustain a suitable tone or appropriate voice. WR-04-1.1.2 In Literary Writing, ·
Students will communicate to an audience about the human condition
by painting a picture, recreating a feeling, telling a story, capturing a
moment, evoking an image, or showing an extraordinary perception of the
ordinary. ·
Students will apply characteristics of the selected form (e.g.,
short story, play/script, poem). ·
Students will create a point of view. ·
Students will use a suitable tone or appropriate voice. Students will
apply a fictional perspective in literary writing when appropriate. SC-EP-4.6.1 Students will describe basic
relationships of plants and animals in an ecosystem (food chains). Plants make their own food. All animals
depend on plants. Some animals eat plants for food. Other animals eat animals
that eat the plants. Basic
relationships and connections between organisms in food chains can be used to
discover patterns within ecosystems. SC-EP-4.7.1 Students will describe the cause
and effect relationships existing between organisms and their environments. The
world has many different environments. Organisms require an environment in which
their needs can be met. When the environment changes some plants and animals
survive and reproduce and others die or move to new locations.
Students
will create and perform using elements of drama (Literary, Technical,
Performance)
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