Every March at Washington School, the first grade students get to walk into the rainforest.  Every teacher dives head first into the facts and mysteries of the rainforest for a two to three week adventure that the students will not forget any time soon.  All nine of our teachers come up with extremely interesting and informative lessons that grasp the students’ interest and hold it throughout the unit.

In my classroom, I like to display pictures of plants and animals, maps, and giant posters showing, in detail, the four layers of the rainforest and some of the animals occupying them. As soon as my students walk into their transformed classroom on the first day of March, they are fascinated by all of the strange looking animals.  I choose to spread the unit over three weeks to be sure the students grasp the concepts and information concretely.

We begin by reading numerous stories (which are mostly non-fiction).  We discuss and label the four layers of the rainforest multiple times and in multiple ways before we go any further.  I slowly introduce various animals and let the students tell me what they know about them, while I add facts here and there.  In a short amount of time, the students are able to name all of the animals I have introduced to them, and sort them into the layer they are found in.  We also discuss fruits, plants, and natives in depth.

There are many fun, educational activities our class takes part in throughout the rainforest unit.  Some of our favorites are rainforest term bingo, make a postcard from the rainforest, and taste the rainforest.  When we taste the rainforest, the class gets to see, touch, smell, and taste various foods that come from the rainforest.  Chocolate is always one of the favorites! Pet Supplies Plus from Sterling also graciously volunteers their time to come to our classroom with animals from the rainforest.  They tell the students all about the animals while the children get to see and pet them.  We always have a WILD time!

Christine Jasper
Washington School